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A review by zmorgason
The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Flowers languish in the dark. Deprived of radiant warmth, unable to disentangle their roots from the poisoned soil, they grow pale and misshapen, malnourished and malcontent. They are haunted by the sun's absence; they are tormented by its existence. In Fumiko Enchi's first novel translated into the English language, she unfolds the twisted dynamics of the Shirakawa clan with a floriculturist's delicate touch. An aristocratic fascist sends his dutiful bride to select for him an underage concubine—a fresh bud so underdeveloped she has not known her first blood before she is indentured to his servitude. Though her marital bed grows frightfully cold, her heart bitter with envy, with malice, and with self-loathing, the matriarch doesn't waver. But in the proceeding years, one teenage mistress becomes two, and then three—all legal daughters to the family's lord and despot.
Enchi approaches this gnarled up set of circumstances with absolute empathy, with acute understanding of how each act impacts every player, even if it takes a decade or more for the bruises to appear on the flesh. Tomo envies the young mistresses their beauty; they envy her disciplined leadership and dignity. But beauty fades, and dignity lies in the eye of the beholder. Among these circumstances, ripe fruit just rots in your mouth, all your virtues are fermented and pulped. The grounds' caretaker shakes plums from the trees and bottles them in jars. From inside the glass, we learn the fortitude it takes to breathe vinegar and exhale your own sweetness for no reward but to be consumed. Or left on the shelf to gather dust. In this spider's web, the only freedom is in leaving, or death. Out in that cold world, you may lack for the earthly comforts of the family domain, but the bittersweet flavor of liberty is better than the acid taste of pickled affection.
Enchi approaches this gnarled up set of circumstances with absolute empathy, with acute understanding of how each act impacts every player, even if it takes a decade or more for the bruises to appear on the flesh. Tomo envies the young mistresses their beauty; they envy her disciplined leadership and dignity. But beauty fades, and dignity lies in the eye of the beholder. Among these circumstances, ripe fruit just rots in your mouth, all your virtues are fermented and pulped. The grounds' caretaker shakes plums from the trees and bottles them in jars. From inside the glass, we learn the fortitude it takes to breathe vinegar and exhale your own sweetness for no reward but to be consumed. Or left on the shelf to gather dust. In this spider's web, the only freedom is in leaving, or death. Out in that cold world, you may lack for the earthly comforts of the family domain, but the bittersweet flavor of liberty is better than the acid taste of pickled affection.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Abandonment
In this story, the patriarch of the family takes on multiple teenage concubines, and the novel focuses on the many emotional distresses of his wife and his mistresses. Men are pigs!