The Pillow Boy of the Lady Onogoro

by Alison Fell

At the sexually promiscuous court of Kyoto in early 11th century Japan, the poet Onogoro has an embarrassing problem with her love life. Oyu, the blind storyteller, holds the key to solving it. Hiding behind a screen in Onogoro's bedroom, Oyu is a potent but invisible guest at the feast of lovemaking. Only Oyu's cruel and sensual tales can unlock the secrets to Onogoro's orgasm. Writing in an era of astrologers and Tiger-gods, the unknown narrator sounds a startlingly modern note, as she seeks to escape a world of concubinage and female suppression.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Japan, Asian Literature, Erotica, Classics, Asia

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Alison Fell is a Scottish poet and novelist who lives in London.

Reviews

[Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Supposedly there was a real "The Pillow Boy of the Lady Onogoro" written by a renowned Japanese poet during the Heian era. I don't know when that era was, but I am sure it was a long time ago because the original manuscript of the book had disappeared and only some "fragmentary variants" have been found. As is usual with whatever is lost, or does not exist, the imagination took over. This was the fruit of Alison Fell's imaginative musings about this lost masterpiece of ancient Japan--stories within stories like the Arabian Nights with lots of sex that "will steam your dumplings" and, in my case, which made me laugh.

The main plot is simple yet I've never seen anything like it before: Onogoro, a poet and concubine of a general, couldn't get an orgasm while being humped by her lover. So what she did was to get the services of the blind Oyu, a humble stable boy, and made him hide behind a screen at the head of her bed. Oyu then narrates to her wild, erotic stories while the general is at it. These stories never fail to bring her home.

So you have here the main plot which is about sex, then Oyu's stories which are also about sex, but the fun does not stop there. Onogoro, like a typical female, also likes to meet her female friends (whenever the general is at home with his family) and during these socials where men are not around they also tell each other sexy stories. And what stories! I had been a connoisseur of porn when I was younger and still single and I had never seen many of the scenes depicted in these stories like that guy fucking a tree; another one, caught with his infidelity, drowned in a bathtub of menstrual blood patiently collected by his irate partner from her own monthly secretions and those of her female friends; and another one fucked by his lover while drowning in a rising sea tide, the woman unable to save him because a big clam won't let go of his foot despite his and his lover's valiant efforts to free it. The guy had his orgasm at the precise point of his drowning to death--a unique experience of both the little death and the big death made possible by a big clam and a small one!

A must read to those who aspire to direct pornographic films.

[Rosanna]

Lady Onogoro ha sotto il cuscino il desiderio: quello di saper scrivere belle poesie alla corte del Principe, quello di essere amata dal suo generale, quello di godere del suo uomo e della sua poesia. Poesia la onora, imprimendosi sul suo corpo in versi a mo' di stimmate, l'onorevole generale no.
Per lei, amante, è un dolore e un problema: l'irraggiungibile acme, il desiderio frustrato, l'appagamento solo sognato, il desiderio incombente...Potrebbe dipendere solo da lei e perciò Onogoro trova la soluzione: sotto il cuscino metterà Amore. L'amore fatto di lettere ed immagini. Oyu le sussurrerà storie delicatamente erotiche da dietro lo Tsuitate mentre è con il generale, sarà bravo ad accenderle fantasia e sensi, è solo uno stalliere in fondo ma ha capito da tempo che alcune dame di queste novelle mormorate hanno bisogno, per lasciarsi andare al piacere, per potersi 'dare' all'altro, aprirsi completamente. Oyu, Cyrano bisbigliante...
Sembra tutto molto semplice, vero? Invece...questo libro è anche una testimonianza preziosa, letteraria ma anche storica del periodo medio-Heian , prima che in Giappone si sgretolasse il sistema feudale e che la casta militare si affermasse a scapito dei nobili di corte e del loro modo di vivere.
In più, descrive la vita della donne a corte, cosa pensassero di se stesse e addirittura degli uomini.
Arte poetica e vita quotidiana intrise di quella carica erotica contenuta nei racconti tra amiche, con il sesso che si fa verbo, mai volgare, sempre riempiendo l'ambiente di visioni e di un'atmosfera intima e ineluttabile.
Questo passo rende l'idea meglio di quanto possa fare io:

