Donald Keene
"Thirst for Love" is Mishima's third novel, following the immensely successful "Confessions of a Mask" (1949). Unlike the coming of age of a male narrator in "Confessions", Mishima may have deliberately moved to a woman protagonist and a third person narrative. Donald Keene says of "Thirst for Love" that it is "a youthful work, but one of Mishima's best".