[This is one of the finalists in the 2026 book review contest, written by an ACX reader who will remain anonymous until after voting is done.
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voting → write → reader
I’ll be posting about one of these a week for several months.
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I → post → months
When you’ve read them all, I’ll ask you to vote for a favorite, so remember which ones you liked
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you → read → ones
[Content warning: Sexual and relationship practices from a thousand years ago, from a time and place with a very different morality than what you probably subscribe to.
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you → subscribe → what
Isolated from the lives of regular commoners, every aspect of the lives of the elite were governed by complex etiquette rules, and relationships were thoroughly intertwined with politics and the ambition for power and wealth.
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relationships → isolate → power
High-ranking women and men lived lives so separate that they might have a passionate love affair without properly seeing each other’s faces.
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they → rank → faces
It was in this world that Murasaki Shikibu, an intelligent and educated lady in Empress Shōshi’s court, wrote The Tale of Genji, which is widely considered to be the world’s oldest novel.
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which → educate → Genji
It is an extraordinary masterpiece and a highly questionable soap opera, and I’ve never read anything like it.
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I → read → it
Royall Tyler (2001) begins the introduction to his translation of Genji like this:
The Tale of Genji was written a thousand years ago in Japan, but anyone can read it today.
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anyone → begin → it
The notes are useful but not required.
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notes → require → ?
So great a classic, written in an ancient language about a vanished world, has been studied intensively, but its characters’ thoughts and feelings remain as fresh as ever.
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thoughts → write → world
I disagree with Tyler, hard.
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I → disagree → Tyler
The footnotes are critically important if you want to understand a world so completely different from the one we live in, and the characters generally behave, think, and feel in ways that are so outdated as to be completely unrelatable.
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that → want → ways
In this review, I will walk you through my experience of reading Genji and learning about its world, so that you can judge for yourself whether Tyler is right and anyone can read it today.
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anyone → walk → it
The Tale of Genji tells the fictional tale of Genji, the son of the Emperor and one of his low-ranking concubines, throughout his life.
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Tale → tell → life
A few things to know about Genji:
He is incredibly beautiful.
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He → know → Genji
Men and women weep at the sight of him.
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Men → weep → him
Monks and nuns weep when he leaves, distraught that someone like him has to live in this wretched world.
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someone → weep → world
He is better than others at nearly every skill that marks a sophisticated and educated man, such as composing poetry, calligraphy, playing music, singing, dancing, painting, and knowledge of Chinese literature.
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that → mark → literature
When he demonstrates these skills, everyone weeps.
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everyone → demonstrate → skills
He dresses and behaves immaculately.
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He → dress → ?
Pretty sure someone weeps about that, too.
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someone → weep → that
He falls in love a lot, and is known for his numerous romantic conquests.
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He → fall → conquests
He doesn’t have the official title of Prince, nor is he in the line of succession to become Emperor, and he has to work hard to advance his political career in the Court.
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he → have → Court
But most of the story focuses on him longing after and pursuing various women, whether it’s a good idea or not, and often it’s not.
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it → focus → women
Usually all involved parties weep.
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parties → weep → ?
He often thinks about resigning his worldly life and becoming a monk, but, unfortunately, he has so many worldly attachments that it would be pretty difficult.
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it → think → attachments
I will gladly admit I fail to relate to Genji and his struggles.
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I → admit → Genji
The narrator and the other characters try to convince the reader of Genji’s absolute magnificence, while Genji himself is busy doing the opposite.
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Genji → try → opposite
Please enjoy the following reconstruction of my early days of reading Genji, as I kept interrupting whatever my partner was doing to tell them what Genji is up to:
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Genji → enjoy → what
Okay, so… the Emperor had a favourite… concubine, I guess?
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I → have → concubine
And he had a child with the concubine, and that child is Genji, but his mother died because… all the other women in the Emperor’s court were jealous and mean to her?
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women → have → her
Anyway, the Emperor took a new wife because she looks like Genji’s mother, and she is SIXTEEN.
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she → take → mother
And the Emperor wants the two of them to spend a lot of time together so that she can become a new mother to Genji.
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she → want → Genji
“Welp, now Genji has fallen in love with his stepmother.
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Genji → fall → stepmother
His dad is just happy that he managed to find a new mother for him.”
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he → manage → him
You won’t believe this.
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You → believe → this
Genji is hanging out on a mountain and comes across a house, and sneaks around peeping through holes in the walls and sees a lovely 10-year-old girl who reminds him of his stepmother.
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who → hang → stepmother
Then he finds out the girl actually is the niece of his stepmother, so of course now he wants to have her.
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he → find → her
And he is imagining how great it would be to raise the child himself, so he could be sure to shape her into ‘the perfect woman’.”
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he → imagine → woman
…and 346 more, not listed.