"Ciò che la gatta percepiva, nel profondo del suo fulgido cervello cinese, erano i colori delle dame, le loro sottovesti violetto e prugna e blu iris, i loro manti più chiari foderati in color pesca ciliegia, i loro obi color senape o giallo pallido; e il buon odore di donna che aleggiava nella sala, un sontuoso e pescioso lezzo di sangue e sesso, un aroma di latte materno e di passeri appena uccisi. Gli occhi di Lady Omoto si strinsero sino a farsi fessure, e un languido tremor di fusa le tambureggiò in petto, un inno in memoria dell'infanzia e della fragrante sdrucciovole paglia della prima lettiera, un inno al goffo strofinio di muso in cerca di latte e alla prima membrana leccata via, e alla prima apertura d'occhi sulla prima candida luna piena della sua vita....Adesso Lady Omoto sembrava sul punto di svenire per il piacere, divisa tra il tepore della memoria e quello del grambo umido su cui era accucciata."(pag. 89)

E ancora non è semplice.
Ancora non mi è chiaro qualcosa.
Alcune considerazioni di Lady Onogoro, il suo incessante parlare interiore, questo suo dialogare intimo e solitario è concetto moderno, portentosamente contemporaneo.
"Il segreto, dunque, è conoscere se stessi, e amare se stessi qualunque cosa accada, poichè coloro che trattano male se stessi invogliano gli altri a fare uguale.": questo Onogoro pensa mentre scopre un nuovo se' che 'fiorisce' in lei. Scusate se è poco.
Conoscere se stesse, il proprio modo di amare, il proprio modo di essere amata: per me donna, , madre di donna, ciò si identifica con un 'problema educativo': quello dell''educazione sentimentale' a cui sono ancora chiamata. Mi riferisco anche al sesso, ma non soprattutto.

[Renae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lady Onogoro, a self-made woman in the 11th century Japanese imperial court, has a problem: her lover and patron doesn’t excite her. Not wanting to hurt his feelings or lose his protection, Onogoro enlists the services of a blind stableboy. He whispers erotic stories in her ear during coitus, and Onogoro’s wealthy patron leaves happy, convinced that he’s pleased his concubine. Except…things happen. Scandal! Drama! Spies! Unlikely love!

I do love when random, uneducated book purchases go right! The Pillow Boy of Lady Onogoro is hardly a popular or well-known novel in any circle I’m in, so purchasing it at first sight was rather a chance. I was attracted mostly by the 11th century Japanese setting, though Alison Fell is focused mostly on characters and stories, not the intricacies of court life. Regardless, I found this book to be strange and different from my usual fare, but ultimately quite satisfying.

The way Fell wrote and structured this story was very satisfying. Lady Onogoro’s life is full of poetry and storytelling; as a lady attached to the imperial court, hers is a life of ease and luxury, and the women of the court often have only their own minds for entertainment. Close friends of Onogoro’s include Sei Shōnagon, author of The Pillow Book, a real-life book that 21st century readers still celebrate. Onogoro and her contemporaries are women of wit and creativity, and throughout The Pillow Boy of Lady Onogoro, Fell inserts stories and poems these women have “written”.

And, yes, a great many of these stories are about sex. Bizarre sex. If they’re not about sex, they’re still bizarre. But I feel that this book isn’t gratuitous erotica so much as an exploration of culture, folklore, and gender dynamics. There is purpose in the stories-within-stories format, and though the “main” plot has to do with the triangle between Onogoro, her wealthy lover, and her blind stableboy, I feel like this book touches on culture and psychology in meaningful ways as well. If we must call The Pillow Boy of Lady Onogoro erotica, it must also have the additional tag of literary fiction.

However, the novel isn’t merely a collection of bizarre stories and internal musings: there is a plot—and what a plot! The pseudo-love triangle is certainly the driving force. Onogoro likes her wealthy lover and enjoys his patronage, but the stories the stableboy tells stimulate her mentally in ways she’s never experienced before. Throw in some busybody princes and some spies, and Fell’s novel turns out to be rather exciting and intrigue-filled. There was a nice mix, I though, between the insightful/literary moments and the plot-driven sequences. It all worked quite well.

