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The Samurai's Garden: A Novel
The Samurai's Garden: A Novel
The Samurai's Garden: A Novel
Audiobook8 hours

The Samurai's Garden: A Novel

Written by Gail Tsukiyama

Narrated by David Shih

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Gail Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a twenty-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength but also profound spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsu's soulmate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMar 7, 2017
ISBN9781515989936
Author

Gail Tsukiyama

Gail Tsukiyama was born in San Francisco, California, to a Chinese mother from Hong Kong and a Japanese father from Hawaii. She attended San Francisco State University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Master of Arts Degree in English. She is the bestselling author of several novels, including Women of the Silk and The Samurai’s Garden, as well as the recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize and the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award. She divides her time between El Cerrito and Napa Valley, California.

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Reviews for The Samurai's Garden

Rating: 4.021276638297873 out of 5 stars
4/5

564 ratings32 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Love and lessons learned growing up during war-time Japan. Sand, a garden, storms, and recovering from TB. Understated, lovely story filled with poignant wisdom.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book in college and recently listened to it on Scribd with my lady. It held up and is one of my favorite books that I've ever read. Cannot recommend highly enough.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I could not stop listening. The description of the garden, the village, the people were so real.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book has a "read more than once" tag because I did read it more than once. When I got to the last third of the book, it started to sound more and more familiar. It is a good story; just not one that I would have read twice had I realized!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I wasn't sure I even wanted to read this book because one of my book clubs had read "Women of the Silk" and had decidedly mixed reviews (leaning toward the negative). But I really enjoyed this work.A young Chinese boy from Hong Kong is sent to his family's beach house in Japan to recover from tuberculosis just before WW II breaks out. He meets the gardener, and the gardener's friends (who are lepers). He "falls in love" with a young woman, but the "racial prejudice" of her family thwart their feelings.Tsukiyama is a poetic writer. This is a good book for discussion groups. Much to think (and talk) about
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book contains no Samurai. There is, however, leprosy. And adultery.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The setting and themes of the book are interesting. I felt that the writing was somewhat pedestrian, but I looked at online reviews and see that others had the opposite opinion, so it seems that tastes can really vary.The book is very evocative of time and place. The plot is spare, and the book centers on three main characters in a quiet setting near the sea. Stephen, is sent by his parents to a family home in a small village in Japan to recover from TB. This happens at the beginning of WWII, so Stephen is concerned about the Japanese invasion of China, and there is a tension between worry about war, and the calm of his life in the village. Stephen develops a close relationship with Matsu, the home's caregiver and gardener, and the Sachi, a friend of Matsu's who has lived in a nearby leprosy community, since developing the disease as a young woman.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I finished it because it was not so bad that I would stop part way through. However, I really did not care too much about the people in it. I am going to do a little more research to see what happened to Chinese living in Japan in the late 30's when Japan was running over China and taking territory. At least I will get a history lesson.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Gentle loving book about a young man with tuberculosis that is sent to his family's rural home to heal. Set in the background of the war between the Japanese and the Chinese, it also discusses the shared life of a woman with leprosy and the older man who takes care of both the village and the sick man. Additional story is the discovery that his father has a long term mistress. I want to read more by this author.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When a story comes back to you after many years that means it left an impression. Gathering good books again and building a library of them to study this one resurfaced. The gentle weaving together of characters becomes a powerful meditation on the meaning of love, family and culture. Able to reach across time and space, this book touches strong emotions and provides the stepping-stones to help the reader imagine places we have never been and times we have never seen. Like a skilled gardener, Tsukiyama takes her time and leads one through an experience that does some of the great things literature is capable of.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I finished The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama in tears. Stephen, a young Chinese, is at college when he contracts TB and his family sends him to their summer home in Japan to get well. He will be in the care of Matsu, an elderly caretaker whom Stephen always felt was very remote. Away from the hectic, frenzied world of China, Stephen finds himself in the quiet remote village. This book is not for anyone that demands action or conflict or high drama but it will be one of the treasures on my bookshelves. The writing is spare, clean and lovely.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I struggled with this one. The main character, Stephen, is sent to a small Japanese town to recover from tuberculosis in 1937. He’s a young Chinese man and during his stay he finds himself getting to know the past through the family’s servant, Matsu, and dreading the future approaching war. Stephen doesn’t make an interesting character. His dialogue and actions fall flat, but it’s the supporting cast that eventually hooked me. Matsu is an older man now, but in his youth leprosy swept through their small town. He lost his sister to the disease and has watched a sweet friend, Sachi, suffer from it for years. Matsu and Sachi were lovely characters and the book is well worth reading for their plots. BOTTOM LINE: Despite an incredibly slow start, the supporting cast makes the story an interesting read.  
