Publisher's Synopsis
Drawn in a simple, personable style, and covering the same years fictionalized in Tsuge's final masterpiece 'The Man Without Talent', Fujiwara's journal focuses on the joys of daily life amidst the stresses of childrearing, housekeeping, and managing a depressed husband. A touching and inspiring testimony of one Japanese woman's resilience, 'My Picture Diary' is also an important glimpse of the enigma that is Tsuge. Fujiwara's diary is unsparing. It provides a stark picture of the gender divide in their household: Tsuge sleeps until noon and does practically nothing. He never compliments her cooking, and dictates how money is spent. Not once is he shown drawing. And yet Fujiwara remains surprisingly empathetic toward her mercurial husband.