It might take a certain kind of reader to enjoy The Pillow Boy of Lady Onogoro, but I think once one grows accustomed to vaguely disquieting and quite explicit sex, the book has a lot of qualities (and perhaps the weird sex is one of them). I think Alison Fell did a very good job incorporating culture and society into this historical-set novel, and the overarching romance was satisfying as well.

[Arzu Altınanıt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Japonya'daki Heyan çağıyla ilgili bir kitap. Hiç tanımadığım bir dönem ve bir kültür bu. Çok severek büyük bir ilgiyle okudum. 'Kitap bana bir şeyler öğretmeli,' söylemine tam anlamıyla cevap verdi. Çeviri genel olarak oldukça başarılıydı ama gereksiz virgül kullanımları gerçekten çok yorucu. "ve" den önce dahi virgül kullanılmıştı. Konuşma Türkçesiyle yazım Türkçesini karıştırmanın kötü bir sonucu bu. Konuşurken her es verdiğimiz yerde yazarken virgül kullanmıyoruz ve ne yazık ki son dönemde çıkan kitaplarda bu sorun çok sık karşıma çıkıyor. Bir eleştirim de Japonca bırakılan (ki sanırım orijinali öyleydi ve bu durumda doğrusu yapılmıştı) kelimeler için çevirmen notu konsaydı çok daha anlaşılır olurdu. Bu aksaklıklarına rağmen kaliteli bir kitap okumak isteyen herkese tavsiye ederim.

[scarlettraces · Rating 4 out of 5]

in the style of the great works of heian literature with a sense of mischief. exquisite but also robust. and a lot, lot shorter than genji.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

There used to be an extraordinary book store in DC that had a plush calendar of visiting authors who would read their books. It went out of business thanks to Borders. Oh those many many pleasurable hours I spent there in the company of Susan Sontag, Paul Auster, Gunter Grass, China Achebe, et. al. This marvelous writer read from this book in one of the most memorable of the readings I attended. Her thick Scottish accent charmed the socks off me. I would've bought the book merely for the joy of hearing her voice, but it was a marvelous story as well.

During the post reading Q&A, Alison Fell claimed that when she set out to write this she wanted to write a book about a woman living in a deeply constrictive society. I don't know how she got to Japan during the 10th century, but that's where she set this sweet, cunning piece of erotic fluff. Heian Japan more precisely, an epoch that birthed the stunning voices of Sei Shonagon and Murasaki Shikibu. Ms. Fell chose this time because she wondered if it wasn't a particularly cruel time in history. She didn't say "cruel" though. In her delightful accent what she said actually sounded more like "krill" (with a delightful little roll at the "r", just the sort of thing to tickle an American's ear. Just why is a rolled r so exciting? Its superfluousness?)

This book is sensual and sexy and full of imagery and words that send blood rushing to every cranny of your body. I defy you to read it without eventually excusing yourself from company to go, er, lie down.

There was one chapter in which our beleaguered heroine has a lover so severe and demanding that he ritually washes her body--including cleaning under her finger nails--each time he sees her. Unfortunately you just know all that attention to her body was not done as sensual preparation but rather as preemptive hygiene. Still it is a bit shiver-inducing to those of us with occult daddy complexes. Even now it makes me giddy that Ms. Fell admitted this was the only part of the novel that was autobiographical.

----

Whew, I made the collossal mistake of reading several reviews. I realize that some people have reviewed it without understanding what they were getting into. If you are neither haptic nor sensually inclined, if you don't know the difference between pornography and erotica, or if you find female sexuality and body functions disturbing you probably should stay clear of this book.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel takes place in a time and place of the Heian royal court. The royal women are steeped in a world of privilege, confinement, superstition, masculine constraint and protocol; all this in spite of the fact that they have little in the way of actual duties.

