How the ladies of eleventh Century China had enough freedom to write the Very First novel.

I didn't really enjoy this book. I know it's a classic work (which I don't usually enjoy, actually) of Japanese literature that is recognized for shining a light into the lives of nobles. I didn't like the treatment of women in this book. By today's standards, this book is not good to women. There's even a part in here where men gossip about their failed love lives. One man regales his companions about a story of a woman who wasn't affectionate enough when he was feigning disinterest to catch her eye, so he ignored her harder and she died of what he thought was a broken heart. The next woman he talked about showed too much interest in him and he dumped her. The treatment of women didn't really improve throughout. This is a classic work I could have been happy to live without and am glad that the version I read was extremely abridged.

A good, thorough, workaday introduction to what you need to know to start reading Genji fruitfully.