Reviews

As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams: Recollections of a Woman in 11th-Century Japan by Sarashina

ancientnymph's review

5.0

Lady Sarashina was extremely lovely, sentimental, nostalgic, and poetic. After reading Murasaki and Shonagon, I really wonder how they would’ve interacted if they had met. A fan of Tales, living mentally in her fantasy world, the court life was not suited for her- however, she liked reading about it (although idealized.) My eyes welled with tears at some points of this book, because she did not feign emotion, she did not simply turn a blind eye to things - she was incredibly focused on human emotions, loss, yearning, and seeing the world, being free. She seemed to have wanted to understand humanity. Her poems, some have said were trivial, to me, they are pieces of her heart, so incredibly filled with emotion, and to us English speakers, we can never truly know or feel the actual poem that she wrote in the moment. I wish they had known her actual name. Her descriptions of the views in her pilgrimages were so delicate and serene, I loved every moment of reading this book and so happy that it has survived all of these years, so I can read it in the 21st century.

nothing23's review

4.0

makes you want to write tanka.

blankgarden's review

3.0

3,5 stars. My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2017/08/02/this-moment-of-daybreak-and-this-singing-back-and-forth/