Call number
Series
Genres
Publication
New York: Tor, 2000.
Pages
382
Description
Kij Johnson has created an achingly beautiful love story, a fable wrapped in smoke and magic set against the fabric of ancient Japan. Johnson brings the setting lovingly to life, describing a world of formalities and customs, where the exchange of poetry is a form of conversation and everything has meaning, from the color of the silks on wears to how one may address others. Yoshifuji is a man fascinated by foxes, a man discontented and troubled by the meaning of life. A misstep at court forces him to retire to his long-deserted country estate, to rethink his plans and contemplate the next move that might return him to favor and guarantee his family's prosperity. Kitsune is a young fox who is fascinated by the large creatures that have suddenly invaded her world. She is drawn to them and to Yoshifuji. She comes to love him and will do anything to become a human woman to be with him. Shikujo is Yoshifuji's wife, ashamed of her husband, yet in love with him and uncertain of her role in his world. She is confused by his fascination with the creatures of the wood, and especially the foxes that she knows in her heart are harbingers of danger. She sees him slipping away and is determined to win him back from the wild...for all that she has her own fox-related secret. Magic binds them all. And in the making (and breaking) of oaths and honors, the patterns of their lives will be changed forever. The Fox Woman is a powerful first novel, singing with lyrical prose and touching the deepest emotions. A historically accurate fantasy, it gives us a glimpse into, and an understanding of, the history that shaped the people of one of our world's greatest nations. But it is also a story about people trying to understand each other and the times they live in, people trying to see through illusions to confront the truth of who they are.… (more)
Awards
IAFA William L. Crawford Fantasy Award (Winner — 2001)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2000
Physical description
382 p.; 8.5 inches
ISBN
0312854293 / 9780312854294
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User reviews
LibraryThing member krisiti
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
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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. Show Less
LibraryThing member bilbette
It took me several times to get started on this book. It's written as journal entries for the main characters: a fox who falls in love with a man, the man she loves, the wife of the man she loves.
This is not a swift-paced action thriller, but a slow, deliberate opening of the characters' lives set
Beautifully written retelling of a Japanese "fairy tale".
This is not a swift-paced action thriller, but a slow, deliberate opening of the characters' lives set
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in a courtly Japan of the past. The language of the book is lush, but restrained; matching the characters and their society.Beautifully written retelling of a Japanese "fairy tale".
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LibraryThing member Ancientgirl
I first discovered (and became fascinated by) Heian era Japan in college; this was the book that first got me interested in Japanese folklore. It's romantic and gorgeous, melancholic, and touching. Really evocative.
LibraryThing member kmaziarz
Kij Johnson turns the conventional portrayal of kitsune on its ear, showing us life from the point of view of a family of foxes who live in the garden of a Japanese nobleman’s country home. They live happily enough together there until the day that the nobleman, Kaya no Yoshifuji, brings his wife
Yearning to understand him and to enter a way of life she perceives to be beautiful, Kitsune persuades her wise grandfather to work fox magic and create an illusory world to entrap Yoshifugi. It works, and Yoshifugi sees the fox’s den as a glittering palace and Kitsune herself as a beautiful and desirable young woman. Trapped in the magic of the foxes, Yoshifugi marries Kitsune, forgetting completely about his own wife who has returned to the capital with their son.
But the magic is not perfect, and though Kitsune desperately tries to cling to her human husband and to understand the poetry that he writes and the way in which he sees the world, she fears that eventually it will unravel and Yoshifugi will find himself scrabbling in the dirt with a fox.
Despite the anthropomorphic elements and the very strong overtones of magical realism and fantasy, “The Fox Woman” is also a moving and sensual portrait of love, marriage, and the continual struggle to understand the hearts and minds of others.
