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A review by maialunovis
The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki
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.