after hearing all the hype about the Tale of Genji being the world's oldest known written novel, i was really excited when i found a copy of it in my school's library and i started reading it immediately. however, i found it to be intensely...boring. the book is extremely long, even by my standards, and the stroryline is repeitive and essentially is a chrnicle of the affairs of the prince and his son. we learn of nothing else; now, i know its a love story, but that was a waste of my time other than i learned a little about what life was like for the extremely high-ranking privelged in that time and what was considered beautiful in women. ☝ please tell me what you think of this book, and whether it has any merit to it other than its literary historical significance...