The subject matter of this charming Japanese novel by one of the dozen or so greatest writers of the 20th century, is the loneliness spanning two generations of Japanese men. A story within a story, it begins with an exposition of the profound influence one man, Sensei, has on a young friend (the narrator) and in particular, the devastating consequences that Sensei's cataclysmic decision has on the narrator's life. Later in the book we hear Sensei's own story in which he describes the devastating consequences had on his own life by a cataclysmic decision made by one of the people he valued most. The book is deceptively simple but floods with lyrical beauty. It is a book that lives on in your mind for a long time, and taps into the inevitable feeling that we all have from time to time that we are alone, swallowed by the "silence of the whirlpool". Awesome. Read it and never regret it.