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daladala's review against another edition
5.0
Voi kuinka rakastettava kirja tämä onkaan! Niin paljon toimintaa niin vähäisin tapahtumin, lukemattomia keskusteluja verhojen välitse ja rakkauden perässä juoksevia miehiä! Ja mikä kaikkein parasta, jäätävän kaunista runodroppailua joka toisella sivulla.
melodon's review against another edition
4.0
A classic of Japanese literature. Royall Tyler's translation is fantastic, with plenty of footnotes to explain aspects of the culture of the court, as well as a helpful chronology in the back. The story is wonderful, and getting past Suma is a triumph in itself. After Suma is quite good, and the period between Suma and the transition to Kaoru/Niou is my favorite.
I found Kaoru and Niou's story to be a bit too much. It was significantly harder to keep track of characters at this point, and many of the characters you come to love and be familiar with lose all significance. The Hachi no Miya sisters are definitely the best part of the last section.
I found Kaoru and Niou's story to be a bit too much. It was significantly harder to keep track of characters at this point, and many of the characters you come to love and be familiar with lose all significance. The Hachi no Miya sisters are definitely the best part of the last section.
readmetwotimes's review against another edition
5.0
Non so se mi riprenderò mai dalla lettura di questo capolavoro. È stata un'esperienza intensa, totalizzante e avvolgente, anche grazie al bookclub con cui l'ho letto.
Splendido libro.
Quando mi riprendo farò una recensione più accurata ♡
Splendido libro.
Quando mi riprendo farò una recensione più accurata ♡
literary_hazelnut's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bupdaddy's review against another edition
1.0
Turns out Genji's not the little dog. Huh.
I guess the big lesson here is that it really matters what translation you get of a thousand-year-old Japanese novel. The one published by Tuttle Classics, translated by Kencho Suematsu, is terrible. At first, I figured, hey, thousand-year-old Japanese. Going to be turgid. But then, I noticed, the footnotes couldn't write their collective way out of a paper bag either:
"Sasinuki is a sort of loose trousers, and properly worn by men only, hence some commentators conclude, the attendant here mentioned to be a boy, others contend, this garment was worn by females also when they rode."
You can't blame that on Murasaki, Kencho. I've seen the original scrolls. No footnotes.
Also, this edition (ISBN 0-8048-3256-0) has different chapters than Wikipedia says it should (17 chapters versus 54), and is 208 pages long, whereas other editions are ~1,200. On the other hand, I kind of read 1,200 pages because I had to reread each sentence about six times. I have no idea what I read. Maybe the real Tale of Genji *is* about the little dog.
The thing I read, I *think*, is about a decadent quasi-royal slut, but it's hard to say because the intimate encounters are all implied. On the other hand, there wasn't much of anything else. It mentioned he had a sword once, but that was probably a double-entendre. So no swash-buckling, no comedy, no suspense. Mostly I read something that's like listening to a person on a phone describe a trashy chick-flick they're watching. It had that "once removed" feeling to it. I never felt like I was reading the story, just what somebody who had read the story felt like telling.
Read a different edition.
I guess the big lesson here is that it really matters what translation you get of a thousand-year-old Japanese novel. The one published by Tuttle Classics, translated by Kencho Suematsu, is terrible. At first, I figured, hey, thousand-year-old Japanese. Going to be turgid. But then, I noticed, the footnotes couldn't write their collective way out of a paper bag either:
"Sasinuki is a sort of loose trousers, and properly worn by men only, hence some commentators conclude, the attendant here mentioned to be a boy, others contend, this garment was worn by females also when they rode."
You can't blame that on Murasaki, Kencho. I've seen the original scrolls. No footnotes.
Also, this edition (ISBN 0-8048-3256-0) has different chapters than Wikipedia says it should (17 chapters versus 54), and is 208 pages long, whereas other editions are ~1,200. On the other hand, I kind of read 1,200 pages because I had to reread each sentence about six times. I have no idea what I read. Maybe the real Tale of Genji *is* about the little dog.
The thing I read, I *think*, is about a decadent quasi-royal slut, but it's hard to say because the intimate encounters are all implied. On the other hand, there wasn't much of anything else. It mentioned he had a sword once, but that was probably a double-entendre. So no swash-buckling, no comedy, no suspense. Mostly I read something that's like listening to a person on a phone describe a trashy chick-flick they're watching. It had that "once removed" feeling to it. I never felt like I was reading the story, just what somebody who had read the story felt like telling.
Read a different edition.
bccoulter's review against another edition
4.0
Amazing that this was written over 1000 years ago. It is full of details about the life of the idle rich (imperial household) and the interactions of men and women of that time and class. Astonishingly, this latter material is an oxymoronic combination of offensive to modern sensibilities (lots of interactions we would identify as rape) and startlingly modern deep dives into what both the men and the women are thinking about each other, each encounter and each relationship.
pato_myers's review against another edition
3.0
This is too long for me as I was way more interested in things briefly mentioned than the love affairs of the rich and powerful. I am impressed that no matter the cultural or story telling differences human nature that shines through seems unchanging.
katemc's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I cannot believe I finished it. It's been YEARS. But I'm DONE.