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A wonderfully written and poignant story. Stephen is sent from China to his grandfather's beach house in Japan. It is here that is life becomes entwined with Matsu and Sachi, a leper colony and a young first love with a Japanese girl. He learns about the Japanese invasion of China from radio broadcasts and letters from home. The characters are amazingly fleshed out, I felt like I really knew them by the end of the book. It ended the only way I believe it could have ended. This is a coming of age story, a love story and a story about the true meaning of beauty as well as a historical novel. This is an amazing novel, one which I highly recommend.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love this book, and this story. A love story on many levels. And a coming of age story. Historical. Beautiful. It reads like a classic; timeless and true.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Slow moving like a Japanese garden about a young Chinese man who moves to his grandfather's beach house in Japan to find the cure for taburculois. Leprosy and the Japanese war in China serve as the antagonists.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Sweet. Easy to read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An interesting novel that takes a Chinese national into pre-WWII Japan to stay in family property while recovering from a bout of tuberculosis. During the time he is there, the Japanese began their takeover of much of China, including Nanking and Canton. Although their countries are at war, Stephen (Chinese with a wetern name) becomes good friends with Matso the caretaker of the property and with Sashi, a woman with leporasy who lives a life of exile in a leper colony village.It is a story filled with personal growth, love and acceptance.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In this wonderful, evocative story, Stephen goes to Tamuri to recuperate from a serious illness at his grandfather's beach house. He has left his mother and sister at home in Hong Kong; left his college in Canton, along with his best friend; and his father remains in Kobe, where he lives and conducts his business--and other matters that impact the family. Stephen arrives an immature college student yearning for company. He longs for company and conversation and is disconcerted by the isolation and the retic ence of the cottage caretaker, Matsuko. Eventually, they become friends who share a long-time secret that brings another important friend into Stephen's life. And Stephen also finds romance on the beach.But the Japanese invasion of China affects this idyllic recovery period and brings Stephen maturity and insight as more is revealed to him than he ever expected to find in a sleepy vacation place on the shore.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Love, hate, fear, loathing, loss and much more are woven through this delightful novel. Gail Tsukiyama has captured so many feelings in her story of a young Chinese student recovering at his grandfather's summer home in Japan in the years leading up to WWII during the Japanese invasion of China. Coming from a mixed Japanese/Chinese family, she has been able to touch the feelings of both the Japanese majority in the story as well as the Chinese main character. I highly recommend this book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is an interesting, pensive little novel taking place in a Japanese seaside village over a year, through dairy entries by Stephen, a young Chinese man recouperating from tuberculosis during WWII. Back in China, the Japanese "devils" are dominating his homeland, yet Stephen befriends the quiet Japanese villagers, including his wealthy family's home caretaker, and slowly becomes a part of their lives (and vice versa). People who should be enemies because of the war become close friends. He learns about the outbreak of leprosy in the area, various forms of gardening and how illusive the creative spark can be (he is a painter). This is really quite a beautiful novel and the reader floats along as if by the sea where it is situated. However, it does get slow in spots, especially near the end, as the stories of the villagers unfold. But the characters, the time and the beauty of the area, the flowers, food and education, quickly won me over and kept me until the end. Highly recommended, but not for those looking for action and adventure.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Samurai's Garden is among my favorite novels. The images and tone and quiet but profound relationships between the characters continue to stay present with me. Gail Tsukiyama is a master at communicating subtleties in human relationships by showing, not telling.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Absolutely loved this book, its simplicity, the characters, the message of the garden.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was the first book I read by Gail Tsukiyama. It was recommended by bookstore staff so I thought I would give it a try. I have read everyone of her other books since and would highly recommend them all. It is a story of friendship between a young Chinese aristocrat and a gardener at his family's summer home which takes place during the Japanese invasion of China. The young man learns much from this simple man and we are given a history lesson as to the invasion's effect on the Chinese population. A good read!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Fiction, A good story with well written characters. Their lives, beliefs, ethics and friendships are on the surface what seems to be simple. As the reader shares their worlds these characters prove to be courageous, caring people.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Slow, beautiful and unusual story of a young Chinese man recovering from illness in a tiny remote town in Japan near to a leper's colony. As the Japanese army moves closer to his Hong Kong home, the boy finds a sense of relationship and belonging within the enemy's land. A book to be savored.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A little slow to start, but what a rewarding read. Rich full characters and wonderful sense of a time and culture.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This novel started a little slow for me as I found the narration awkward. Once I got used to it I really got involved in the story.The story revolves around a Chinese boy visiting his father's beach house in Japan during the Japanese invasion of China. He meets other characters who teach him the true way to live his life with honor and that an outsider can always find a place to fit in. I found the history and differences between the chinese and japanese cultures very interesting.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    On the surface, this is a beatiful love story. Deeper, the relationship of Japanese and Chinese character's in the book during the Japanese invasion of China - examine's a human and individual side of conflict. The author is half Japanese and Chinese - is this her examination of her history?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    A really subtle and sweet story in which the settings became characters themselves. I liked the ideas about our conflicting attachments to different places and the sadness we feel about leaving and moving from a place that has been an important factor in our lives.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A good love story.