Quicksand

by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki

Book Overview

From one of the greatest writers of twentieth-century Japan comes a silkily nuanced novel of erotic gamesmanship and obsession. The voice--cultured, ingenuous, and with a touch of coquetterie--is that of Sonoko Kakiuchi, an Osaka lady of good family married to a dully respectable lawyer.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039458547X
• ISBN13: 9780394585475
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.1" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Oh, what a tangled web...

Sonoko, a bored housewife in 1920s Osaka and the first-person narrator of this story, has a passionate affair with the beautiful Mitsuko. At first, this seems like a fairly straightforward account of forbidden passion, but then we discover the existence of Mitsuko's male lover, Watanuki. At this point, the figure of Mitsuko becomes increasingly enigmatic as the reader attempts to discern which of her actions are motivated by passion and which are calculated to keep herself enshrined as an object of desire at the center of a convoluted human drama. The schemes and manipulations become ever more outrageous until, by the end, we are forced to conclude that "Quicksand" is a very dark comedy, despite author Junichiro Tanizaki's cold, controlled style. The suspicions that the narrator reveals on the very last page of the novel shows just how tenuous her grip on reality has become.

Another Tale Of Obsession

I've been reading a lot of Junichiro Tanizaki lately, and the most recent book I read was Quicksand. It was another love triangle penned from the point of view of an unreliable narrator, which is similar to The Key and Diary of a Mad Old Man. It is yet another story of obsession, desire, and death. It is a love triangle between a married woman, her husband, and a corrupt, manipulative femme fatale. It was one of his more compelling stories for sure.

A very absorbing novel!

This is a wonderful work of literary fiction and in my opinion, one of Junichiro Tanizaki's best works. Here he weaves love, lust, deceit, extortion and human suffering into a compelling and gripping novel. The story centers around Mrs. Sonoko Kakiuchi a woman who is bored with her husband and has recently started taking courses at an art school. She eventually meets a beautiful student named Mitsuko and the two carry on an affair. Everything seems fine at first but Mitsuko soon starts acting strange and before Mrs. Kakiuchi knows it, she is thrust into a strange, surreal world filled with deception, suspicion, botched abortions, fake pregnancies, blood oaths and secret rendezvous. This is a fantastic book that will pull you right into the story. It almost makes one feel like they're a silent accomplice to all of secret goings-on while at the same time making them thankful that they're not involved at all. The story becomes more and more engrossing with each chapter. When a twisted love triangle and suicide pact are introduced, the situation takes a sinister turn until the entire affair ends in tragedy. The story has an interesting melodramatic, film-noir like quality that adds to the atmosphere. A highly recommended novel! Another recommendation is "The Key" also written by Junichiro Tanizaki.

Help me I'm sinking!

Sonoko Kakiuchi has a problem. She is bored with her husband that her family is supporting through law school. So she found a lover but he has become worthless to her. To waste some time she begins to attend art classes and that's where she begins to become obsessed with the most beautiful woman she has ever seen, Mitsuko. What follows are affairs, deceit, puzzles within puzzles, lies, and everything that comes along with extra marital affairs. You can only read in amazement as Mitsuko slowly devours the lives of everyone around her. Beneath the simple plot, there are deep issues about love and trust explored in this book. As the book progresses, reality also comes more into question. For a work of "literature", this book is a real page turner. It almost reads like a mystery novel with elements of James Ellroy and Paul Auster. This is my first exposure to Tanizaki, so I look forward to reading his other works. He seems like a real master of the novel.

Interesting insight into social warfare

I did not find this book as nearly emotionally involving as the book jacket suggested it would be - like other Tanizaki books I've read, the author describes very emotionally disruptive situations with intentionally cool detachment. What I found most interesting however was the curious social warfare depicted in the book, as each of the books characters try to best each other through more and more agressive lying and blackmail. One pauses to wonder - is this an accurate description of Japan in the 1920s - Japan today - Asia today - the entire world of human relations - or simply a product of Tanizaki's morbid imagination - no more (or less) an accurate description of his time and place than Kafka's of post World War I Prague. I certainly don't agree that Mitsuko is the best written femme fatale in literature, but some kind of award should be given to her first male lover for most agressively social warrior male I've seen depicted so far. If you want to read an intricate serious soap opera in a Japanese pre-War context, this is your book.