The tables turn by the end of Tanizaki's Naomi

Though I never felt I could like either of the lead characters in Junichiro Tanizaki's Naomi, it was gratifying to see the tables turned at the end of the novel. What started out as a story of the complete exploitation of a young woman - the sleazy narrator, Joji, pretty much adopts an attractive 15-year-old girl (he's 28) to have her live as his housekeeper but essentially to make her his concubine and later his wife and to dominate her in every way, sexually, financially, intellectually, socially. But his "creation" grows beyond his control and becomes a powerful and alluring young woman - good - but also a serial philanderer, a spendthrift, probably an alcoholic, a totally unsympathetic character. Eventually, they fight and she walks out, leaving the narrator devastated and suicidal. Oddly, he strikes up a friendship with one of Naomi's many lovers and they tell each other tales of woe and console each other. But oddly Naomi comes back to Joji, at first as a "friend," using his house as a place to recover between assignations and eventually moving in - but for a long time resisting his advances and attempts to renew their marriage, sexually and emotionally - until she at last has him at a point of despair. He literally grovels at her feet - and then we jump forward a few years and see that he has set bought a beautiful suburban house for them and devoted his whole life into meeting her every need and whim, even allowing her to continue to see other men - in particular, "Western" men to whom she is so attracted (as is he to "Western" women - frequently noting Naomi's pale skin and Western features): the situation at the outset has reversed, Naomi is in complete control of the relationship, he is at her mercy. He gets what he deserves.