Hi everyone. Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today, I’m doing my July Wrap Up. This month was also rather slow, and I only finished three books, just like in June. I did, however, finish the longest book I’ve read this year thus far and that, I think, is a big achievement. Nonetheless, it feels like I haven’t finished a book in a very long time. Here are my thoughts on all three of them:
1. CLASSIC AND HISTORICAL FICTION: The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu
The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu is one of those books that I’ve wanted to read for years but didn’t because it is too long, and reading a big book like this one takes commitment (it’s 1175 pages long, in my edition). So it just sat there on my shelves, accumulating dust until I finally did pick it up in June for one of my book clubs. And I am so glad that I didn’t read this book before because I wouldn’t have finished it. Plus, I got the chance to read it with a wonderful community of book lovers, who either really hated or really loved it.
I started hating this book, which was very disappointing at first because The Tale of Genji was one of my most anticipated reads for this year and I wasn’t liking it. In fact, the main character, Genji, is not likeable at all. And I DNF’d it at 45% because I just couldn’t stand to read another chapter about Genji ‘falling in love’ with yet another woman and to be told how he made that woman his. This got old quickly, and I was utterly and indescribably bored. When I first started this book, I was definitely not expecting to be told the minute details of Genji’s romantic (in his eyes, at least) dalliances and that is what a good 500 pages of this book are. Set in Heian Japan (a thousand years ago), I was expecting this book to be a window to an era of Japanese culture that is so old that it is a way of life not entirely known today. And in a way it is, but when I first started this book I didn’t see it that way. I was focusing too much on Genji. And then I stopped trying to like him and let myself not like him. That made all the difference in the world.
The book was written by a gentlewoman of that time, whose real name we don’t know but have dubbed Murasaki, in honor of one of her characters, to alleviate the eternal and perpetual boredom women of high society lived in during that time. They were literally not allowed to do anything, and Murasaki Shikibu wrote The Tale of Genji to entertain them. So, it is like a precursor of modern day soap operas. And just like soap operas today, the most interesting thing about a courtier is his romantic life and whether or not he’ll get one woman or another; hence, Genji’s womanizing ways. And while I never got to liking Genji, I did sympathize a bit more with the women he took as wives and lovers.
The most important of these women and who was Genji’s second principal wife is Murasaki. She is Genji’s perfect woman, a search that Genji pursues his entire life and his excuse to have all the affairs he does. But even she, whom Genji loved more than the others, is not exempt from Genji’s tendency to stray and he hurts her deeply every time he takes a new lover or additional wife, as in the case of Tamakazura.
What stands out in this book, however, is not Genji, but the women he takes. Each one of these has a tragic ending, as a consequence of getting involved with Genji or being forced to get involved with him, or an unhappy life. And the more I read this book, the more I realized that women of court in this era of Japan were not happy. This continues on with Genji’s descendance. Yes, the prophecy that Genji’s children were going to be great is fulfilled and Genji is remembered as great after he dies, but any woman surrounding him or his children is so unhappy, it’s eye-opening how hard life was for them. Saying no was not an option. And either they accepted their fate, which was to be married off to a man you barely knew, even if that man disgusted them, like Genji to Tamakazura, retire from the world and become a nun, or die (kill yourself). They had no say in their lives, and that is hard.
I don’t know if I’ll ever read this book again. Did I like it? I’m not sure yet.
2. NONFICTION AND HISTORY: Poland 1939: The Outbreak of World War II
The Second World War in Europe began at dawn on September 1, 1939. It shouldn’t need saying, of course, but the date of the start of the largest war in human history is a subject that is shrouded in confusion across the globe. Every combatant nation has its own narrative and chronology. In China and Japan, the war is held to have begun on July 7, 1939. For Americans, the war started on December 7, 1941, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor; everything before that date is merely a curious, far-off prelude to the main event. In the Soviet Union, and its successor state, Russia, the fiction has long been maintained that the Second World War began with Operation Barbarrosa, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and Stalin’s earlier invasions of Poland, Finland, and the Baltic States have been skillfully airbrushed as popular narrative. Even the British and French are not entirely clear on the issue. Both countries declared war on Hitler’s Germany on September 3, 1939, after Germany failed to withdraw from Poland, but did nothing to aid their ally and shamefully left it to its fate. Thereafter, for the people of Britain and France, nothing happened until German forces smashed westward across the French border in May 1940.
In other words, the beginning of WWII depends on who you ask. If you ask someone from Japan, it will be one date. If you ask an American, it will be another and if you ask someone from Britain or France, it will be yet another. It is all very self-centered, Roger Moorhouse says; no one and none of the powers involved remember that WWII started with Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939. And this is what the author wants to remind us of; that despite Britain and France’s assurances of assistance, Poland was pretty much left to its own fate. Not much is written about the German attack on Poland, but on October 6th, 1939, following the Polish defeat at the Battle of Kock, German and Soviet forces took full control over Poland and the Second Polish Republic ceased to exist.
Poland, however, never surrendered. And just like when Catherine The Great took control of Poland (when she put her former lover on the throne) and partitioned it not once but twice with other powers of her time, like Austria, Hitler and Stalin too conquered and divided it. Poland has had a hard time of it and it has had to fight for its territory for most, if not all, its existence. I did not know this, and this historical account of the outbreak of WWII helped me understand better the onset of the war. Read by the author in its audiobook format, Poland 1939 focuses on Hitler’s search for Lebensraum or living space, a leading motivation of Nazi Germany to start WWII, his attack on Poland, and the Polish defense of its territory.
This book is a clear account of the 35 days (from 1 September 1939 to 6 October 1939) that the attack on Poland lasted, and I recommend it to anyone interested in the topic. It is worth the read and a good introduction if you want to learn more about WWII. I Liked It And Will Probably Read It Again.
3. HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY: Juana de Castilla by María Teresa Álvarez
Joanna of Castile, historically known as Joanna The Mad, was a strong and intelligent woman that was maligned and set aside by the men she most loved in the world: her father, Ferdinand of Aragon, her husband, Philip The Handsome, and her son, the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V. Joanna of Castile was never expected to become Princess of Asturias, the title of the heir apparent to the throne, let alone Queen of Spain, but her eldest sister, Isabella, died in 1498 shortly after giving birth to her son Miguel. The baby too died shortly before its second birthday in 1500. And Juan, Joanna’s brother, also died. He passed away a year before Isabella in 1497 and his wife, Margaret of Austria, gave birth to a stillborn daughter. These deaths catapulted Joanna to the position of Princess of Asturias, and after her mother died, the formidable Catholic monarch Isabella I of Castile, passed away in 1504, she became queen of Castile and Leon.
Joanna, however, was not allowed to rule. Prone to jealous rages over her husband’s mistresses, Philip spread rumors about her mental instability that were only reinforced after his death, when she traveled from Burgos to Granada to bury her husband visibly pregnant. Ferdinand intervened and declared his daughter mentally ill and ruled in Spain as regent until his death in 1516. Joanna was locked up in Tordesillas for the rest of her life until her own death in April 1555 at the age of 75. Charles V eventually took over as regent and then as monarch. But he too kept his mother isolated from the world.
The book is written in such a way that historical events are told in third person while Juana’s memories are recounted in first person, as if it were her who was telling them to the reader and I really liked this way of writing. Joanna’s life was hard, just as hard as those of the women described in The Tale of Genji, who spent most of their lives indoors to prevent men from seeing them. Joanna’s circumstances were very different, however, as she was sequestered to prevent her from assuming power; still, she too had no say in her life and was simply separated from everything just because of who and what she was. That is rough. I Liked this book And Will Probably Read It Again.
