Three interesting stories of mother and son relations, all based on the live of the author, that show the strain a modernising society put on confucian morals
I have portrayed honestly and unreservedly, to the extent possible and justifiable, matters that struck my heart as fact s at the time. In this sense, this is my only confessional work. - Jun'ichirō Tanizaki about Sorrows of a Heretic, the longest story included in Longing and Other Stories

The bundle contains three distinct stories, with titular Longing kicking off the collection.
That voice - though it was less a voice than a profound silence - created a melancholy music that made the quietness of the night still more mysterious….
A boy lost in the dark pine woods after relocating from Tokyo ends up in an almost dreamlike voyage through the rural landscape. In terms of alienation it reminded me of Sylvia Plath her novella Mary Ventura and the Ninth Kingdom. The narrator in no way feels childlike, a hint to quite an emotive tale in terms of environmental depiction. Quite uncanny.

Sorrows of a heretic
You were born with a defective spirit
An unlikeable main character who has lucid dreams and speaks unconsciously out loud, with a dying sister at home. The discussion and backstory of a gramophone at the start of the novel was rather excessive in my view. Then we have some lending gone wrong, and even more character flaws in the narrator, however his fellow students are not much better, only wanting to visit a grieving family because they think the sister of the deceased hot.

Egotistical, lazy, indulgent, unreliable - the main character is drawn by Tanizaki in an unflattering manner, beaten down by circumstances with no way out, but also at his core no true morality.
The ending is very sudden; apparently autobiographical, and a very unflinching character study

The story of an unhappy mother
Younger brother narrating a family’s tragedy, befallen to his mother and eldest brother.
Again a spoiled child character in the spotlight, this time a mother instead of a son.
Confucian morals maxed out, coming into the spotlight due to a freak boat incident.
I am sure Mother will go on living in my heart forever, uttered at the end of the story feels almost like a threat.

An interesting collection of uncanny, uncomfortable tales from a great Japanese writer.

I had been meaning to read something by this author for a while so when I had the chance to review this book, I leaped at the opportunity. Needless to say, I was not disappointed.

Despite being written in different styles, all three stories drew me in. They were all beautifully written, excellently translated, and effectively portrayed emotions that can still be appreciated even now, a hundred years (give or take) after their original publications. I really appreciate writing that can sweep you along regardless of what happens in the story and this was definitely one of those cases. In each story, I was never entirely sure where the plot was going, but I was content to let myself enjoy the language and the emotions that it carried.

I will say, though, that these stories are not for everyone. The protagonist in the second story "Sorrows of a Heretic" for example, is extremely unlikeable. I still enjoyed the story personally because, despite his flaws, the young man still struck me as someone with potential. If he could have stopped being so self-centered he could have been a good person. This was enough to keep me engaged. I kept reading in the hope of seeing some redemption (I even like to think there was a glimmer of that towards the end), but I can also see where this character would quickly get tiresome.

It also bears mentioning that the third story, "The Story of an Unhappy Mother," includes suicide. I would advise caution for anyone triggered by that.

Ultimately, I gave this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars. It's a short read that makes a big impact, but I think some knowledge of Tanizaki and the time he lived in would have increased my enjoyment.

That's not to say I didn't enjoy the stories, I definitely did. However, I was undeniably viewing them from my 21st-century lens and while that has its own appeal, there were still times that I felt I was missing something. The afterword confirmed this by offering new details which would never have even occurred to me. I'd like to learn more on the subject and return for a second read.

My thanks to NetGalley and Columbia University Press for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

It was a real pleasure to me to read these amazing stories that deal with mother-son relationships. And how this kind of relationship can be different, so are the stories. But they will not leave anybody indifferent. Plus, it was great to immerse yourself in the Japanese culture and philosophy. The translator's afterword is a very important thing that can help everyone to get all the author's ideas and , maybe, reread the stories to acquire the different level of perception.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Columbia University Press for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgalley for the e - ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This is one of the most valuable pieces of translated fiction available to us and I'm so glad that I have had the chance to read it! Jun'ichirō Tanizaki puts mother-son relationships under a microscope over the span of three poignant short stories. I am awed by how connected I felt to the characters and how vividly the themes of insecurity and self-criticism were touched upon in this book. Absolutely loved all three of them, but The Story Of An Unhappy Mother is my personal favorite!

