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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I wanted to love this book, even while reading it. The glimpses of medieval japanese court life were beautifully and delicately done, the characters were strong, the prose was lovely... But it dragged. There was too much of everything. The ten years compressed into a few weeks that Kitsune spent with her lover were like a metaphor of the book: it seemed much longer than it was. And I preferred Kitsune when she was a fox.I did like the pillow book entries of the wife; I never got tired of her. (  ) krisiti | Jul 1, 2009 |  This novel is a well executed take on a traditional Japanese folktale- a fox falls in love with a human and uses fox magic to transform into a woman and win his love in return. It is told from the perspectives of Kitsune, the fox, Yoshifuji, the man she loves, and Shikujo, his human wife. The book started out slowly for me; I felt like the first 2/3s were relatively stiff and didn't really draw me into a world where fox magic was possible. By the end I was hooked, though, and I'm glad I stuck it through. The complexities of happiness, propriety, love, and what makes someone human were well dealt with, and the characters musings on these topics were what gave the book depth. While some of the character development along the way felt a bit stilted, by the end I was impressed with the conclusions they all came to, and particularly appreciated the ambiguity of the ending. I did certainly enjoy this book, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it as it really does only come into its own in the last 80 pages. A good book, but one that definitely could have been better. (  ) Foxen | May 14, 2009 | (Amy) I am honestly not sure what I thought of this book. I was constantly brought up short by too-obviously-inserted "look how much the author knows about Japan" bits, combined with a complete inability to sympathize with any of the stilted, wooden characters. I don't think the latter was an authorial misstep - I think it was a stylistic choice. It didn't work for me, though. The basic story was interesting, though: A young fox who falls in love with a human man and sets out to be with him, however she can. I kind of want to stab all of the characters in the eye with sharpened sticks, though. I cannot in good conscience recommend a book that left me so irritated with its entire population. ( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/ze... ) libraryofus | Dec 2, 2008 | Pure poetry! This book is a work of art! I've read it 4 times now, and each time I find a new perspective. The writing is beautiful, the content thought-provoking, the experience cathartic... I LOVE this book!!! (  ) CarlisleMLH | Oct 20, 2008 | The book is both very good, and something I didn’t like. This is not written in a style that I like. The few bits of Asian folk tales that I’ve read are generally not my bag, and The Fox Woman is a version of a Japanese folk tale. The issue of style aside, I thought the book was really well done and fairly enjoyable. To the extent I could get my head past the style that is. (Full review at my blog) ( ) KingRat | Oct 10, 2008 |  no reviews | add a review
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| Book description |
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The Fox Woman follows two families, one of foxes and another of humans. The restless Kaya no Yoshifuji fails to receive an appointment in the Emperor's court and, distracted and seemingly unfazed, decides to relocate to a rural estate to pass a pensive winter, accompanied by his wife Shikujo and son Tadamaro. But a young fox named Kitsune and her brother, mother, and grandfather have set up their den in the run-down estate, and soon the fate of both families becomes intertwined; Yoshifuji becomes bewitched by the foxes, and Kitsune in turn falls in love with him, much to the distress of all others involved, especially Shikujo.
Johnson tells her tale in measured, intimate passages, through Kitsune's diary, Yoshifuji's notebook, and Shikujo's pillow book. The rich, truthful depiction of the Heian-era setting, punctuated by exchanges of poetry and steeped in emotive descriptions of both the fox and human worlds, establishes a still, meditative, and rewarding pace. With her thoughtful ear, Johnson offers a mature and knowing first effort. --Paul Hughes
(retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:24 -0400)
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