Reviews
upon seeing that this book centered around the domestic lives of 4 sisters in the years shadowing world war 2, i was already prepared to like it. something about quiet stories whose stakes only really circulate within the social bubble of the representative characters are something i have appreciated after my own fondness of pride & prejudice and other books with similar overtones. overwhelming character-driven, the lens used to portray the makioka family's view of the world is colored by privilege and femininity, as there is a lot of focus on the cultural arts, domesticity, and traditional aesthetics portrayed through clothes. it's a winding story that feels almost predictive, but this not hinder the excitement and anticipation of seeing things unfold.
this book is considered to be a contemporary japanese classic, so i really don't need to say much anymore regarding its writing merit — and i don't see any particularly grating faults either, so i have no more to say to that. i do, however, felt that part of the novel's charm got lost in translation. while i don't have any grasp of the japanese language, the narrative voice felt stilted at times and read like a history textbook in how it explained emotions, sequences of events, and all of the cultural references in the novel. this way of capturing the nuance of the original japanese text was dragging, and at times i found that some paragraphs droned on and on. the content in itself was not boring, as the sisters love to gossip and call in their maids for any rumors afoot their quaint town in the osaka region, so i felt that the translation itself was unable to capture tanizaki's voice and visions, essentially failing to translate the "artful" aspects of his writing.
but i am happy to have finished this novel and found myself endeared by the characters, as the story gave them life and breadth informed by the time period they existed in. i appreciated that tanizaki used the voices of his characters to dwell on the impermanence of the world and navigating the unexpected trials and challenges of their life as a declining upper-class family. while dealing with impermanence is a huge theme, i also liked the implications of decay that the family is subjected to. because they struggle with change and hopelessly cling onto arbitrary customs and routines, they face deterioration with their family. the rigidity they cling onto only brings them down and they sink further into decline, culminating into the youngest sister becoming pregnant out of wedlock and with a man they consider beneath their station. it was interesting to see the intersection of addressing impermanence with the refusal of the makioka family to adapt to the rapidly developing aspects of japan. the family's gradual decline is tragic in its own way, but there was love at the core of the sisters' relationships, which was a balm against any and every adversity.
it is wonderful in its entirety. i cherished every moment i spent reading through this, and would highly recommend to anyone looking to delve into an elaborate world depicting the cultural beauty of osaka and the domestic trials between the quartet of sisters. i also hope someone makes an updated english translation that could better encapsulate tanizaki's narrative voice.