Alison Fell

This book is a novel about life in 11th century Japan. The heroine is a poetess who has a lover who doesn't please her, but she wants to please him so she has a verbally skilled stable boy tell her "sexy" stories in a very quiet voice while the apparently deaf lover makes love to her & this way she can reach orgasm.

The writing is well crafted. I think the feelings & relationships are very anachronistic. I don't think the author has the ability to imagine what the lives of her characters were show more really like, or to understand (or even care about) how those lives felt to those who lived them. Many of the "sex" stories are quite violent and brutal. There is a sort of explanation for this but I don't think it makes sense. show less

The love story is not the real draw for me here, though it's sweet; the portrait of Heian court life and the erotic tales framed thereby are what I love best about this charming book, especially "The Phosphorescence of Ise" and "The Cold Fish"

The novelist writes in an engaging style and is easy to read and enjoy her various poetic phrases. This fictional novel, part mystery, part detective and part fact, is based on the life of Alice Kober who was the first to decipher the ancient Cretan script Linear Code B. Unfortunately Alice died before her contribution was recognized. The author unfolds life on a Greek island, its inhabitants and customs. their emotions and the interaction of the tourists in the midst of a mysterious death. show more Alice Kober appears briefly throughout the scenario but is overshadowed by all the other characters. Nevertheless it is a good read and a quality novel on its own merit. show less

Supper

There is the curdling sky
and the green spry beans
finger-long and knuckled
and the bird's flat fleeting path
across my window
and still
you will not come