Pain, obsession, depravity and suffering. All this with an exquisite humor and the style of Junichirō Tanizaki. Utsugi - seventy-seven years old. This is the name and age of Junichirō Tanizaki's crazy old man. Utsugi writes in his diary with an obsessive frequency. The terrible pain in his hand do not cloud his thoughts. He thinks of his own death at the same rate as he plans his final rest. He plans his final rest with the same degree of depravity with which he thinks of his daughter-in-law.
Physical degradation happens at a rapid pace and his sexual fantasies are getting more intense. Perhaps to compensate the break in hardiness that accompanies old age. His daughter-in-law, Satsuko, excites him to the point of killing him. The descriptions of the moments are intense and lead us to the most intimate thought of Utsugi. To follow what he writes in the diary is to follow an active mind in a body without health. We can realize that in old age the desire is maintained even though the body does not correspond. Immorality is portrayed by the author in a delicate and amusing way.
The beginning of the reading is difficult because the characters names are Japanese and we are not familiar with them, but when the reading begins to flow it becomes more natural to follow all the parts of the story. Japanese traditions and references to the Kabuki theater are a constant and sharpen my interest in Japanese culture.
The ending was not what I expected, and the impact of the whole story is, in my opinion, lost, but it is, undoubtedly, an unforgettable book. About the author (part of the note taken from the book): Tanizaki was born in Tokyo in 1886. Going to the theater was a regular habit in his education. He studied Japanese Literature in Tokyo and was expelled from the University because of the bohemian life he led. In 1915 he married an ancient geisha and was involved in a love triangle with Satô Haruo, a writer his friend. He separated and married three more times. Always with women younger than him. Tanizaki died on July 30, 1965.