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Charles Beardsley
"Absorbing, sensitive, and utterly heartrending."
Monumenta Nipponica
"The author is a woman of great intelligence, profound psychological insight, and extraordinary sensitivity."
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It was an afternoon in early summer. Read the first page
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Fumiko Enchi's "The Waiting Years" is reminiscent of a lot of older Japanese fiction in that it is a quiet novel, where the action is very much within the social and cultural constraints of the time. If you are looking for an emotional rollercoaster or a dynamic page-turner full of social commentary then "The Waiting Years" is not for you. However, Enchi's Noma prize winning novel is an excellent read, steeped in the emotional tenion as we follow Tomo Shirakawa through the slow erosion of her marriage.
The novel opens with Tomo on a quest, sent out to find a concubine for her husband, a high-ranking government official, so that he can put an end to his undignified public behaviour with Geisha and other women. "The Waiting Years" is all about restraint and public dignity: Tomo is constrained by a failing marriage and the expectations of society to protect her family's honour by finding a suitable girl, with whom she is obliged to share her husband and home and for whose welfare she as "mistress of the house" becomes responsible. From then on, the novel follows Tomo through the years as her relationship with her husband steadily deteriorates and as his sexual appetite increasingly threatens the whole family.
This is a beautifully written book, emotionally taut, exquisite in the little details and at times deeply affecting. Unlike many Western books about Japan it does not romanticise the women; it is very clear the pain that Tomo as rejected wife feels and it is very clear too on the terrible life that Suga (the chosen concubine) and subsequent women are sold into, simply to please a man. This is a great book, read it for its picture of the Japan at the time, read it for its picture of women and simply read it to enjoy the quiet tension of the writing.
The novel opens with Tomo on a quest, sent out to find a concubine for her husband, a high-ranking government official, so that he can put an end to his undignified public behaviour with Geisha and other women. "The Waiting Years" is all about restraint and public dignity: Tomo is constrained by a failing marriage and the expectations of society to protect her family's honour by finding a suitable girl, with whom she is obliged to share her husband and home and for whose welfare she as "mistress of the house" becomes responsible. From then on, the novel follows Tomo through the years as her relationship with her husband steadily deteriorates and as his sexual appetite increasingly threatens the whole family.
This is a beautifully written book, emotionally taut, exquisite in the little details and at times deeply affecting. Unlike many Western books about Japan it does not romanticise the women; it is very clear the pain that Tomo as rejected wife feels and it is very clear too on the terrible life that Suga (the chosen concubine) and subsequent women are sold into, simply to please a man. This is a great book, read it for its picture of the Japan at the time, read it for its picture of women and simply read it to enjoy the quiet tension of the writing.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is an exquisitely-written and heart-wrenching story of women's lives in late 19th century Japan. Tomo is the faithful wife torn apart when her husband gives her the task of selecting a concubine for him. Suga is the innocent young girl brought into the household as his lover; her fate is to grow older without the status of being a wife. Fumiko Enchi describes this household's complex web of relationships with such tenderness and subtlety. Reading this, I felt completely absorbed into another world.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is, quite simply, a wonderful novel written in a quiet, understated, unhurried way but with beauty, sensitivity and dignity. The story revolves around Tomo, the wife of a cold, adulterous man who sends her on a mission to find a concubine for him as he has become tired of short-term affairs and wants an attractive, young girl on hand to satisfy his strong, sexual needs. Not content with putting his wife in this very difficult position (in fact he feels he is doing her a favour by allowing her to choose the successor to his affections) he continues to humiliate his wife in further ways, including a long term sexual relationship with a family member. With quiet dignity, Tomo tries to protect the rest of her family and the family honour from a man who behaves like a feudal lord requiring his every need to be provided without question.
Fumiko Enchi took eight years to complete this novel and it deservedly won Japan's top literary prize and, as stated on the sleeve of my edition, it has earned the reputation as one of the most penetrating studies of female psychology to appear in postwar Japan. I can understand why this novel has had the effect it has for it clearly highlights the inequality between men and women in oriental society. Enchi has delved into the minds and attitudes of traditional Japanese women, she has described their feelings and explained the motives behind their actions and, in doing so, has written a profound and luminous novel. Read it, savour it and keep it to read again - my copy (a very nice Kodansha edition) has gone back into one of my bookcases to be re-enjoyed at a later date.
5 Stars.
Fumiko Enchi took eight years to complete this novel and it deservedly won Japan's top literary prize and, as stated on the sleeve of my edition, it has earned the reputation as one of the most penetrating studies of female psychology to appear in postwar Japan. I can understand why this novel has had the effect it has for it clearly highlights the inequality between men and women in oriental society. Enchi has delved into the minds and attitudes of traditional Japanese women, she has described their feelings and explained the motives behind their actions and, in doing so, has written a profound and luminous novel. Read it, savour it and keep it to read again - my copy (a very nice Kodansha edition) has gone back into one of my bookcases to be re-enjoyed at a later date.
5 Stars.
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