8797999's review
4.0
A very interesting and enjoyable snapshot of life at court in a Japanese Imperial Palace.
spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition
1.0
Well, this was translated in the 1990s by Richard Bowring, a white British man, so I suppose I shouldn't have been that enthusiastic.
stuedb's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting insight into Japanese culture from the late 900s / early 1000s.
in_praise_of_idlenesss's review against another edition
3.0
if it was just her being melancholy, thinkin bout da moon, talkin shit about ppl, and describing clothes, i would give it 5 stars. the scribe-like historical accounting tho... kinda boring.
ancientnymph's review
5.0
A beautiful short diary that looks into the life of Murasaki, the Heian period court, and little snippets of her personal opinions of certain matters. It was quite fun to read and I’m glad I had read it before I start reading the Tale of Genji. It makes me excited to read her novel, due to the uproar about it within the palace. She was a wonderful lady. And there is no comparison between her and Sei Shonagon. Each ladies are respectively talented in their own rights. I just had wished this book was longer, and maybe she had felt the liberty to go into more depth about the things she had seen, but I’d have to go back in time to tell her that. Unfortunately Shōshi’s court felt a bit more stiff than Teishi’s, which was a little off putting, but I suppose it is tradition to keep things correct and with courtly manners. All in all, I enjoyed this diary very much so.
phthadani's review against another edition
3.0
Quite interesting piece on the daily court life of Japan