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Shikujo and their family and retainers to live at the country estate. The young female fox, simply named Kitsune, falls in love with Yoshifuji and his strange, un-fox-like habits of poetry and contemplation. Yearning to understand him and to enter a way of life she perceives to be beautiful, Kitsune persuades her wise grandfather to work fox magic and create an illusory world to entrap Yoshifugi. It works, and Yoshifugi sees the fox’s den as a glittering palace and Kitsune herself as a beautiful and desirable young woman. Trapped in the magic of the foxes, Yoshifugi marries Kitsune, forgetting completely about his own wife who has returned to the capital with their son.
But the magic is not perfect, and though Kitsune desperately tries to cling to her human husband and to understand the poetry that he writes and the way in which he sees the world, she fears that eventually it will unravel and Yoshifugi will find himself scrabbling in the dirt with a fox.
Despite the anthropomorphic elements and the very strong overtones of magical realism and fantasy, “The Fox Woman” is also a moving and sensual portrait of love, marriage, and the continual struggle to understand the hearts and minds of others.
Show Less
LibraryThing member CarlisleMLH
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!!!
LibraryThing member Foxen
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
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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. Show Less
LibraryThing member katekf
Through the diaries of a married couple in feudal Japan and a young female fox, Johnson masterfully captures how complex love and the difficulty of being human is. Threads of magic and faith weave through a tale of a marriage falling apart and a fox falling in love and trying to be with a human.
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Frank depictions of lust and pain help to reimagine what is actually a tradiational fairy tale and show the pain and joy that run through life. The use of poetry and diary entries help to present the ritual based life of feudal Japan and show what can be lost in between the lines. An incredible book that I would recommend to everyone from a mature high school student to any adult as it looks at the complex dance of love. Show Less
LibraryThing member dylanesque
This book has wonderful character development. As the book progresses you not only come to understand the characters, but you see them grow in a believable and very satisfying way.
I could review other parts of the book, but I think I would only be repeating other reviews. The setting was
I could review other parts of the book, but I think I would only be repeating other reviews. The setting was
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beautifully expressed, and utterly engaging. Show Less
LibraryThing member Starla.Adams.G
This book was a lot better than I had thought it was going to be. Very different from what I am used to reading, but very good!
LibraryThing member janerawoof
Retelling of a Japanese fairy tale/legend about a fox who falls into infatuation/lust/love with a nobleman, becomes a woman and then his wife. Even with tragedy threaded through the whole story, we are still left with a note of optimism.
With gorgeously lyrical prose with tiny details of customs,
Kitsune the Fox speaking: "We make our own worlds. My brother had fashioned his world; it seemed madness to me, but it was not mine to judge. I have fashioned and refashioned my own reality. It was the fox world, then it was magic, then a human world of sorts: robes and poetry and at its heart, Yoshifuji....
Human legends are full of fox men and fox women. Most fail and fall back into foxness. Or become human, lost in pain. Some humans learn joy and some foxes grow souls. Thieves, princes, dancers, charcoal burners--they are connected in that they have discovered this path for themselves."
With gorgeously lyrical prose with tiny details of customs,
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strongly evoking medieval Japan, the author has also given us poetry from that period in epigraphs at the head of each part. The three main characters write poetry all through. This novel was a window into a bygone world. Kitsune the Fox speaking: "We make our own worlds. My brother had fashioned his world; it seemed madness to me, but it was not mine to judge. I have fashioned and refashioned my own reality. It was the fox world, then it was magic, then a human world of sorts: robes and poetry and at its heart, Yoshifuji....
Human legends are full of fox men and fox women. Most fail and fall back into foxness. Or become human, lost in pain. Some humans learn joy and some foxes grow souls. Thieves, princes, dancers, charcoal burners--they are connected in that they have discovered this path for themselves."
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LibraryThing member AltheaAnn
Kij Johnson's first novel is an expansion of her Sturgeon-award-winning short story. It is a quiet, rather slow-moving story of three weak, unhappy people. It's based on the Japanese folk legends of "kitsune," foxes, which are rumored to have the ability to turn into people, especially beautiful
Yoshifuji, finding himself out of a job for the season, decides to move back to his country home, taking his wife, Shikujo with him. Once there, a young fox, Kitsune, sees Yoshifuji and falls in love with him at first sight, developing the irresistible urge to follow and pursue him, driven to great lengths to become human so that she has a chance that he will love her.
