Gabrielle's Reviews > The Makioka Sisters

I wasn’t sure what to expect from my first time reading Tanizaki, but feeling like I was reading a cross between a Tolstoy, Wharton and Austen novel set in pre-WWII Japan was definitely not what I was expecting. And what an amazing surprise it was, to feel in somehow familiar territory whilst reading the words of a previously unknown author and to be transported into the Makioka home as the whole family tries to figure out a way to marry the third daughter, the quiet Yukiko.

There’s an elegant simplicity to the prose, which is something that draws me back again and again to early 20th century Japanese authors. And yet, what a complicated, layered world those characters live in! The highly ritualized, traditional Japanese customs are shown here being slowly but surely eroded by the Westernization of the country, the influences of foreigners changing these women – the two youngest sisters, especially. I have come to realize I love those stories where the old and the new push against each other and put characters in that ambiguous place of loving some elements of the past while also rejecting it.

As far as plots go, “The Makioka Sisters” doesn’t have much of one. The story is made up of small domestic dramas that follow each other like beads on a string, which, while not terribly exciting, still makes for an amazing and intimate read.

The once great family is now in slow decline as the war brews in the background. The eldest sisters’ respective marriages are now settled affairs that simply follow their course; they change houses, raise children who befriend foreigners, try to find a husband for the third sister - who while being compliant as old-fashioned Japanese women are wont to be, still makes this process complicated and frustrating. The youngest sister tries to emancipate herself through various forms of artistic expression, falls in love with someone the family doesn’t approve of, behaves less and less like a respectable Japanese woman ought to…

The writing and the exceptionally detailed description of the life and thoughts of the characters make this book a wonderful glimpse into a time and place that is now a thing of the past. I wonder how good Tanizaki was at capturing women's way of thinking and behaving, as his female characters are front and center here, obviously. Realistic or not is not relevant at this point, but I loved that he makes each sister character unique and quite strongly developed, even the two elder ones, who take more of a supporting part in this story than the youngest.

A lovely, quiet story about lovely but not-so-quiet women.