The Samurai's Garden: A Novel by Gail Tsukiyama (English) Paperback Book

Description: The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama Tsukiyama's classic story of love, sacrifice, and devotion. On the eve of World War II, a young Chinese man is sent to his family's summer home in Japan to recover from tuberculosis. He will rest, swim in the salubrious sea, and paint in the brilliant shoreside light. But when he meets four local residents—a beautiful Japanese girl and three older people—what ensues is a tale that readers will find at once classical yet utterly unique. Author signings. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-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. Back Cover Critics nationwide have praised Gail Tsukiyama for her vivid characters and crystalline prose. They have acclaimed the exquisite beauty of her serene settings. But more than anything, readers have celebrated finding themselves in the hands of a strong storyteller with the wisdom and warm heart of an ancient soul. On the eve of the Second World War, a young Chinese man is sent to his familys summer home in Japan to recover from tuberculosis. He will rest, swim in the salubrious sea, and paint in the brilliant shoreside light. It will be quiet and solitary. But he meets four local residents-a beautiful Japanese girl and three older people. What then ensues is a tale that readers will find at once classical yet utterly unique. Young Stephen has his own adventure, but it is the unfolding story of Matsu, Sachi, and Kenzo that seizes your attention and will stay with you forever. Tsukiyama, with lines as clean, simple, telling, and dazzling as the best of Oriental art, has created a small, moving masterpiece. Author Biography Born to a Chinese mother and a Japanese father in San Francisco, Gail Tsukiyama now lives in El Cerrito, California. Her novels include "Dreaming Water, The Language of Threads," "The Samurais Garden," and "Night of Many Dreams," Review "Tsukiyama brings a fluid, smooth elegance to the complicated story she tells." --The San Francisco Chronicle Book Review"An exraordinary graceful and moving novel about goodness and beauty. Tsukiyama is a wise and spellbinding storytelling." --Booklist"Beautifully crafted . . . Tsukiyamas writing is crystalline and delicate, and notably in her evocative of time and place." --Publishers Weekly Kirkus US Review A slow and detached narrative tells the story of Hong Kongs Stephen Chan, who, in 1938 at the age of 20, is sent to recover from tuberculosis in his familys summer house in a small Japanese fishing village. Stephen becomes fascinated with the familys faithful and taciturn servant, Matsu, and his mysterious past. The curious Stephen discovers a long-ago love triangle between Matsu, his best friend, Kenzo, and Sachi, a beautiful woman afflicted with leprosy in her youth and now living in a remote leper village in the mountains. Matsu begins to take Stephen on his frequent visits to Sachi. Stephen is entranced by the woman and her sad past (her leprosy brought dishonor to her family and led to Kenzos rejection of her). Sachis account of her lonely life is the finest part of the novel: delicate, absorbing, and melancholy. Now she finds happiness only in Matsus friendship and her treasured rock garden, which Matsu lovingly helped her build, persuading her that she could have beauty in her life once again. While learning of the trios secret past, Stephen also finds out about his fathers furtive long-term affair and worries about the effect this will have on his family back in Hong Kong. Stephens diary entries make up the novel, but, lacking emotion and passion, hes not a very good diarist. A whirlwind romance with a young Japanese woman does nothing to bring out his oblique personality. Matsu, the devoted gardener and wise friend, is the more intriguing character, but, frustratingly, hes only seen through Stephens eyes. With Japans invasion of China, Tsukiyama attempts to cast a dark shadow over the isolated village; but for all her heros agonizing over whether or not to return to Hong Kong, no sense of wartime tension is evident. An engaging story - a forgotten love triangle coupled with the misery of leprosy - dulled by the dim voice of its narrator. (Kirkus Reviews) Review Quote "Tsukiyama brings a fluid, smooth elegance to the complicated story she tells."-The San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "An exraordinary graceful and moving novel about goodness and beauty. Tsukiyama is a wise and spellbinding storytelling."-Booklist "Beautifully crafted . . . Tsukiyamas writing is crystalline and delicate, and notably in her evocative of time and place."-Publishers Weekly Description for Reading Group Guide The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his familys 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 Matsus 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 Matsus generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsus soulmate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy. Excerpt from Book Samurais Garden AUTUMN TARUMI, JAPAN SEPTEMBER 15, 1937 I wanted to find my own way, so this morning I persuaded may father to let me travel alone from his apartment in Kobe to my grandfathers beach house in Tarumi. It had taken me nearly two weeks to convince him--you would think I was a child, not a young man of twenty. It seems a small victory, but Ive won so few in the past months that it means everything to me--perhaps even the beginning of my recovery. Just before leaving, I bought this book of Japanese parchment paper to record any other prizes I might be lucky enough to capture. It opens before me now, thin sheets of sand-colored paper, empty and quiet as the beach below the village. Since I became ill last spring in Canton, Ive had no time to myself. When I was too weak to continue studying, my instructors at Lingnan University ordered me home. My friend King accompanied me on the train, and hovered over me all the way home to Hong Kong. Ill never forget the frightened look in my mothers eyes the day I returned. It was like an animals fear for her young. I couldnt stop coughing long enough to catch my breath. When King and a manservant carried me up the concrete steps of our house, my mother stood in her green silk cheungsam, lips pressed tightly together in a straight line as if she were holding back a scream. Once home I was constantly under her cautious eyes, and those of our old servant Ching. The two women monitored my every move, as if I might wilt away right before their eyes. Thats how they looked at me sometimes, as though I were already a memory. I can understand their concern. My days were still punctuated by fevers in the late afternoon and a persistent dry cough. All through the thick, sticky summer, the heat made things worse. When my illness was diagnosed as tuberculosis by an English doctor, my mother sent a telegram to my father in Kobe. Her concernturned to dread and she forbade my younger sister Penelope, whom Ive called Pie ever since she was born, to enter my room. Every morning Pie balanced on the threshold and smiled at me, looking smaller than her twelve years. There are four of us children in all. My older sister Anne and my younger brother Henry are now back at school in Macao. My parents gave us all Christian names at birth, since my father believes it an asset in the business world to be addressed with ease by Westerners. His import-export business thrives on such progressive ideas. It seems the apartment he keeps in Japan is more his home than our family house in Hong Kong. He makes his life in both places and the way he bows low with eyes averted seems at times more Japanese than Chinese to me. By late July, the heat had settled in on Hong Kong, while my fevers advanced and retreated. A heavy stillness had descended on our house, as if everyone was moving in slow motion. My mother was even more nervous than usual. Two days later, the news came over the radio that the Japanese had captured Tientsin and surrounded Peking. Hong Kong was stifling in August. Some afternoons I could barely breathe. My father wrote: "Send Stephen to me in Kobe, I will take him to Tarumi. The climate is drier there, and the air is much fresher than in Hong Kong." My mother ordered Ching to prepare for my journey to Japan, while the Japanese occupied Peking and sent their warships to Shanghai. I hated to leave my family and friends, even though I hadnt been allowed to see them. I felt lonelier than ever. Details ISBN0312144075 Author Gail Tsukiyama Short Title SAMURAIS GARDEN Pages 224 Language English ISBN-10 0312144075 ISBN-13 9780312144074 Media Book Format Paperback DEWEY FIC Year 1996 Publication Date 1996-05-31 Place of Publication New York Country of Publication United States Edition 1st Imprint St Martins Press Residence El Cerrito, CA, US Publisher St. Martins Griffin Subtitle A Novel DOI 10.1604/9780312144074 Audience General/Trade AU Release Date 2001-04-30 NZ Release Date 2001-04-30 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:2623915;

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