A Mature Woman by Saiichi Maruya


A Mature Woman
Title : A Mature Woman
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 4770021836
ISBN-10 : 9784770021830
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 328
Publication : First published January 1, 1995

A Mature Woman struck an immediate chord in Japan, selling almost half a million copies in its first year and going on to become a hit at the box office as well. The central character, a strong-willed single woman, works in the male-dominated environment of a major daily newspaper One of her editorials angers a powerful supporter of the ruling political party and the government leans on her to keep her mouth shut. Far from bowing to the pressure, the woman retaliates, calling on a network of friends and relatives, including a fellow journalist with writer's block and an actress with mysterious ties to the prime minister himself. The result is a slyly accurate picture of contemporary Japan that not only illuminates the role of women in the 1990s but cheerfully exposes bribery and coercion at the highest levels, and treats us to the kind of brilliant gossip that makes a novel hard to put down.

A Mature Woman Reviews

  • David

    Maruya spies a literal hard-on for cherry blossoms, which made me smile: "The essentially erotic nature of mono no aware,"

    The Sunday Times (yuck .. Rupert Murdoch) is quoted as saying" A Mature Woman" is "As gripping as a thriller" ... I wouldn't go that far. It's essentially a thoughtful novel about the Japanese traditions of gift-giving. I picked it up as goodreaders (Capsguy!) was raving about "Grass For My Pillow" ... but "A Mature Woman" was much cheaper.

    It has a confusing start (very long chapter 1 = "day in the life of newbies on the editorial desk", very long chapter 2 = "young woman and two male friends have a row about wartime Japan at dinner"). Then our rookie editorial-writer, the mature woman, writes a rather strange piece about ... abortion. "They'll love it in Pomona" perhaps, but they'll hate it in Medieval England, Iowa.

    There's a very Japanese response to her unpopular editorial ... the newspaper managers keep trying to pay the mature woman much more money to sit at a different desk and do fuck all. Poor dear. Yet she's determined to fix things. The Japanese way. Which means it takes 322 pages and nobody's very happy by the end of it. But then nobody's very sad either.

    "A Mature Woman" is best enjoyed with that box of chocolates a colleague you don't really like was obliged to buy for you because you were obliged to buy him a packet of rice crackers that time.

    The old actress was the most fun:
    "Her voice softened as if she were remembering those far-off nights.
    'At first he was really clumsy, quite hopeless. He didn't know a thing, you see. I had terrible trouble getting ...'
    'Please, Masako,' her sister put in hurriedly, and then, after the briefest of pauses: 'Aren't you hungry?'"

  • Marija S.

    Life-like, rich, didactic, insightful, philosophical and practical, socially conscious,rewarding slow-read material. The plot is often side-tracking in secondary stories, meticulous and detailed presentation of all sorts of gossip, internal monologues, recollections of the characters which show how everything in life and the world is connected in a subtle, mysterious way. I considered giving it 4 stars, which probably would have been a more accurate mark, but eventually I appointed all 5 for the book being so skillfully interwoven collection of facets that make human life and of the lessons it brings.


  • Taylor Lee

    Delightfully entertaining, Maruya’s A Mature Woman weaves an intriguing tale that hangs at the intersection of journalism and politics, free expression and power. Evocative of 90s Japan, filled—characteristic for Maruya—with miniature lectures, essays, and references to academic life, this final novel is an enjoyable addition to Maruya’s important oeuvre.

  • JoeG

    A pleasurable book to read due to a remarkable female -Yumiko. Yet, I wish the author had a better editor: some of the discussions between inconsequential minor characters (or even between Yumiko and her one dimensioned philosopher lover) read too much like essays.
    Nevertheless, a fun, complicated silly story with many enjoyable parts.