Sankara Jayanth S's Reviews > Some Prefer Nettles

A beautifully written story set in early 20th century Japan about a husband and wife who have fallen out of love but are at an impasse as they struggle with going through with the logical future of their relationship, a divorce. I steer clear of reading general fiction like family dramas but I love the allure of "cozy stories set in Japan with cherry blossoms, volcanoes in the backdrop and all" and so I keep looking for such books. So, I went ahead and read this book and loved every bit of it.

The fact that this book is translated from Japanese language is something I keep forgetting and that speaks volumes about the quality of translation by Edward G. Seindenticker. The writing was eloquent and it would not have been so had it not been so, or better, in its original form in Japanese written by Junichiro Tanizaki. All through the story I could see his vast and accurate knowledge of human nature and his understanding of our thinking patterns about things like love, relationships, responsibility, freedom and the things that influence us regarding our approach to these aspects of our lives.

I was blown away by the first chapter because Tanizaki sets up the unpleasant, uneasy atmosphere of a home where the husband and wife no longer have any feelings for each other with simple but powerful writing. With just few simple moments between the couple Kaname and Misako, we come to know the current nature of their relationship.

Particularly when, as today, she stood behind him, helping him into his kimono and straightening his collar, he became most keenly aware of what an eccentric thing their marriage was.
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Kaname felt her hand brush against his neck two or three times, but her touch was as cool and impersonal as a barber's.
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She perhaps knew from experience what sort of emotions the occasion would arouse in him, and, as if to ward off the possibility that she herself might be drawn into the same sentimentality, she went at her duties precisely, impersonally.

A divorce is pretty horrible experience, I would assume, no matter the things that lead up to it, however amicable a couple might be in their collective decision to separate. The author excellently portrays what the couple who have in their minds and hearts already separated might be going through and how the fact that their decision would impact the life of their young son who, even in his innocence, perceives all is not well and has a sense of foreboding about the future of his family.

The three of them would go out for their walk, each alone with his thoughts, each feigning easy, pleasant family affection. The picture was a little frightening. That his and Misako's conspiracy to deceive the world should have been allowed to include Hiroshi seemed to Kaname rather a serious crime.

The author's profound understanding of human nature and the various personality traits each of us have and how they define and influence our decisions, or lack of, was a very humbling thing to read in the context of this story. Time and again, my heart stopped a beat because the dissection of these traits hit too close to home.

He was disgusted with his own indecision, his tendency to postpone action from day to week to month until it had become clear that he would not be able to speak out until a final crisis forced him to.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this drama set in Osaka/Kyoto/Tokyo at a time when the western culture, that of USA and Europe, was gaining major ground in Japan and there is real and ever present conflict in almost every aspect of life of the people in Japan that contrasts the old and the new, people seemingly preferring one over another, subtly begrudging those who choose differently. I guess this happens to any cultural clash that leads to transformation and evolution, and degradation as some might prefer to call it, of native culture. The same is the case for art as well, as the every turning wheel of time and the ever transforming world force upon the art forms and their advocates tough decisions about whether to persist with the old or to adapt to the new and what it might mean for the creator/performer and what it means for the audience.

It was not enough that something should be touching, charming, graceful; it had to have about it a certain radiance, the power to inspire veneration. One had to feel forced to one's knees before it, or lifted by it to the skies.
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It hardly seemed necessary to worry about the plot. Just to lose oneself in the movements of the puppets was enough, and the disorderliness of the audience was no hindrance. Rather the myriad noises and myriad colors combined into a brightness, a liveness, like a kaleidoscope pointed into the sun, and the eye took from them an overall harmony.

The author uses vignettes and metaphors to great effect. Here is Kaname explaining why he is waiting for spring season to talk to his son about the divorce. And the subsequent reply to this by his relative.

Kaname: That's my theory. It's still a little chilly but it's getting warmer, and before long the cherry blossoms will be out and after that the new leaves - everything to make a separation as easy as it could be.

Takanatsu: It something happens while the cherries are in bloom, you choke up when you see cherry blossoms.