Yoshifuji is depressed, full of malaise, with no energy to pursue his career – or anything. Shikujo is also depressed, feeling constricted in her society and mildly unhappy with her marriage. (She also has a seemingly inexplicable hatred of foxes.) Kitsune is most dissatisfied of all, not to mention self-centered, as she pursues her "love" with no regard for Yoshifuji himself, his wife, or her own family's well-being.
Having flawed, human characters can certainly improve a novel. But I found all three main characters annoying and unsympathetic. I also think the book would have worked better if it was set in a Nippon-esque fantasy world rather than specifically in Heian-era Japan. Johnson obviously did a lot of research on the time period, adding in many period details – but I didn't feel that the ‘mindset' really fit the place and time. The words and thoughts of the characters often seemed, to me, to betray a modern perspective (with criticism implicit) of the society of the time, rather than coming from within that society. For example, in a society where it was customary for servants to always be present, a character would not feel the need to comment on the constant presence of those servants and muse on the nature of being alone. It would be taken for granted. There are many other such bits – comments on the place of women in society, the ‘instincts' of animals, the role of a wife, etc, all of which I felt betrayed a non-period attitude. I felt like the message of these folktales had been changed, to the point where this is more a retelling of ‘The Little Mermaid' with Japanese trappings, than a true Japanese tale.
Also, in the book, Shikujo must mention over a dozen times how, "in the tales, foxes are always evil." This is not the case (although yes, the tales often end in tragedy). Still, (according to wikipedia) "Japanese folklorist Kiyoshi Nozaki argues that the Japanese regarded kitsune positively as early as the 4th century A.D." There were shrines to fox spirits, where people left offerings. Also, a fox who could change shape gained this ability through enlightenment gained over a long life (often 100 years). In contrast, the Kitsune of the novel is less than a year old, and is decidedly non-enlightened.
All that said, the book was well-written, and had a particularly well-done, powerful ending.
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women.Yoshifuji, finding himself out of a job for the season, decides to move back to his country home, taking his wife, Shikujo with him. Once there, a young fox, Kitsune, sees Yoshifuji and falls in love with him at first sight, developing the irresistible urge to follow and pursue him, driven to great lengths to become human so that she has a chance that he will love her.
Yoshifuji is depressed, full of malaise, with no energy to pursue his career – or anything. Shikujo is also depressed, feeling constricted in her society and mildly unhappy with her marriage. (She also has a seemingly inexplicable hatred of foxes.) Kitsune is most dissatisfied of all, not to mention self-centered, as she pursues her "love" with no regard for Yoshifuji himself, his wife, or her own family's well-being.
Having flawed, human characters can certainly improve a novel. But I found all three main characters annoying and unsympathetic. I also think the book would have worked better if it was set in a Nippon-esque fantasy world rather than specifically in Heian-era Japan. Johnson obviously did a lot of research on the time period, adding in many period details – but I didn't feel that the ‘mindset' really fit the place and time. The words and thoughts of the characters often seemed, to me, to betray a modern perspective (with criticism implicit) of the society of the time, rather than coming from within that society. For example, in a society where it was customary for servants to always be present, a character would not feel the need to comment on the constant presence of those servants and muse on the nature of being alone. It would be taken for granted. There are many other such bits – comments on the place of women in society, the ‘instincts' of animals, the role of a wife, etc, all of which I felt betrayed a non-period attitude. I felt like the message of these folktales had been changed, to the point where this is more a retelling of ‘The Little Mermaid' with Japanese trappings, than a true Japanese tale.
