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spacestationtrustfund's review
1.0
Well, this was translated in the 1990s by Richard Bowring, a white British man, so I suppose I shouldn't have been that enthusiastic.
in_praise_of_idlenesss's review
3.0
if it was just her being melancholy, thinkin bout da moon, talkin shit about ppl, and describing clothes, i would give it 5 stars. the scribe-like historical accounting tho... kinda boring.
mr1930s's review against another edition
5.0
A fairly light read about court life in Japan. I feel like I was there.
ancientnymph's review against another edition
5.0
A beautiful short diary that looks into the life of Murasaki, the Heian period court, and little snippets of her personal opinions of certain matters. It was quite fun to read and I’m glad I had read it before I start reading the Tale of Genji. It makes me excited to read her novel, due to the uproar about it within the palace. She was a wonderful lady. And there is no comparison between her and Sei Shonagon. Each ladies are respectively talented in their own rights. I just had wished this book was longer, and maybe she had felt the liberty to go into more depth about the things she had seen, but I’d have to go back in time to tell her that. Unfortunately Shōshi’s court felt a bit more stiff than Teishi’s, which was a little off putting, but I suppose it is tradition to keep things correct and with courtly manners. All in all, I enjoyed this diary very much so.
sherbertwells's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.0
Fragments and opinions from the life of the Heian noblewoman who wrote The Tale of Genji. For a few moments, Murasaki manages to reach across a millennium and gently punch me in the chest.
“Aware of my own insignificance, I had at least managed for the time to avoid anything that might have been considered shameful or unbecoming; yet here I was, tasting the bitterness of life to the very full” (34)
Content Warnings
Minor: Pregnancy
happycupcake666's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
The parts about herself are quite okay, but this is mostly a record of the birth of a future emperor. Interesting for what it is