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A review by jaymoran
The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi
5.0
As she watched Suga, with the cool skin that harboured an inner light like newly fallen snow and the dewy eyes that were also wide open yet had a misleading troubled look, Tomo would experience two unbidden and conflicting emotions: boundless pity as for a charming animal that was about to be led to the slaughter, and fixed hatred at the thought that eventually this innocent girl might turn into a devil that would devour her husband and sweep unchecked through the whole house.
Despite being short in length, the best word I can use to describe this book is dense and that is in no way intended to be negative. The Waiting Years is thick with important, complex themes and subjects, and reading it is like working your way through a small forest that is cluttered with trees that bend and twist up together.
The premise is simple - in late 19th century Japan, Yukitomo Shirakawa asks his wife, Tomo, to select a concubine for him, preferably very young and untouched. She finds a young girl named Suga and brings her home to live under her roof and share her husband's bed. We follow this family over the years as the women grow up and how the dynamics change, within the household as well as in Japan as a country.
Tomo is acutely aware of her position as a woman and the subservience that is expected of her, and Enchi does a marvellous job of communicating all of this information in such a short space of time, and all without sacrificing the depth of her characters. She doesn't rush to paint them good or bad, right or wrong, nor does she make them flat and easily palatable. The young girl taken into the Shirakawa's home is Suga, a fifteen-year-old who is sold by her own parents to become Shirakawa's sexual companion, in spite of him being two decades her senior. She isn't doused in innocent colours by Enchi - she is a victim but that's not all she is. She has agency, she has personality, and she isn't voiceless, which added further complexity to this novel as we feel for both Suga and Tomo even though they are both inflicting pain upon the other. Tomo selected Suga, brought her into her home for her husband, therefore she is also guilty of altering the girl's future, and Suga poses a threat to the older woman as she could potentially unseat her from her position within the house. As time wears on, Suga's situation becomes all the more tragic as we see her as a thirty-year-old woman who has no experience outside of the Shirakawa household and who would struggle to adapt to the outside world if she ever left, and that is truly devastating.
The Waiting Years is a quiet book that continues to unfurl and reveal itself to you long after you read the final pages. It's a beautifully written novel that examines morals on a personal and societal level, and how we must carry the weight of our decisions and actions for the rest of our lives.
Despite being short in length, the best word I can use to describe this book is dense and that is in no way intended to be negative. The Waiting Years is thick with important, complex themes and subjects, and reading it is like working your way through a small forest that is cluttered with trees that bend and twist up together.
The premise is simple - in late 19th century Japan, Yukitomo Shirakawa asks his wife, Tomo, to select a concubine for him, preferably very young and untouched. She finds a young girl named Suga and brings her home to live under her roof and share her husband's bed. We follow this family over the years as the women grow up and how the dynamics change, within the household as well as in Japan as a country.
Tomo is acutely aware of her position as a woman and the subservience that is expected of her, and Enchi does a marvellous job of communicating all of this information in such a short space of time, and all without sacrificing the depth of her characters. She doesn't rush to paint them good or bad, right or wrong, nor does she make them flat and easily palatable. The young girl taken into the Shirakawa's home is Suga, a fifteen-year-old who is sold by her own parents to become Shirakawa's sexual companion, in spite of him being two decades her senior. She isn't doused in innocent colours by Enchi - she is a victim but that's not all she is. She has agency, she has personality, and she isn't voiceless, which added further complexity to this novel as we feel for both Suga and Tomo even though they are both inflicting pain upon the other. Tomo selected Suga, brought her into her home for her husband, therefore she is also guilty of altering the girl's future, and Suga poses a threat to the older woman as she could potentially unseat her from her position within the house. As time wears on, Suga's situation becomes all the more tragic as we see her as a thirty-year-old woman who has no experience outside of the Shirakawa household and who would struggle to adapt to the outside world if she ever left, and that is truly devastating.
The Waiting Years is a quiet book that continues to unfurl and reveal itself to you long after you read the final pages. It's a beautifully written novel that examines morals on a personal and societal level, and how we must carry the weight of our decisions and actions for the rest of our lives.