Scan barcode
jaydgreen's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
3.5
siria's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
In 1930s Japan, the aristocratic Makioka family is sliding into genteel poverty but is determined to uphold its good name and its traditions. Those traditions mostly come into play around the attempt to find husbands for the two youngest sisters—in their mid-to-late 20s, both are verging on spinsterhood.
I picked this novel up because it's widely acclaimed as a modern classic, and because it's so often compared to the work of Jane Austen. Having read it, the Austen comparisons puzzle me. Sure, if you sum up the book in a sentence or two it sounds not dissimilar to Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, but the tone and concerns of Austen and Junichiro Tanizaki seem to me wildly different.
As someone who knows very little about Japanese culture, and who is reading this in translation, I'm surely missing many layers of meaning in The Makioka Sisters. I will freely admit that maybe I just don't have the context I need to enjoy the book's subtleties. I get that this is one of those novels where "nothing happens" is the point. But I found this an increasingly dull slog full of prevaricating, static characters whose interiority I never grasped and whose Highly Metaphorical Illnesses were off-putting. (What's that, Skippy? There's a rot inside the body politic?)
And then that last chapter—that last line! I mean, you can't say that Tanizaki didn't commit to the bit, but good lord.
I picked this novel up because it's widely acclaimed as a modern classic, and because it's so often compared to the work of Jane Austen. Having read it, the Austen comparisons puzzle me. Sure, if you sum up the book in a sentence or two it sounds not dissimilar to Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, but the tone and concerns of Austen and Junichiro Tanizaki seem to me wildly different.
As someone who knows very little about Japanese culture, and who is reading this in translation, I'm surely missing many layers of meaning in The Makioka Sisters. I will freely admit that maybe I just don't have the context I need to enjoy the book's subtleties. I get that this is one of those novels where "nothing happens" is the point. But I found this an increasingly dull slog full of prevaricating, static characters whose interiority I never grasped and whose Highly Metaphorical Illnesses were off-putting. (What's that, Skippy? There's a rot inside the body politic?)
And then that last chapter—that last line! I mean, you can't say that Tanizaki didn't commit to the bit, but good lord.
100reads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
History, traditions, modernity, wars, family. But did it have to end like that? Like seriously 😐
alexandre_rl's review
5.0
Classique de la littérature japonaise, adapté au cinéma en 1983 par le grand cinéaste Kon Ichikawa, "Quatre soeurs" intimide d'abord par ses 900 pages dont la lecture n'est pourtant jamais pénible. L'écriture de Tanizaki est beaucoup moins imagée, moins métaphorique que plusieurs de ses contemporains. La traduction nous laisse découvrir un style épuré qui va droit au but, toujours au service du récit. Les thèmes de la déchéance des grandes familles et de l'émancipation des femmes sont développés de manière touchante et adroite, sans jamais verser dans le mélodrame ou l'exposé sociologique.
Tanizaki présente avant tout des femmes fortes qui tracent leur chemin dans un Japon en grande transformation à l'aube de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. On termine la lecture de ce chef-d'oeuvre avec l'impression de posséder une meilleure compréhension des moeurs et coutumes japonaises de l'époque. Les chapitres sur les mariages sont spécialement intéressants. Tout au long de ma lecture, j'avais en tête les films de Naruse, Ozu et Mizoguchi. Une belle découverte.
Tanizaki présente avant tout des femmes fortes qui tracent leur chemin dans un Japon en grande transformation à l'aube de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale. On termine la lecture de ce chef-d'oeuvre avec l'impression de posséder une meilleure compréhension des moeurs et coutumes japonaises de l'époque. Les chapitres sur les mariages sont spécialement intéressants. Tout au long de ma lecture, j'avais en tête les films de Naruse, Ozu et Mizoguchi. Une belle découverte.
charlottesometimes's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
maialunovis's review against another edition
medium-paced
3.5
It’s an incredibly interesting novel, a study almost, on an upper-middle class merchants family in decline (though that is not the plot of the book). The plotline and the characters serve almost as a canvas for an intricate depiction of Japanese aesthetics, especially the concept of “花鳥風月”, which could roughly be translated as seasonality/appreciation of natural elements. Furthermore it delves deeply into the very specific social conventions of this class, mainly centering on the lives and roles of women and the marriage market, but also the relationships between these four sisters.
It is a bit of a shame that much of it will be lost in translation (I think the one I read was especially questionable, because old), at least from what I could tell from listening to bits of a Japanese audiobook. Tanizaki had an incredible “ear” for language, dialogue and dialect, which can be difficult to bring into other languages. The translation I read was also quite dry, so a lot of the aesthetic passages don’t really shine as much as they could.
It’s very slow, and I would recommend reading it slowly, maybe even keeping pace with the seasons.
It is a bit of a shame that much of it will be lost in translation (I think the one I read was especially questionable, because old), at least from what I could tell from listening to bits of a Japanese audiobook. Tanizaki had an incredible “ear” for language, dialogue and dialect, which can be difficult to bring into other languages. The translation I read was also quite dry, so a lot of the aesthetic passages don’t really shine as much as they could.
It’s very slow, and I would recommend reading it slowly, maybe even keeping pace with the seasons.