Sonoko, attending art classes, sketches out a portrait of Kannon the Goddess of Mercy, but instead of basing it on the model in front of her, she’s inspired by her friend. Soon enough the teacher starts to mock her and she hears the rumors – allegedly she and Mitsuko are more than friends. They both decide to pay these rumors no heed and instead of hiding, they publicly hang out. However their friendship quickly evolves into crazy romance but mind you, it’s not a naive friends-to-lovers tale.
Quicksand Quicksand is a story about obsession and jealousy. It’s a bisexual foursome which turns out to be toxic for all parties involved – maybe beside Mitsuko whose intentions, with each page and each lie, become more unclear. Although the book is narrated from Sonoko’s point of view, who relates the events to an unknown writer, the whole novel is centered around Mitsuko and her almost hypnotical effect on each of the main characters. The title serves as a metaphor for the destructiveness of relationships in Tanizaki’s book. In one of the chapters, Sonoko admits she’s too deep into this situation and soon realizes she cannot escape Mitsuko’s influence. An (hopefully) interesting fact: the original Japanese title includes the Buddhist symbol 卍 (pronounced as manji) which refers to the four lovers in the novel.
