book data
149 ratings, 3.69 average rating, 14 reviews
(more data...)
edit
published
September 26th 1995
by Vintage
binding
Paperback, 224 pages
isbn
0679752692
(isbn13: 9780679752691)
description
A subtle and delicate tale of contemporary life that deals with the ramifications of a collapsing marriage.
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »
friend reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 203)
Tanizaki is one of the greats in Japanese literature -and the only one that I know who was obsessed with how the West mixed with the old Japanese culture - in its practice as well as its aesthetic. The puppet theater in the novel is worth the price alone, but what is fascinating about this book is how Tanizaki shares his doubts and love of western culture. It was a conflict with him, and this is what makes his literature so unique in Japanese 20th Century letters.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
This is a very beautiful and simple book about a young man and woman in an apparently loveless marriage, and the hold of Japanese traditions which both comfort and chafe them. The story is told alongside the traditional puppet shows: the ancient stories of the Bunraku puppet shows of Osaka and Awaji island. It was very lovely and touching, much less complex than the Makioka Sisters, which I also love.
Like this review?
yes
(1 person liked it)
add a comment
Read in May, 2008
In this book, a married couple who have given up on their marriage try to muster the resolve to divorce. As with the novels of Kawabata, a traditional Japanese art -- in this case bunraku, or puppet theater -- forms a symbolic backdrop. The common Japanese vs. foreign influence motif also makes an appearance, in the form of a prostitute who the husband visits. Given the connection between the situation presented in the book and the dissolution of Tanizaki's own marriage, it is hard not to read t...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in December, 2007
Written in 1929, Some Prefer Nettles contrasts traditional Japanese culture with modern, Westernized Japanese culture. The conflict centers around the main characters Kaname and his wife Misako, who, thinking of themselves as quite modern, proceed toward divorce. Their modernity, however, is only skin deep, and traditional attitudes prevent them from taking the final step. The other characters in the novel, and all the places, evoke either the traditional or the modern, and all exert their in...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in August, 2007
This was a moody piece that I read too quickly, considering Japan is an unknown culture to me. I enjoyed the tension explored in the book between traditional Japan and the emerging (at the time the book was written) modern Japan, but I can tell I would have enjoyed it more if I had known more about it. If there are any random voyeurs exploring this page, please recommend comparable books.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Tanizaki became my favorite Japanese author after I read this book. I delicate look into the life of a Japanese couple trying to cross from traditional, pre-World War II Japanese culture into the modern era of the 1920s. It's a slow, domestic novel but I really enjoyed it.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
A subtle and understated short novel about a failing marriage. Tanizaki considers the conflicts between traditional Japanese culture and western influenced modernity with a light touch and some delicate ambiguity.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2008
A quiet book in which not much "happens", but an interesting study of a couple who have grown apart and the cultural dilemmas that arise from the Westernisation of Japan.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
The first Tanizaki book I read. I was hooked from the beginning. His style and his ideas are wonderfully intoxicating.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 2007
Yes! More puppets! So much better than people, in so many ways.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
People contemplating a divroce, people who are divorcing
Not bad, but not particularly exciting either.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in September, 1998
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
to-read
(on 17 people's shelves)
favorites (on 2 people's shelves)
1001-books (on 1 person's shelf)
1001bookstoreadbeforeyoudie (on 1 person's shelf)
literature (on 1 person's shelf)
currently-reading (on 1 person's shelf)
fiction (on 1 person's shelf)
1900s (on 1 person's shelf)
translation (on 1 person's shelf)
1990s (on 1 person's shelf)
More shelves...
favorites (on 2 people's shelves)
1001-books (on 1 person's shelf)
1001bookstoreadbeforeyoudie (on 1 person's shelf)
literature (on 1 person's shelf)
currently-reading (on 1 person's shelf)
fiction (on 1 person's shelf)
1900s (on 1 person's shelf)
translation (on 1 person's shelf)
1990s (on 1 person's shelf)
More shelves...
groups with this book
