February 26, 2025

Breathtaking & Challenging

The imagery and allusions in this book are absolutely beautiful. Very vivid, descriptive, and evocative - visually, and emotionally. Every story is named after a different flower, with some thematic relevance, and each has its own unique setting, style and language. Unfortunately for me, it's well above my reading level, so I got the 6th (of 52) stories, before dropping it. But if you're at a reading level where works from the 1920s (with modernized kana) are accessible to you, I absolutely recommend it.

The author (Yoshiya, Nobuko aka Hanamonogatari) and her works (especially 花物語) were pioneering works of Class S literature, which had a major effect on the shoujo shousetu literary tradition, and in turn the development of modern shoujo and yuri. As Wikipedia mentions: "Most of the relationships presented in Flower Tales are about unrequited love, pining from afar, and/or have unhappy endings. These stories often depict female-female desire with a dreamy writing style."

Anyway I'd definitely recommend it, and look forward to the day when I can reasonably pick it back up!

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