Customer Reviews

Naomi: A Novel

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This is my second time reading the novel, but this time it was for material for a research paper and used it for literary references to the westernization of Japan. To that effect it depicts the contemporary and westernized Moga, Naomi, and the more traditional Joji, who is in the clutchs of Naomi and is completly subservient to her. Some may take that for symbolism and either way it works out to the same point on westernization.

This book is at times funny for Joji's comments on westerners, but other then that this is not a humorous book, so pay no attention to the reviews on the cover saying its "gleeful". If you want a very intresting depiction of Japan post-WW I or you want to witness a strange and capitvating relationship between Naomi and Joji and then be able to wonder about the physcology of it all, you'll have a kind of morbid love for this novel but hate the characters. ON the writing style, Tanizaki depicts and protrays Joji's feelings and situations so real the already off the wall situation will seem quite realistic and even plausiable.

When I first picked up "Naomi", known as "Chijin no Ai" in Japanese, it was in a Japanese literature class at my University. My first exposure to Tanizaki came in reading a short story called "The Tattooer" ("Shisei", which can be found in another collection of his short stories called "Seven Japanese Tales" in English), so I knew he was a good writer with some perverse ideas. Little did I know what I was in for with "Naomi".

We were to read it in a week, which is quite the task with a full schedule. I finished it in three days and reread it a week later. I was amazed at its intricacies.

The story is set in early 1920s Japan, a period when the import of Western fashion, style and culture was at its height and every Japanese person found him or herself enamored with imported American and European literature, dance, clothing and people.

Naomi is a young Japanese waitress with a Western look that a man named Joji finds himself obsessing over at first sight. Even her name, he remarks, resembles Western names. He adopts her and begins to mold her into his perfect woman. The story follows his continual perfecting of her behavior, and her treatment of him. The question soon arises, however, as to who is truly the dominant force in their fragile relationship.

In what I've now come to find is Tanizaki standard, all is never as it seems, and the relationships established throughout the story are rarely as simple as they first appear.

"Naomi" serves as a primer to Tanizaki's entire body of work, being one of his earliest full-length novels and coming before his shift from an obsession with the West to a love of his own traditional Japanese culture.

Since reading it, I've had the opportunity to read much of the rest of his work, and I'm thankful I started with "Naomi". Tanizaki is cited as shifting his views of the West soon after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923 and "Naomi", published in 1924, is his work at that tipping point. Although on the surface it seems to praise a Western infatuation, it throws into question what damage it's doing to the Japanese mind and culture.

A powerful work of perverse fiction, and a great introduction to the twisted, cerebral world of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, I highly recommend "Naomi" to readers tired of the typical stories that are so prevalent in our modern literature and as an introduction to the world of one of the greatest 20th century Japanese authors.

A dubiously crafted work of self-devourment. The course of the novel follows the downfall of the narrator's self-respect at the hands of a seductive lady. The seemingly tragic history that unfolds is marked by the narrator's repeated attempts at extricating himself from the spell that his lust and overpowering "body-parts" fetish for this woman, exotically named "Naomi", has produced within him. Ultimately, he succumbs to his innermost desires and is enslaved by it. He, however, feels no remorse over this, and does not plead for sympathy from his audience.

What this work entails is a woman of awe-inspiring influence who knows it all too well, and a worm of a man who has locked himself into the role of the 'forever enchanted,' mysteriously under a lustspell that appears to be his wit's end. Here, we witness the classic Roman tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra realized in a Japanese retelling: a once self-respectful (and therefore respectable) man destroyed by the charms and wiles of a woman--oh, how beguiling appearances can be!

Unlike the other reviewers, I have a different take on this book. Although admittedly disturbing, it is a book about love. What might disturb the other reviewers is to me the expression of true love.

We've all grown up hearing that Love is kind, Love is pure, Love is innocent. What this book illustrates is that Love is none of these! Love is possessive, Love is controlling, Love is needy. And to top it off, Love has no pride.

Tanizaki has masterfully drawn the reader in to show that indeed, with Love, you do not set up a schedule and a plan ... you do not control Love. Love controls you.

