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The Samurai's Garden

Review

The Samurai's Garden

Shortly before World War II, a Chinese man, sent to Japan to recover from tuberculosis, meets a desirable Japanese girl and begins a love story which brims over with undying love, devotion and passion.  Gail Tsukiyama uses her poetic narrative style to compose the lovely story in THE SAMURAI'S GARDEN, a look at the coming together of two distinctively different cultures and how these differences cause a great deal of turmoil to two who are joined by the heart in a love for the ages.

Although the author states that a great deal of her writing, in this and other novels, comes from researching her ancestors rather than from her actual experience of life with her immigrant parents --- a father from Japan and a mother from China --- one senses at the core of this story that she has delicately dropped in various details of her parents' courtship and their subsequent life together.

In the Japanese seaside, rendered so completely that you'll feel the salt settle gently on your skin as you read, Stephen comes to find rest and care for a body torn apart by tuberculosis. Matsu, a "Samurai of the Soul," is a housekeeper and gardener who holds an intense secret.  As Stephen recovers, he discovers more and more fascinating things about this man and grows to love Matsu's soul mate, the beautiful and suffering Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.  The growth and depth of their love is a wonder to read; the soulful connection Stephen makes with Matsu will bring tears to your eyes.

In this tale, Tsukiyama has taken an old idea (that we are all the same under the skin and have much to learn from each other in our obvious differences) and turns it on its ear, adding a stirring historical setting for these love stories. THE SAMURAI'S GARDEN is a wonderful read, one which you will want to enjoy over and over again.

Reviewed by Jana Siciliano on January 23, 2011

The Samurai's Garden
by Gail Tsukiyama

  • Publication Date: April 15, 1996
  • Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction
  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
  • ISBN-10: 0312144075
  • ISBN-13: 9780312144074