Also, in the book, Shikujo must mention over a dozen times how, "in the tales, foxes are always evil." This is not the case (although yes, the tales often end in tragedy). Still, (according to wikipedia) "Japanese folklorist Kiyoshi Nozaki argues that the Japanese regarded kitsune positively as early as the 4th century A.D." There were shrines to fox spirits, where people left offerings. Also, a fox who could change shape gained this ability through enlightenment gained over a long life (often 100 years). In contrast, the Kitsune of the novel is less than a year old, and is decidedly non-enlightened.
All that said, the book was well-written, and had a particularly well-done, powerful ending.
Show Less
LibraryThing member flying_monkeys
A fox falls in love with a human and does everything in her power to win him for herself, no matter what. The biggest problem, other than her being a fox and him human, is that he's already married to a woman he loves. She ignores her grandfather's warnings and the numerous times she's chased off
Recommended if you enjoy historically accurate retellings based on Japanese fairy tales told in diary form.
3.5 stars
(SPOILER)My favorite part was when Yoshifuji goes to live with Kitsune in the fox world. I loved how time was different in their world within a world. How the fox magic manifested all around them - in the house, ladies-in-waiting, clothes, etc. Like a magical bubble in the backyard. "I think I wouldn't have seen my fox wife's illusion if I hadn't wanted it so much. That was a world where no one aged. My fox wife was eternally beautiful." (END SPOILER)
A few passages I bookmarked:
"I didn't wish I were still a mere fox, but I wished being a woman were less of a burden." (Kitsune)
"But perhaps there is something more correct even than elegance. My father owns a set of sake cups, a treasure that has been in his family for a thousand years (or so he says). They are hand-formed of rough pottery randomly splashed with black and green and silver. There is nothing delicate, nothing elegant, about them...As a child, I liked them better than the facile perfection of porcelain. 'They are honest,' my father said then. 'They do not break when you drink wine.' Perhaps honesty could be stronger, more beautiful than elegance and correctness." (Shikujo)
"...and so instead I take my tiny steps toward honesty and whisper the great truth here in my pillow book, and perhaps someday into my husband's ear (whether Yoshifuji or another). Perhaps there is a Pure Land where we go when we die. But perhaps there is not. And either way, it is wise to live well, here and now. I will not run. I will be alive. The fox woman, my husband and I. Of us all, she understood this best." (Shikujo)
"If he sees the ball rolled across the snow, I will be so happy, but it does not matter; I will still build a world of the best of all these things." (Kitsune)
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or outright attacked by the humans. She's in love and doesn't care the cost. But Yoshifuji, the object of her love, is equally fixated on the foxes. And his wife, Shikujo, who believes that foxes are evil tricksters dangerous to humans, watches as the obsession consumes her husband. All three are caught in a web of dishonesty, guilt and forbidden desires, and all three must find their own way out. One of the best endings I've read in recent memory.Recommended if you enjoy historically accurate retellings based on Japanese fairy tales told in diary form.
3.5 stars
(SPOILER)
A few passages I bookmarked:
"I didn't wish I were still a mere fox, but I wished being a woman were less of a burden." (Kitsune)
"But perhaps there is something more correct even than elegance. My father owns a set of sake cups, a treasure that has been in his family for a thousand years (or so he says). They are hand-formed of rough pottery randomly splashed with black and green and silver. There is nothing delicate, nothing elegant, about them...As a child, I liked them better than the facile perfection of porcelain. 'They are honest,' my father said then. 'They do not break when you drink wine.' Perhaps honesty could be stronger, more beautiful than elegance and correctness." (Shikujo)
"...and so instead I take my tiny steps toward honesty and whisper the great truth here in my pillow book, and perhaps someday into my husband's ear (whether Yoshifuji or another). Perhaps there is a Pure Land where we go when we die. But perhaps there is not. And either way, it is wise to live well, here and now. I will not run. I will be alive. The fox woman, my husband and I. Of us all, she understood this best." (Shikujo)
"If he sees the ball rolled across the snow, I will be so happy, but it does not matter; I will still build a world of the best of all these things." (Kitsune)
Show Less