This is a royal court like any other: filled with intrigue, suspicion, gossip, treachery and machination. Their lives as concubines and mistresses are shown as perilously short; a woman who didn’t manage to finangle her way into a better life might be tossed onto the scrap heap, alone, impoverished and forgotten.

Onogoro is a concubine of a married general. She’s young and impetuous and she wavers between stifling her jealousy over her lover’s wife and bursting out with peevish arguments with her lover. The General’s wife is no more secure in her position than Lady Onogoro; jealousy being one of the seven reasons a husband may divorce his wife. Both mistress and wife are envious of each other, even if they never meet in the flesh. So all is set up for complications of epic proportions. But the supposed love triangle isn’t where you would expect.

This novel is based on the fragments of a novel by the Lady Onogoro, a woman who lived at about the same time as the famous Sei Shonagon, she who wrote her own pillow book. Onogoro was a poet but her poetry was forgotten and largely lost to history. Ms. Fell does her best to convey the lyrical tone of the time, when royalty and nobles communicated in careful poetry that the reader had to work to decipher. (It’s not indicated whether this was done to thwart busybodies who might pry into the paper’s contents. Given that we’re talking about lovers exchanging secret notes to each other, that might be one interpretation.)

Lady Onogoro prized herself on her poetry and the novel makes it obvious that it was a source of comfort and torment to her as well as the way she distinguished herself at court. It lends the words a rapturous tone as we too sift through the meanings of the deceptively simple lines. Winding their way through the story, through poetry, dreams, visions and stories, Onogoro gains a measure of wisdom and inner peace as she learns what and who it is she truly wants and desires.

The prose is beautiful, eloquent, passionate and throbs with passion, erotic desire and moments of humor, subtle, sly or coarse. It’s unusual fare yet, if you like poetry, give it a try. Linger over the pages; they are something to savor.

[dip.oda · Rating 4 out of 5]

“İnsanın en derindeki ruhu sadece karanlıkta çalışır, ve eğer onu bilincimizin ışığına çıkarmaya çalışırsak, işimiz başarısızlıkla sonuçlanır!”

Çok enteresan bir Japon aşk hikayesi okudum. Japonya’nın altın çağı denilen Heyan çağından bir kesit, yüksek dozda gerçek üstü erotik hikayelerle süsleniyor. Aynı zamanda da şair Onogoro’nun iç sesinin tüm isyanını hissediyorsunuz. Açıkçası zor bir kitap ancak okuduğum için de memnunum. Muhteşem dörtlüklerin süslediği kitabımla vedalaşıyorum..

“Yolculuk ne zor
Yolculuk ne zor
Öyle çok sapak var ki!
Hangisini seçeceğim?”

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, and I adore literary plays, adaptations, and the like, though I'm too often disappointed. This one had some nice moments--women empowered by their bodies, storytelling and poetry having magical roles--but ultimately, it was difficult to feel grounded in the text.

[sydney reynolds · Rating 4 out of 5]

a wildly taboo and perverted book but surprisingly not the weirdest i’ve read. i actually really loved the writing style and it was clearly written/translated(?) by someone who is well versed in japanese culture and the period of the time. def a bit too disturbing for some but the weird sex stories mixed with the drama of lady onogoro and the court was a fun balance.

[Hai-Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird freaky book. Kinda liked it though???

[Britt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book was so fuckin weird I couldn't finish it

[ozgurluk kurdu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Herkese merhaba!

Bu defa şans eseri elime geçen bir kitap ile geldim. Ve ne tesadüftür ki, kitap aylar önce okuyup paylaştığım Murasaki Shikibu'nun Günlüğü ile aynı dönemi anlatıyor, yani Heian Dönemini.

Heian Dönemi, Japon edebiyatının dönüm noktalarından biri olarak görülüyor. Kapalı saray hayatı ve kültürü içerisinde kadınların edebiyata ve sanata yön verdiği, bu sayede de, saray hayatında saygıdeğer konumlara getirildikleri bir dönem. Bu kadınların başında, Murasaki Shikibu, Sei Şanagon, İzimu Shikibu gibi yazar ve şairler yer alıyor. Her biri klasik Japon edebiyatının oluşmasında birer yapıtaşı aslında. Bu kadınların yanına 10. yüzyılın başlarında Onogoro lakaplı bir şair katılıyor. Yazdığı şiirler ile dikkat çeken Onogoro Hanım, anlık ortaya çıkışı gibi aniden ortadan kayboluyor. (Giriş bölümünden kısa bir özet yaptım sizler için).

