A review by coralkudu
The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon

4.0

I read the Tale of Genji not very long before I read this. I found that, despite being a fraction of the length, the Pillow Book made the world of Heian era Japan seem much more real. I don't know if that was because this was basically a diary discussing real events rather than fiction with probably idealised scenes or whether it was that Sei Shonagon is much more the sort of woman you could imagine knowing than Murasaki Shikibu. What was amazing about this book was that, despite being written 1000 years ago in a world completely different to ours, Sei Shonagon still describes things where you think "I know exactly what you mean."