This translation of the original Japanese title "Chijin no Ai" (A Fool's Love), can be interpreted as Tanizaki's skewed portrayal of the East versus West culture clash of the 1920s, during the Taisho Period.

The principle female character, Naomi, is Tanizaki's exaggerated depiction of a victim of the "moga"
(modern girl) / "mobo" (modern boy) phenomenon. Starting as a young and innocent café waitress, she meets Joji, an independent, frugal, commonsensical engineer who introduces to her several Western ideas, like piano, the English language and Western-style dining. She easily integrates these aspects of Western culture in her life, but soon becomes enormously fascinated. As a result, she develops into a frivolous, egocentric, manipulative, and crass woman. With Naomi's transformation, Joji must learn to compromise between his moral integrity and her demands.

The principle male character, Joji, can be seen as Tanizaki's depiction of the struggles between the culture of traditional Japan and the fierce invasion of the cultures of the West. He too undergoes a sort of transformation that may shock readers at the end.

Having read many of Tanizaki's other novels, I have discovered this work to be one of his more milder ones in terms of sexual themes. Unlike some of his other novels, readers will not find foot fetishism, physical sadomasochism, or worship of excreta in Naomi. And surprisingly, this novel was still a controversial work in 1920's Japan. Nevertheless, I recommend this novel to readers interested in Japan's prewar Westernization, works of Tanizaki or social satire.

A fine novel. The premise may seem simple, but Tanizaki has an excellent ear for dialogue and an engaging style that'll pull you in and make you read the whole book before you know it. Said style is often ironic, witty and amusing, but the author always knows better than to engage in small-minded mockery of any of his characters. The point isn't to get you to hate Naomi, it's to get you to understand and sympathize with the hapless Joji, whose travails are depicted in such droll and realistic detail that one gets the impression that there's something of Tanizaki's own life in here. The photograph of him on the back cover of my edition, at any rate, could have been the spitting image of Joji. Anyway. Even if this isn't my favourite book or even my favourite Japanese book, it's still a great, bittersweet read. You should probably purchase it.

This is the first Tanizaki novel I've read, and I enjoyed it a greay deal, but I hate both of the main characters. The story starts off with Joji a 28 year old bachelor who falls for a pretty, quiet 15 year old girl named Naomi. Many things attact Joji to Naomi: her beauty, her Eurasian features, but the main thing is her name: Naomi. The name is written with three Chinese characters and it could also be a western name. Joji finds this very attractive. He starts to hang out with the girl going to Western restaurants and going to see Western movies. He eventually takes the girl in, wanting to make her a prop lady. He pays for her to take English and music lessons. This is when things start to go downhill. Naomi's english is very poor, and Joji makes her work very hard calling her an idiot when she doesn'yt understand passive voice. Naomi gets angry and very obstinate. As time goes on Joji marries Naomi, but keepos it secret from everyone else. He enjoys washing her body and playing horse with her, treating her like a play thing. They eventually go out and study dancing together, but this leads to more problems because of some of the men Naomi meets. I'm not going any further. Read the book and experience how a weak-willed man acts when the woman he loves cheats on him constantly, but can't get enough of her. See how a respectful business man is reduced to a submissive husband to his teenage wife. Very disturbing, but a good read nonetheless.

I must admit that this book is very well written. Yet, as the story continues to unfold, Naomi's manipulative, promiscuous treachery and Joji's dwindled assertion has you gagging and wretching to the end; you learn to hate them both!

The story tells about one average man, attracted by all that is perceived as "western and modern" at the time who raise Naomi (a girl from modest background) to make her his perfect bride and later marry her. He attemps to make her his work (he uses similar words) but things do not turn out as he planned when he realizes she grew up to be a perverse, manipulative, evil woman. The main character however, ends up completely submitted to his desire for her and maintin his destructive relationship with her even though he despises his wife.

I read a few of Tanizaki's book and his work appear to have two main themes which are: the criticism of Japan's obsession for what is western (the book was written in the twenties I think) and the destructive erotic passion. Both these themes are prominent in Naomi which is one of his best work (along with "The Key" and "Diary of a mad old man") as far as I can tell.