Başucu Oğlanı adlı eseri Onogoro Hanım'ın kaleme aldığını iddia edenler kadar Şonagon tarafından yazıldığını da iddia edenler varmış. Her ne olursa olsun Geoffrey Montague-Pollock diyor ki: "Bu eseri dönemin zuihitsu geleneğinden ayıran ve onu en aşağı Genci'nin Hikayesi'yle aynı seviyeye koymamızı zorunlu kılan canlı ve teklifsiz üslup, şaşırtıcı duygusal karşıtlıklar ve biçimsel yenilikler". (Giriş bölümünden). Buna rağmen, eserin orijinal elyazmasının Heian dönemi sona ermeden önce kaybolduğu düşünülüyor ve Alison Fell ve Arye Blower tarafından uyarlanan ve Ayrıntı Yayınları tarafından basılan bu eserin Kamakura döneminden kalma altı kısmi versiyondan yola çıkarak yazıldığı belirtilmiş.

Kitabın yazım biçimine hayran kaldım. Oldukça emek sarf edilerek yapılan bir uyarlama olduğunu düşünüyorum. Zira Murasaki Shikibu'yu okurken edindiğim hissiyatın çok benzerini bu kitabı okurken edindim. Kısmi parçalara dayandırılarak yazılmış olsa da niteliğe zarar vermemek için ciddi bir emek ve çaba sarf edildiği aşikar. Düz yazı ve şiirin bir arada ilerleyişi, dizgisi ve metinlerin bir araya getirilişleri ile çok güzel bir bütün meydana getirilmiş ve asla derleme/ uyarlama hissi uyandırmıyor. Hatta bir noktada sanki metnin kendisi zaten buymuş hissine kapılıyorsunuz.

Bir yandan Onogoro Hanım'ın aşk hikayesine, yaşadıklarına, hissettiklerine, acı, arzu ihtiras, hüzün ve mutluluk eşlik ederken, bir yandan Heian dönemine, saray yaşantısına ve düzene dair bilgiler de ediniyorsunuz. Gerçeküstü öğeler ile doğadan aktarma yöntemiyle (inşallah bunu doğru yazdım) oluşturulan kışkırtıcı erotik hikayeler okurken bir anda dupduru ve sade bir şiir ile burun buruna gelebiliyorsunuz. Bir tarafta bir kadının iç dünyasına, hislerine kapılıp giderken öte yandan kendinizi Binbir Gece Masalları dinliyor hissine kaptırıyorsunuz. Veya Decameron okur gibi mi demeli?

Hikaye anlatıcılığı ile düz yazıyı, şiir ile tarihi bir araya getiren bu eseri 18 yaş üstü okurlara tavsiye ediyorum. Bazı yerlerde okurken sıkıntı yaşamama rağmen kitabı anlattığı konular ve anlatım biçimi bakımından değerlendirdiğimde bile okumaya değer buluyorum. Edebi değeri için bile okunabilir. Ama dediğim gibi bazı kısımlar beni oldukça rahatsız etti okurken. Erotik olmalarından ziyade konu içinde geçen şiddet ve benzeri unsurlar ile cinselliğin birleşmesi rahatsız ediciydi. Bunu da eklemeden geçmek istemem. Sonuçta bu konu nedeniyle bile okumak istemeyenler olabilir.

Kitaplarla kalın!

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

The blurb on the back of this book promises that it is a collection of fragmented erotic stories from 11th century Japan. That is not true, or at least, not entirely. Instead, The Pillow Boy of the Lady Onogoro is more of a political romance, intertwined with strange tales that I would call "vaguely erotic"- although, I find myself not really trusting my own opinion, as after having read 120 Days of Sodom so recently, nothing feels quite as weird as it should, in comparison.