[my rating: 4.5/5]

Longing and Other Stories features three short stories by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, focusing on the relationships between mother and son.

In the first story, "Longing“, a child is lost looking for his mother in the wilderness. This story was my favorite. It used very descriptive language and felt very mystical.

The second story, "Sorrows of a Heretic,” surrounds a university student living in poverty with his dysfunctional family. This story was my least favorite as I struggled to connect with the protagonist; he was very unlikeable!

The third story, "The Story of an Unhappy Mother,” describes a disintegrating relationship between a mother and son. I loved how the plot unfolded to reveal secrets as to the real reason for the mother’s melancholy.

Overall I enjoyed all three stories and found them to be a very compelling and emotional read. I recommend reading the translator's afterword as it provides deeper insights into all three stories.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Columbia University Press for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Wow, this is an important translation! Based on the translator's afterword, these three stories are semi-autobiographical, and all explore the family dynamics of Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. This review will avoid revealing much about the stories (as per the publisher's request), but instead will delve more into the context of why I think this book is going to be a really great release.

I think beyond their aesthetic and biographical interest, these stories will be important for a cultural analysis of existentialism in twentieth century literary fiction. When I was reading them they did remind me very much of Dostoyevsky's 'Notes From The Underground', which the translator then also referenced in the afterword! This is interesting, because in the West, we normally attribute existential philosophy/fiction to Nietzsche's pronouncement that 'God is Dead' in the late 1800s (and the preceding philosophical work before this), but this was always largely in a Christian, Western (European and American) context.

Here instead the translators suggest these stories show that in Japan, around a similar time frame (these stories published around 1910), Tanizaki's writing and real-life experiences had existential-like themes, except these were vying against Confucian and Buddhist norms of family values. This could be one of the first parallels to 'the anti-hero' in Eastern literature and culture, and it makes me doubtful of just how relevant 'God Is Dead' might be to the timing of existentialism as a movement.

Ok, so getting back to earth, I have not yet read Jun'ichirō Tanizaki before. Like some readers, I do know he has written a book about the aesthetics of shadows. All 3 stories in this collection feature a son as a main character feeling somewhat detached from one of more family members (usually the mother). In this way the stories read as a cycle and seem connected, yet they do vary differently in writing style.

Story 1: 5*
I really loved story 1. It is the most 'dream-like' reading experience I have ever read, it feels like a flashback, and it has a powerful ending that made me cry.

Story 2: 3*
This story is the most important of the collection, but it is hard to love because the anti-hero is notoriously wretched. Like Notes From The Underground, I appreciate it but struggle to find it comfortable to read! I did think the ending seemed to go on too long. As the translator suggested, the final chapter which Tanizaki originally removed might have weakened it.

Story 3: 3*
This story is dark and twisted, it feels more like psychological horror and moves closer to family abuse as a theme than the others. It develops well structurally, but it's hard to really like this story because of the abuse in it. Of course, this is more down to personal taste as well, and people who like dark, shocking stories (horror) will find this more appealing than Story 1.

Overall: 4*

I'll make a video review about this soon, but for now, anyone interested in Japanese classics/literary fiction should consider finding these when they are released in January 2022.

Thank you Netgalley & Columbia University Press for providing this excellent ARC, and I wish its success on its release. The translation is fluid, and the translator's note is excellent. This is the first NetGalley ARCs I've read without a single typographical or grammatical error, so clearly a lot of care has been taken with the editing, too!


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This is my 14th advanced reader copy (ARC) review. This means I received this ebook for free, and read it on my old Amazon Kindle, in exchange for this review which I have also published on Netgalley. I'm not financially motivated, as I read library books, so I only read ARCs I actually think will be good enough for me to rate and review honestly.

I had very high hopes for Longing And Other Stories as I've wanted to delve into Jun'ichirō Tanizaki for quite some time now, and I was not disappointed. Each story brought its own kind of heartbreak and pain, a longing for something just out of reach. I found the translations to be faultless and evocative of what the intended message of the original brought through. While I did find myself struggling to connect with the protagonist in Sorrows Of A Heretic, the overarching themes of family and loss made for a heartwrenching read. I found the translator's afterword to be incredibly helpful, allowing the reader to gain context of the works. Overall, I'd seek out other works by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki without a moment of hesitation.

