Jun'ichirō Tanizaki wrote a short story that intrigued me last year called "The Thief." A Wikipedia.org article on Tanizaki writes, "Some of his works present a shocking world of sexuality and destructive erotic obsessions." So, that was what I was expecting and wanting. However, this is not at all shocking or erotic. The other thing Wikipedia writes about him as a writer, "Others (tales), less sensational, subtly portray the dynamics of family life in the context of the rapid changes in 20th-century Japanese society." The Makioka Sisters certainly fit that description.
This story is a drama. I don't like dramas for the most part. I didn't particularly like this one, but at the same time it wasn't onerous. There is a certain staccato to the style of this book. It is a translation. So, I cannot know that the original wasn't written in a particularly lovely style rather than this kind of practical almost bare bones approach.
The story is about four sisters. They used to belong to a wealthy family, but the family had lost most of their fortune and some of their reputation. They struggle to find a husband for Yukiko, who is at the center of the story. However, the attention is not entirely on her.
I'm not really sure what to say. Do I recommend it? It's kind of interesting to get inside of a foreign family drama that is not melodramatic. At times I felt excitement as they endured catastrophic natural disasters, and WWII.
The writer never gets very far into the personalities or thoughts of any of the characters. But the dynamic shifting of external cultural influences, economic changes, and those types of social changes in Japan seem to be genuine and without much embellishment. I don't know if I would recommend reading it. But I will not recommend against it. It was enjoyable. But I will be surprised if I remember it a few months from now.
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