A review by jentang
In Praise of Shadows by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

3.5

this was a quick, reflective book - one which was written as an "essay on aesthetics"  according to the afterword. it read to me like an SAT reading passage, although oddly enough (especially considering that the subject matter generally always returned and became reduced to either structure, light, or color), my attention did not wander too far. this book was undeniably educational; in the span of its fifty-some pages a slew of topics were expanded upon fluidly, including everything from the Japanese toilet to persimmon-leaf sushi. the descriptive writing was pleasant and elegant. i disliked the book the most when it strayed from the boundaries of the typical essay format to include biased opinions from the author himself; Tanizaki held a grumbling attitude with most of the things he touched upon (e.g. the use of tiling in place of wood & Western lighting) and also injected a rather awful take of his on skin color which was both uncomfortable and unnecessary. while the subject matter of this book was unique and written in an easily digestible way, for those same reasons, i doubt i would ever reread this.