The Makioka Sisters in Read a book from each country

May 03, 2013 J rated it it was amazing

Shelves: japanese-literature

Tanizaki has a delicate sensibility all his own, and his ability to make the incredibly complex, sensitive world of upper class Japanese courtship and sibling relations not only comprehensible but also engaging, is remarkable. I became weirdly hooked on the lives of the four sisters and everyone in their social orbit. Everything from their petty dramas to their sincere attempts to navigate a complicated social order as the specter of WWII gets closer and closer is rendered with a slow, confident ...more

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Nov 05, 2021 Jimmy rated it really liked it

Shelves: novel, year-1940s, poc, male, japan

another non-review... just a few notes:

a melancholy story that isn't exactly a story, but reads more like real life, in that there isn't a clear narrative arc... things happen and then more things happen, but it doesn't seem plotted like a western novel would be. it's almost cyclical, with lulls here and there but in a pleasant way. there's even a part where one of the sisters is thinking about how boring her life is!

but through this portrayal of everyday life and its relatively minor problems ( another non-review... just a few notes:

a melancholy story that isn't exactly a story, but reads more like real life, in that there isn't a clear narrative arc... things happen and then more things happen, but it doesn't seem plotted like a western novel would be. it's almost cyclical, with lulls here and there but in a pleasant way. there's even a part where one of the sisters is thinking about how boring her life is!

but through this portrayal of everyday life and its relatively minor problems (i can see how it's not minor to the characters at the time, though) like marrying off the 3rd sister, keeping up appearances, smoothing over conflicts between the 1st sister who is more old fashioned and the 2 younger sisters, etc. through all this we're able to see something much deeper and more meaningful than if it were a tightly plotted story, you really see the sisters develop slowly and you feel for their every little problem. each sister has a distinct personality. i appreciated how different they were and yet how peacefully they got along. i mean, there were conflicts, but they were almost always honest with each other and loving, even though they didn't always see eye to eye.

not to give the impression that it's all boring... there are also super exciting and dramatic episodes like the flood scene.

there's a lot of commentary on the class system here too. and it's interesting reading about the maids as well. and how the makioka family feels like they are above certain people and classes, which sounds snobbish and horrible, but at the time was normal, so don't judge too quickly. still, it feels wrong, but at the same time the makioka name is in decline, and you see that slow slippage in many ways. there's a sadness to it but also a liberation in it, and the author shows both sides of this without taking sides.

then there are their german friends. this is set during ww2 btw, and their german friends go back to germany and write letters back saying things like "it's almost like the war isn't going on, we hardly see anything and everything is great, and there are more soldiers in the street" meanwhile you think about what else is going on that they are not seeing. the war is a silent backdrop, always there, but never really addressed. the characters are each more concerned about their own problems and the war is just a minor obstacle to their daily problems.

there are many passages that don't really add much to the plot of the novel as a whole, but they provide color to the story; it is refreshing to see so much that is neither here nor there but little trivialities, which lends to its nostalgic air. ...more

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Feb 04, 2008 martin rated it really liked it

I saw Tess had enjoyed this and, after months of trying to find a copy, I finally read it.

500+ pages of domesticity doesn't sound like fun, but this book is fascinating and even in translation it is often very beautiful. The very "foreign" world of pre-war Japan becomes somehow far closer while some of the foreign-ness remains to surprise and impress (the way it is thought laudable for genteel, well-bred women to be able to drink fairly heavily for example).

Read it and enjoy!

...more

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