- Paperback: 100 pages
- Publisher: University of Michigan Press (September 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0939512882
- ISBN-13: 978-0939512881
- Product Dimensions: 22.7 x 15.4 x 0.9 cm
- Shipping Weight: 204 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In its first English translation, Shohei's 1961 novel depicts the atmosphere and social mores of Tokyo's decadent Ginza District of the 1950s through the haunting story of an aging nightclub courtesan. At 38, Yoko Adachi abruptly ends a three-year romantic relationship with a married man without insisting on the maintenance or "lump sum" customarily bestowed upon discarded mistresses and returns to her former job as bar hostess, though she knows that time is "unceremoniously laying waste to her." The Ginza is portrayed as a hard world, where men and women use each other, the bar hostesses trying to turn casual sexual partners into patrons who will set them up in business or support them indefinitely. Calculating enough to begin cultivating such profitable relationships, Yoko has never become as shrewd or ruthless as the younger madams Junko and Ayako, who run the bars in which she works. Compared to them, Yoko seems naive; she self-destructively angers all her lovers and sends them packing, distrusting both love relationships and those based on desire and money. The only man she trusts, seeing him as a father figure, is impoverished Professor Takashima, who actually cares little for Yoko and eventually destroys her last hope for financial security. Despite the dry irony of Shohei's prose, there is great pathos in this story of the little bar hostess whose circumstances overwhelm her. This edition includes an informative introduction by the translator and an enlightening 1972 postscript by the author.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
time well spent,
By
This review is from: The Shade of Blossoms (Paperback)
I previously read "Fires on the Plain" by Shohei Ooka and so I was interested when I noticed a review about a new book by the same author. "The Shade of Blossoms" is a short novel about an aging Geisha. Everyone knows who Geishas are but it has been my experience that no one ever spells it out. You get a fair idea from this book. There's not a lot of time for background in the 119 pages of this novella but we do get a good look at a woman who seems to lack any control over herself or her destiny. She has lost her past, can't figure out her present, and avoids any effort to create a future. There are developments in her life that seem encouraging but the self-destructiveness of the main character makes this work a tragedy. It is a tragedy worth reading as well as a brief look beyond the imagery of a Geisha.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review) 1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
time well spent,
By Randy Keehn - Published on Amazon.com
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This review is from: The Shade of Blossoms (Paperback)
I previously read "Fires on the Plain" by Shohei Ooka and so I was interested when I noticed a review about a new book by the same author. "The Shade of Blossoms" is a short novel about an aging Geisha. Everyone knows who Geishas are but it has been my experience that no one ever spells it out. You get a fair idea from this book. There's not a lot of time for background in the 119 pages of this novella but we do get a good look at a woman who seems to lack any control over herself or her destiny. She has lost her past, can't figure out her present, and avoids any effort to create a future. There are developments in her life that seem encouraging but the self-destructiveness of the main character makes this work a tragedy. It is a tragedy worth reading as well as a brief look beyond the imagery of a Geisha.
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