Longing and Other Stories

Longing and Other Stories collects three stories by the Japanese writer Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886-1965). I've been meaning to read Tanizaki's most famous novel, The Makioka Sisters, for some time, but Longing and Other Stories is much shorter and seemed more accessible, so I began with it instead. The three stories have themes in common—all deal with family relationships, particularly between mother and son, and all touch on the tension between Japanese and Western cultures. Yet each story is written in a distinctive style. "Longing" is a surreal recollection of a childhood dream, "Sorrows of a Heretic" a cynical, realist depiction of a dysfunctional, downwardly-mobile family, and "The Story of an Unhappy Mother" a haunting, dramatic portrait of the unraveling of the relationship between a mother and son. "The Story of an Unhappy Mother," the last story, was my favorite of the three, but I enjoyed all of them. I also appreciated the afterword by the translators, which added cultural and critical context to the stories. I definitely want to read more of Tanizaki's work in the future! I received a complimentary ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!