Waterstones The Waiting Years
81 ratings
TO EXPLORE MORE
Price: £9.99
Brand: Waterstones
Description: Published for the first time in the UK, one of Japan's greatest modern female writers In the late nineteenth century, Tomo, the faithful wife of a government official, is sent to Tokyo, where a heartbreaking task is awaiting her. From among hundreds of geishas and daughters offered up for sale by their families she must select a respectable young girl to become her husband's new lover. Externally calm, but torn apart inside, Tomo dutifully begins the search for an official mistress. The Waiting Years was awarded Japan's most prestigious literary award, the Noma Prize.
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9780099589457
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9780099589457
My website utilises affiliate links when you click my 'Get the best deal now' buttons. If you buy something through one of these links, I may earn a little commission, at no extra cost to you.
I have relationships with many of the top online retailers (purchasing, shipping and returns will be handled directly by them) which enables me to offer the best deal online for the Waterstones The Waiting Years and many other similar products - which will appear below, to enhance your online shopping experience.
For even more great deals on Waterstones Books, click the link.
Author: SusannahB
Rating: 5
Review: This is, quite simply, a wonderful novel written in a quiet and understated 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 his concubine) Tomo's husband continues to humiliate her in further ways, including indulging in 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.
Author: Truncheon999
Rating: 1
Review: It felt like it took “years” to read … Some interesting historical facts but as a novel could have been spiced up a bit …
