The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki
Read for: Orbis Terrarum Challenge – Japan
The Makioka Sisters is a story about the four Makioka girls. The eldest two are married and the younger two are not. The story centres around finding a husband for the 3rd sister (who is almost past marriageable age) and the attitudes of the 4th sister, who cannot marry until her older sister does.
The book takes place over a period of about six (?) years, starting just before WWII began and ending sometime in the spring of 1941. The war isn’t a huge part of the novel, just something that is going on in the background in the lives of this family. The story is more about the family and their struggle to find balance between tradition and the western world.
The youngest sister, Taeko, is the most modern and western (these two terms seem to be interchangeable in the novel). She tried to elope with a man sometime before the novel begins and carries on a secret relationship with him. Taeko spends a lot of time away from the house where 3 of the sisters live together and Tanizaki hints that during this time she is carrying on sexual relationships with several different men.
Meanwhile, the second sister and her husband are doing all they can to try and find an appropriate husband for the third sister in the traditional way. This involves matchmakers and miais (formal meetings between the prospective bride and groom and the matchmakers). Yukiko, the second sister is very shy and in some ways is the most traditional of all the sisters. This causes some complications in the matchmaking process.
The novel doesn’t really tell a traditional story, instead it just tells about the lives of these sisters through this period of time. There were times that I found this to be really tedious and there were several times I wondered what a specific incident had to do with the story. There were other times though that I felt very involved with the characters. At one point there is a flood and several of the family members are in some danger as they were caught out of the house. I almost felt as if I was waiting to hear news of my own family as I read about the sisters doing the same. The boring tedious times contrasted with the exciting times is exactly what real life is like.
At first, I didn’t really like this book, but after thinking about it overnight I began to appreciate it more. It’s a story about real life and real like doesn’t always have a neat beginning, ending and climax.