In summary, Lady Onogoro is a poet, and her lover is a high ranking samurai general. But the general stinks in bed and can't satisfy her, so she hires a blind stable boy to tell her steamy stories from behind a folding screen while the general is going down on her, to help her reach climax. Predictably, the stable boy falls in love with her, and following a contrived bout of politicking, they end up together, and the general, after having been exiled, is killed in war. Side note, I found that I loathe love triangle-type stories in which the third person has to die in order to sanctify the other two's relationship. Especially if that person is the cheated lover, spouse, whathaveyou. It's so obnoxious. It almost makes it feel like the author couldn't think of a real reason why the other person should leave them and choose the new lover, a reason not to go back, so they have to murder them in order for the relationship to become truly established as the happily ever after. It screams of poor planning, and I don't like it.

Frankly, I don't know how much was added by the author, and how much of it is what remains from Murasaki's (or really, whoever else's) writings... but the truth is, the tales are by far the best part of it.
The stories told by the characters are quite creative, interesting, if a little improbable: sewing shoes out of live butterflies, murder by fragrances dripped onto strategic points of the body, it all has this air of dreamlike, almost fairy tale-esque dramatism, but the parts in-between the stories... well. It's kind of a political drama, really, with spies following spies and reporting on the antics to people who are being spied on as well as those doing the spying... I like a contrived plot, I like some intrigue, but it was all entirely too confusing. Or confused, as I found myself exclaiming "what?" multiple times, and when I went back to re-read the passage, it still felt like it was being made up as it went.

Overall, an interesting piece of history, but I do honestly wish it had been more clear how much of it is from the Heian period, and how much of it is modern. But my gut tells me that the parts I actually liked were probably not the newest.

[Martha Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book came to me while I perused my favorite used book store. As I've recently been on a Japanese literature kick (though this is the first I've read not by a Japanese author), it seemed intriguing. Besides, I've always been a sucker for literary erotica. However, while the blurbs and reviews all praised the erotic aspects of the novel, I most loved the humorous narrator and perspective shifts that included not just the courtiers but also the animals that inhabited the palace where the novel was set. The narrator would describe two poets conversing then shift to the lizard who sat in the beams above them. Such whimsical, skillful shifts were a welcome and unexpected surprise. Beyond the delight of Fell's narratival skill was the feminist slant of the novel. The climax of the novel had more to do with Lady Onogoro's sense of self and agency than anything else. The romantic climax seemed almost secondary to me. Other than Onogoro, the women who populated these pages wrote acclaimed poetry, shared strong bonds with one another, and took numerous lovers as they saw fit. It's puzzling that I've never come across Alison Fell before. When I looked up what else she has written, my confusion increased that so few seem to be reading her. The delight I found with her was explained somewhat when I learned she is also a poet. I have a true preference for prose written by novelists who are also poets. Her talent shone through in this novel, and I recommend it and her entirely.

[Calista · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember where I got this book, but it's been on my bookshelves for over a decade. I was sitting looking at my bookshelves and out of nowhere decided I wanted to read it. So I did.

This was written in the 10th or 11th century in Japan and it has been around since then. It's a classic.

The set up is that Onogoro is the first consort of a famous general in Japan. When he pays a visit to her, she isn't able to reach the heavens on her own, so she has the blind stableboy to hide behind a screen and tell her, basically, dirty stories so she can reach her happy place and it will please the general.

So there are several short stories in the tale. Also, the women of the palace get together from time to time and tell stories and some of them are truly hilarious, usually about some wronged woman getting justice from her man that done her wrong. Some of the stories are erotic, some of them are humorous, some are gross. There are all kinds of stories.

There is a love story in here between Onogoro and someone. It was a quick and enjoyable read. All the Cdramas gloss over what it would be like to have a harem and more than one wife and this goes into the details the shows gloss over.

I want to read more classical Asian literature in the future. I enjoy it and I've seen enough C and K dramas to understand what is going on.

