The Tale of Murasaki - Lisa Dalby

After reading Memoirs of a Geisha I saw this book and as Liza Dalby was a consultant for the film thought I would give this a try. The book is actually told by Murasaki's daugther but after the first couple of chapters this style changes so that it appears that Murasaki herself is describing her life and the events in it. Liza has a writing style that draws you and paints the scene in you head as to what is going on in the world that Murasaki lives in and the people that are around her. The book is set in the 11th Century Japan and revolves around live at the Japense court. It starts of with Murasaki describing life as her father ...  Read the complete review

Liza Dalby is the first Western woman to achieve the official title of Geisha. Obviously then she has massive background knowledge on the traditional history of Japan, something Stephen Spielberg is taking advantage of in his new film of Memoirs of a Geisha - Ms. Dalby is his personal Geisha advisor (I didn't mean that to sound as lewd as it did). The greatest literary example of Japan's rich history is the 'enduring masterpiece' Tale of Genji, penned by Murasaki Shikibu. Dalby has taken it upon herself to fictitously recreate the life of Murasaki and in particular her creation of Genji, from fragments of an original memoir and diaries written ...  Read the complete review

The Tale of Murasaki is an amazing story of the life of 11th Century author Murasaki Shikibu. Although fiction, the book by Liza Dalby is based on fragments of Murasaki's diary and Dalby has used both historical evidence and her own imagination to re-build the world Murasaki would have lived in. It follows her life from the age of 15 when her mother died and the beginning of her life as author of the 11th Century Japanese masterpiece - The Tale Of Genji. The book contains most of the original poetry Shikibu used in her tale and explains in great detail what life was like in Japan in the Heian period, and especially what life was like in the imperial ...  Read the complete review