Ugh, what a disappointment.

I had high hopes for the this book - it ticked off so many of my interests:
- Japanese history
- Japanese history that included village life not just aristocracy/'Tale of Genji' world
- Discussion of things like nature, fragrance and colour
- Heian fashion

But it was...not good. For various reasons. Main ones are:
The author is reported to have researched 14 years to write this book. And it shows. There is so much superfluous material in this book that add nothing to the story but the writer could just not let go (and an editor didn't have the guts to cut). Add to that the ostentatious use of Japanese terms that are footnoted. Due to a mix of study and experience I actually knew what a lot of them meant but didn't find the use of them added to the story (and found it weird that he chose to include some terms in the original Japanese and yet translate others). It just looked like another example of 'look at me, I studied this strange and exotic culture, let me show you' rather than 'I decided to leave these in the original language to add verisimilitude to the story'. Frankly I would have found footnotes about the plants a lot more useful (thank-you built in Kindle dictionaries).
- The sex scenes. As many other reviewers point out, they are cringeworthy. I am not a prude - my list of favourite literature includes books like 'Story of O' so I don't mind a sex scene if it is well written and has a place in the story. The sex scenes in this book are neither well written, or in most places add to the story. They are so bad I really can't even think that it is a problem with the translation in to English.

There are some interesting parts to this story - I particularly liked how Decoin attempted to explore the headspace of someone coming from an isolated village and how their view of the world would be shaped by that, to the point of not having words for many of the new things she experienced. But that is not enough to save this book. It is, in short, not very good. Which is a shame as there was a lot of potential behind it. ( )

Japón, año 1100. Al borde del río Kusagawa hay una pequeña aldea conocida más allá de sus fronteras por ser la encargada de surtir los estanques de la ciudad imperial de las carpas más hermosas. Pero este año el diestro pescador que lleva a cabo tal tarea ha muerto, y su joven viuda es la única que tal vez podría reemplazarlo. Así, reclutada por el director de la Oficina de Estanques y Jardines, y cargando sobre sus frágiles hombros una pértiga de la que cuelgan los cestos donde rebullen los peces, Miyuki emprende un largo viaje en el que deberá afrontar amenazas y monstruos -humanos y acuáticos-, y demorarse en posadas de té en las que no se vende precisamente té. Una vez en la corte imperial, con la misma inocencia con la que ha conocido el sexo y el engaño, y vestida con doce kimonos de seda, será la insospechada protagonista del concurso anual de perfumes convocado por el emperador con el tema de «una doncella cruzando un puente luna entre dos neblinas».

El premio Goncourt Didier Decoin ha investigado doce años la cultura nipona para escribir esta novela, deudora de los clásicos orientales y de la picaresca, que embriaga los sentidos del lector.

Katsuro est pêcheur de carpes dans un petit village japonais de l'été Heian, XIIe siècle. Quand il meurt noyé, sa jeune épouse Miyuki reprend sa tâche de livrer les poissons destinés aux étangs sacrés de la cité impériale. Un roman qui reconstitue avec minutie une époque, une civilisation et une culture, qui déploie sensualité, odeurs et couleurs, et suggère un monde à la fois terrien et subtilement codifié où l'évanescence est élevée au rang d'art. Le "monde flottant" des estampes ukiyo-e. ( )