[Linda Is on her way · Rating 1 out of 5]

Atrocious!
Couldn't finish it. The sentences are so long, you barely understand what's going on. The stories are extremely strange. Whenever there is a strong willed woman she's called arrogant. The character found it erotic, that animals were brutally killed . They kept talking about animals in a sexual way, the reproductive act of animals turned characters on and even a horse's genitalia. WTF!
Then the girl is 16 and the dude is probably way too old. The cover is pretty, but that's the only positive thing I can say

[Antje · Rating 2 out of 5]

Die ästhetische Aufmachung des Buches verdient fünf Sterne. Die satten dunklen Farben, erhellt von silbernen Lettern und erotischen Illustrationen, sind wunderschön. Entfernt man den Umschlag hält man ein Buch aus tiefroten Samt in den Händen. Herrlich!
Weniger wusste mich der Inhalt zu überzeugen, der hier und da zwar eine ansprechende Geschichte des blinden Stalljungen Oyu hervorzauberte, aber die Rahmenhandlung mich zunehmend langweilte und ich einige Erzählungen zu absonderlich fand.

[Merve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Çin imparatorluğunda bir sarayda bir kumandanın metresi olarak yaşayan bir öykü anlatıcı kadının cinsel olarak ancak öylü anlatılırken rahatlaması üzerine kör bir uşağı anlatıcı olarak tutması ve uşağın ona aşık olması, anlatıcının kadına aşık olması ve kadının anlatıcıyla ilişkisinin yanlış anlaşılması üzerine acı bir sonla biten kitap.

[Funda Guzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kitabı 2. Okuyuşum. Önyargılarınız güçlü ise kesinlikle bu kitabı okumayın. Hayaller aleminde gezmek ve şaşırmak istiyorsanız kesinlikle okuyun. Gerçek üstü süper bir kitap . Çok beğendim. Yeniden okumak listemde . Yazara ve çevirmene şükran.

[Westley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay

[PJ Who Once Was Peejay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really beautiful writing and a captivating, fanciful story. It's set in 11th century Japan and centers around a young woman poet at the Imperial court. She's befriended by the great woman poet Izumi Shikibu and many lovely translations of the short Japanese poetry of Izumi are scattered throughout, as well as the poems of our heroine, the Lady Onogoro.

Back in the day, there were many respected women poets in the Japanese court. But the heart of the story revolves around the fact that Lady O can't have orgasms with her current lover, General Motosuke, who has taken her on as his official mistress (a respectable position in this society). In polite Japanese society of the day, it was considered improper for a man to take his gratification before he'd seen to the gratification of his partner. Hurray for propriety! But this does present a problem for Lady O and makes the general wonder if she really likes him. So the stable boy, Oyu, renowned for his storytelling, hides behind the bed screen near Lady O's head and secretly whispers erotic tales to her while the general is occupied lower down on her body.

There isn't anything turgid and throbbing going on, but the story is sexy. There's some court intrigue and meditations not only on love but on happiness and the meaning of life and etc., etc. And plenty of fabulist elements, too, incorporating many Japanese folk tales and the like. Just a lovely book.

[Reginald Rosema · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sneaky , much cloack and dagger ,brutal , sweet and sour. It's about power and nice to read .
A no nonsense manupulative game of give and take , the whispering is silly,and bit obvious
as if the the seeing and hearing , are blind and deaf, as oposed to blind boy.
A complicated game they play , taking risky moment just for pleasures.
I read last year, I think I'll reread it soon .No spoilers here .

[Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a sexy book. It mixes romance and erotic storytelling with high-court machinations. It took me a while to get into and to finish because I was only reading it at night, but it lends itself well to episoodic reading.

[Lori Ann Troha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is erotic and x rated. In fact, one scene was a bit disturbing for me. However, Lady Onogoro is very resourceful, and I always enjoy historical context.

[Afranzoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good, hot, and bizarre. A concubine of a military guy hires a blind boy to whisper sweet and dirty talk in her ear while she is performing her concubinely duties. Yeeow!

[Melynda Yesenia · Rating 3 out of 5]

for something i picked up in broad daylight in a mormon-esque bookstore, this just escapes being porn.

[Tricia]

Really liked it

[Tim Petersik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sexy, yes, but this is well-written literature with an eastern edge.