Customer Reviews

The Waiting Years

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
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This book took my breath away. Fumiko Enchi describes the life of Tomo, who deals with her adulterous husband with amazing strength. In a complex marriage of love and hate, Tomo is sent to choose a concubine for her husband, find a husband for the other concubine he doesn't want, and worry about his affair with her daughter-in-law. While she may seem like a cold and unfeeling woman who is a stickler to tradition, Enchi shows the reader the gentle, compassionate side of Tomo. Tomo in the end is finally able to defeat her husband in an intelligent, almost classy manner.

What strikes me about the book is the way Enchi explains the motivations and fears of each of the characters. Even though I couldn't stand Tomo's husband, Yukitomo, at least I understood why he treated his wife so coldly. As in reality, everyone has different layers. The plot of the book is also interesting.

Do not wait to read the "The Waiting Years"!

The Waiting Years shares the unhurried pace of much Japanese literature. This helps to set the flavor of the world in which the story is based...a world where things take time and waiting is necessary.

The story highlights many inequalities in traditional Japanese society - with a strong focus on the inequality of women - using believable characters. Enchi shows us both sides of the coin, making us understand each character's actions even when the action evokes outrage.

Enchi is one of Japan's foremost female authors and this book is a fine example of why.

Very highly recommended for all but those who need a fast paced yarn.

A low key family saga centred on the decades long war between Yukitomo, a government official, and Tomo his wife. Yukitomo is too arrogant & self centred to realise that he is in a battle with Tomo, but the latter is conscious of the struggle every day of their long marriage. When Tomo is sent to Tokyo to find a "maid" for Yokotomo, she knows her place in his affections (and his bed) is about to be taken by a fifteen year old girl. She is appalled and humiliated, yet being a dutiful late 19th century Japaqnese wife she takes pride in choosing a girl who will meet her lecherous spouse's needs and expectations.

Enchi appears to put 1950s feminist thoughts into the heads of her turn of the century female characters as the many ironies of Tomo's position in the family and wider community are carefully explored. Although the conventions of the society are heavily biased against women, Enchi is able to highlight some of the positive aspects as well as the weaknesses. The major characters are not one dimensional - she draws out some sympathy and understanding for Yukitomo while finding fault in Tomo and his other victims. This is a novel that progresses at a gentle pace, with little action, some dialogue and a lot of looks and glances, repressed feelings and unspoken resentment.

I first had to read this book for a East-Asian Novel class, and recently have read it again. I was struck more this time by the pure torture the Main character, Tomo, had to endure through the years with her unfaithful husband Yukitomo. The book, to put it in the most threadbare terms, tells of a woman who although basically runs the entire household is pushed aside by her lustful husband into the role of wife in name only while he has relations with not only two young women young enough to be his daughters, one who he had his purchase for him, but also his son's wife. Tomo is caught between her husband's licentatious ways and a samurai ethic that keeps her bound to him. a great quick read

Sparingly and richly written, The Waiting Years is classically Japanese and yet entirely modern. The story of a wife who faithfully, if not spitefully, serves her philandering hunsband, this novel presents an amazing range of psychological situations while never straying from a very taut artistry. I don't know if copies are easily found, but the search would prove well worth it to the successful.

Not a word is wasted in this short and powerful novel covering decades in the life of the Shirakawas, a Japanese family from a century ago, and offering an intense and fascinating look into intimate relationships and suppressed emotions. .

The story begins with Yukitomo asking his wife Tomo to choose a concubine for him, someone young and inexperienced who will also serve as a maid for her. Though Tomo is not yet 30 he has already tired of her and she has become used to his appetite for many affairs, while choosing a mistress for her husband can be perceived as an insult she considers herself fortunate to have control over what woman will be brought into her home and family life. As the years go on a second concubine is acquired, geishas visit frequently, and eventually the aging Yukitomo even takes his own daughter-in-law as his mistress. Through it all Tomo is left with the management of the estate and the care of the family.

Recommended for those who are interested in marriages involving concubines.

It was more of an intro to Japanese literature for me and i found some similiarities in african polygamous setting i empatised with Kin and was heartbroken myself.
Fumiko Enchi is extremely deep and has portrayed in the story the power of love to bear all things

A wife must make choices in an attempt to do what she believe will be best for her family, and this begins a web of deceit and betrayal that ensnares several naive young women as well as the children. The wife manages to run her household, maintain her position and live her life following the traditional rules and proper comportment appropriate to her stature.
The wife,Tomo, must compromise her heart in order to maintain her life, with the knowledge that her very support could be lost at any time should her husband choose to dispossess her. This is turn could endanger the futures of her children. In order to keep everything perfectly balanced she must not only walk a fine line, but do it with her eyes closed to realities she must cope with. This is a beautifully written novel told in a subtle yet complex manner whcih reveals the depth of Tomo's dedication to family and tradition.

This Japanese novel is unrelentingly painful. It chronicles the life of a traditional upper-class
Japanese woman in the 1930's (?), She devotes her live almost unquestioningly to her hus-
bands happiness and welfare. This causes the demise of her own spirit and self-esteem. All
that she does for him is at her own expense. It is she who selects his concubines and sees to
their comfort. Her unhappiness distances her from her own children and grandchildren. Her
only victory is to outlive her husband. Even here she fails.

The book has very interesting descriptions of Japanese culture and the politeness structure in
this country. I highly recommend this book.

This book was very good. It kept me very interested.
I hope there are more out there like this one.