Longing and Other Stories collects three stories by the Japanese writer Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886-1965). I've been meaning to read Tanizaki's most famous novel, The Makioka Sisters, for some time, but Longing and Other Stories is much shorter and seemed more accessible, so I began with it instead. The three stories have themes in common—all deal with family relationships, particularly between mother and son, and all touch on the tension between Japanese and Western cultures. Yet each story is written in a distinctive style. "Longing" is a surreal recollection of a childhood dream, "Sorrows of a Heretic" a cynical, realist depiction of a dysfunctional, downwardly-mobile family, and "The Story of an Unhappy Mother" a haunting, dramatic portrait of the unraveling of the relationship between a mother and son. "The Story of an Unhappy Mother," the last story, was my favorite of the three, but I enjoyed all of them. I also appreciated the afterword by the translators, which added cultural and critical context to the stories. I definitely want to read more of Tanizaki's work in the future!

In <i>Longing</i> the narrator reminisces of their earlier life, a seemingly simpler times but deeply influential on the young man as he narrates. Longing is for home, for warmth, for belonging and he wants it all from one person. Longing is a simple story of a young boy's longing and its also a study in the encompassing feeling of <i>longing</i> in itself; to see reflection of lost affection in a stranger's face, or in an animate object like moon and gentleness of moon beams, it is both a story and en emotional outage. <i>Longing</i> is a dream, and the object of the dream is long gone.

There is much to dislike about <i>Sorrows of a heretic</i>, with the unlikable protagonist, the heretic, and the life he pursues. There is less sorrow and much selfishness, there is more self-awareness and less regret on the condescension of his behavior; it is perhaps somewhere in the middle, his character evolves as the story ends. Is being self aware of the boundaries and of lack of morality of ones own life choices enough for a purposeful life? the underlying question meditates by exposing his behavior in various situation as he cheats and parties his way out of situations without care for anyone but himself. But the author subtly nudges - is he caring for himself? is that selfish part of him in action? Realistic in its approach, the dysfunctional family including the protagonist appears to be out of touch with reality or seem to be so.

<i>The story of an unhappy mother</i> is an interesting contrast to the previous story. A family that is superficially perfect struggles with the matriarch's bouts of melancholy and the odds she is with, with her eldest son. A secret, a new daughter-in-law, and a death, brings the story to its head and leaves the reader, well, underwhelmed.

The three stories have families as their central themes especially moral obligations towards mother, father, parents and filial duties. The author explores the change in relationships between parents and their children as they grown up and forge their own new relationships which can sometime clash with the parental ones. This is my first time reading Tanizaki-san and this was a great experience.

<i>Thank you to Netgalley and Columbia University Press for providing me with a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review. </i>

This was my first book by the Junichiro Tanizaki, one of the great Japanese authors of the 20th century. I thought a collection of three short stories could be a good place to start, especially given they explore themes Tanizaki would go on to develop in his future work. And it was.

First story: 2,5 stars
Second: 4 stars
Third: 4 stars
Average: 3,5 rounded up to 4.

The first story is much more dreamlike than the other two, a child wandering around in a strange landscape looking for his mother - I did not connect at all and was ready to give up.

The second story is very realistic, about a pretty horrible student mistreating his family and fellow students. Very well build-up.

The third story is about an unhappy mother who changes after her eldest son marries. Also a very intriguing read.

As often with classical authors, the afterword by the translator is real added value. It places the stories in the historical context (e.g. Meiji period) and highlights the cultural references (e.g. honouring Confucian principles) hidden in the text. I am sure that the better one is versed in Japanese history and culture the more they will enjoy this collection. But even for a complete layman as myself it was interesting.

Longing and Other Stories is my first time reading Tanizaki, and on the basis of this short story collection, I would definitely like to read some of his novels in the future. All three stories had something interesting to offer, not least in their varied styles, taking us from romantic, fantasy-tinged lyricism to gritty realism and then to a kind of morality tale that assessed changing family values due to the advent of Westernisation. Although I enjoyed all three stories, I think the first, 'Longing', was my favourite, as I loved its beautiful descriptive language and the wonderful atmosphere Tanizaki created. If you are a fan of early 20th century Japanese literature, I can highly recommend giving these stories a read. This book gets 5 stars from me.