TLDR I really didn't like this. Probably the most sexually violent book I've ever read. Huge historical significance no doubt but for me that doesn't make it very good or interesting or compelling.
The good:
-The insight into and portrayal of the customs of the Heian court/Japanese aristocracy from a thousand years ago was interesting. I've read very little ancient fiction so the (relatively) contemporary perspective is fascinating from a sociological and historical perspective.
-The infusion of poetry throughout. Although I know much was lost in translation, the poetry was beautiful and played a really important communicative role between characters. Not something you see in more modern fiction.
The bad: everything else?
I know it was seminal in the development of fiction. The intro was very useful in contextualizing it and I can see its value. But that (to me) doesn't make it very good fiction. It can be important as first (and likely best) of its kind, and not necessarily particularly enjoyable as a piece of fiction.
Every man in this book was a sexual predator. Polygamy is fine! Harem and marriage politics can be super interesting. This is just all about male sexual predators. It's really horrific at times. Categorizing this as "romance" is sociopathic. It's really scary from a historical perspective to think that this type of predation, grooming, assault, etc was the typical experience for aristocratic women and girls. Not that consensual experiences cannot exist, but they didn't seem to appear on these pages. It could partly be attributed to customs of modesty shaping how women were allowed to react to/in "romantic" situations (they needed to act unwilling or uninterested to preserve their reputation even if they were interested) but Shikibu's female characters aren't granted any agency or interiority to express that, if true.
Genji and the following iterations of Genji-ish men were all dull as hell. How much can you read about men described as perfect and flawless and stunningly handsome and gifted at everything they pick up? I'm reading The Confessions of Lady Nijo to contrast and her perspective is so much more interesting.
Lastly, here is a list of all the common threads of this book:
-Chasing women (often of very young ages)
-Crying, weeping, soaking their sleeves with tears
-Dying unexpectedly at very young ages (“not long for this world”) of broken hearts or general listlessness
-Sneaking off places to stalk women who aren’t interested in them
-Writing poetry and playing instruments until late in the night
-Going to the mountains
-Dreaming of becoming monks (and nuns) / "leaving the world" but almost never following through (except Ukifune)
-Pulling back curtains on verandas or peeping in windows to approach women (often of very young ages) unawares to look at them or touch them or literally rape them
-Being gorgeous and accomplished men and women who look gorgeous even crying mourning singing praying hosting etc (and its all anyone ever talks about)
Sorry for the rant. lmao
TLDR I really didn't like this. Probably the most sexually violent book I've ever read. Huge historical significance no doubt but for me that doesn't make it very good or interesting or compelling.
The good:
-The insight into and portrayal of the customs of the Heian court/Japanese aristocracy from a thousand years ago was interesting. I've read very little ancient fiction so the (relatively) contemporary perspective is fascinating from a sociological and historical perspective.
-The infusion of poetry throughout. Although I know much was lost in translation, the poetry was beautiful and played a really important communicative role between characters. Not something you see in more modern fiction.
The bad: everything else?
I know it was seminal in the development of fiction. The intro was very useful in contextualizing it and I can see its value. But that (to me) doesn't make it very good fiction. It can be important as first (and likely best) of its kind, and not necessarily particularly enjoyable as a piece of fiction.
Every man in this book was a sexual predator. Polygamy is fine! Harem and marriage politics can be super interesting. This is just all about male sexual predators. It's really horrific at times. Categorizing this as "romance" is sociopathic. It's really scary from a historical perspective to think that this type of predation, grooming, assault, etc was the typical experience for aristocratic women and girls. Not that consensual experiences cannot exist, but they didn't seem to appear on these pages. It could partly be attributed to customs of modesty shaping how women were allowed to react to/in "romantic" situations (they needed to act unwilling or uninterested to preserve their reputation even if they were interested) but Shikibu's female characters aren't granted any agency or interiority to express that, if true.
Genji and the following iterations of Genji-ish men were all dull as hell. How much can you read about men described as perfect and flawless and stunningly handsome and gifted at everything they pick up? I'm reading The Confessions of Lady Nijo to contrast and her perspective is so much more interesting.
Lastly, here is a list of all the common threads of this book:
-Chasing women (often of very young ages)
-Crying, weeping, soaking their sleeves with tears
-Dying unexpectedly at very young ages (“not long for this world”) of broken hearts or general listlessness
-Sneaking off places to stalk women who aren’t interested in them
-Writing poetry and playing instruments until late in the night
-Going to the mountains
-Dreaming of becoming monks (and nuns) / "leaving the world" but almost never following through (except Ukifune)
-Pulling back curtains on verandas or peeping in windows to approach women (often of very young ages) unawares to look at them or touch them or literally rape them
-Being gorgeous and accomplished men and women who look gorgeous even crying mourning singing praying hosting etc (and its all anyone ever talks about)
Sorry for the rant. lmao
jn0el's review against another edition
1.0
Genji Monogatari (penned by Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu in the early eleventh century, around the peak of the Heian Period) is sometimes called the world's first novel, the first modern novel. I wanted to like it based on those two facts. However, sex without consent was a social norm during the Heian Period, and I found that reading of these encounters was truly disturbing.