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Title: Beautiful, evocative tale of pre-World War II Japan
Review: This has to be considered Tanizaki's masterpiece. It is a beautifully written, deliciously observed tale of the decline of a privileged upper middle class Osaka family, told through the lives of four sisters. I have read this book three times and learn someting new each time. It is a thoroughly modern story with elusive and ghostly antecedents. Although the tale takes place only 60 years ago, on the eve of pre-war Japan, it describes a world now vanished. Tanizaki's writing is fluid and clear. His description of Kyoto during cherry blossom viewing makes me sorry I've never been there at that season. The sublety Tanizaki brings to the emotions and motives of each of the persons attending Yukiko's many miais is amazing. Unfortunately, the film of about a decade or so ago doesn't do the book justice. Thank you, Tanizaki-san, for giving us the Makioka Sisters.
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