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86th out of 571 books
—
755 voters
The Ginger Tree
by
Oswald Wynd
A bestseller in England, this bittersweet story of love and betrayal in the Far East is the source of the Masterpiece Theatre miniseries.
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
October 31st 1990
by Harper Perennial
(first published October 1st 1977)
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Oct 30, 2011
Jeannette
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Jeannette by:
chrissie
Rating: 4-1/2 stars
This book is the fictional first-person account, told through letters and journal entries, of Mary MacKenzie's experiences living in China and Japan. At the age of 20, she leaves her home in Scotland to marry her betrothed, a British military attache' stationed in Peking. What follows is the story of her life, with its many loves and losses, told over the next 30 years. The first thing that really pulled me into her story, was the very authentic voice the author uses for Mary....more
This book is the fictional first-person account, told through letters and journal entries, of Mary MacKenzie's experiences living in China and Japan. At the age of 20, she leaves her home in Scotland to marry her betrothed, a British military attache' stationed in Peking. What follows is the story of her life, with its many loves and losses, told over the next 30 years. The first thing that really pulled me into her story, was the very authentic voice the author uses for Mary....more
8 likes · like · see review
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This is a story of a young Scottish woman, Mary MacKenzie, who moves to China to get married in the early 1900s. She tells us her story through diary entries and letters. The writing carries us from event to event in her life in a rather robotic way: this happened and then this happened and so on. The writing was very affectless which made me feel very distant from Mary and unengaged in her story. This made for quite tedious reading. Several times I felt like putting down this book, but thought...more
10 likes · like · see review
Sep 10, 2011
Chrissie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Chrissie by:
Maggyheintz Heintz
NO SPOILERS
Finished: Having completed the whole book I now feel it was simply amazing. Why? It never felt like fiction. Never. I have a hard time believing it is not based on some person the author knew...... Mary, who she was when she travelled to marry Richard and who she became living alone in the Orient, was perfectly rendered.
This is not a long book. Only the essentials are related, but that which is depicted is done with care and wonderful prose. That which the author has chosen to tell u...more
Finished: Having completed the whole book I now feel it was simply amazing. Why? It never felt like fiction. Never. I have a hard time believing it is not based on some person the author knew...... Mary, who she was when she travelled to marry Richard and who she became living alone in the Orient, was perfectly rendered.
This is not a long book. Only the essentials are related, but that which is depicted is done with care and wonderful prose. That which the author has chosen to tell u...more
6 likes · like · see review
This very readable novel tells the story of Mary MacKenzie, taken from her genteel and strict upbringing in Edinburgh to no less strict societies in Japan and China, and how the life changing event of an extra-marital liaison leads to her eventual, partial integration and development in her chosen land. We learn about Eastern attitudes, ambitions and the foretold expansionism of Japan through her personal and diplomatic relationships with a number of strong and diverse characters in the diplomat...more
This novel was first published way back in 1977, and has been reprinted several times so must be a popular story! This book was given to me to read by an elderly couple, her Japanese and he European. They were married in Japan some 47 years ago, such a mixed marriage being unusual for those days. They suggested I read this because it gives a lot of insight into Japanese society from around 1900 to WWII. Things of course started to change in Japan after the war, but prior to that very little chan...more
The Ginger Tree is a "re-read" for me. I think I read it about 20-25 years ago. I came across it on Amazon and got a used paperback for $1.00.
I got more than my money's worth.
This is the story of a woman named Mary MacKenzie who leaves Scotland @ 1901 to marry an Englishman to whom she was betrothed after a few short meetings. He was in the military and was stationed in China. It is a loveless marriage, and left alone for long periods of time Mary meets a Japanese nobleman (a diplomat) with whom...more
I got more than my money's worth.
This is the story of a woman named Mary MacKenzie who leaves Scotland @ 1901 to marry an Englishman to whom she was betrothed after a few short meetings. He was in the military and was stationed in China. It is a loveless marriage, and left alone for long periods of time Mary meets a Japanese nobleman (a diplomat) with whom...more
It's a story of a young girl from Edinburgh who goes to China shortly after the Taiping Rebellion to marry a British military attaché, then has an affair with a Japanese aristocrat, is ostracized by the fellow foreigners, loses this and that (don't want to make spoilers), goes to live in Japan, then leaves Japan in the middle of the Pacific War. The end.
It's enjoyable, I suppose, well written and all that, interesting details, but the main character, apparently designed as a strong, resilient wo...more
It's enjoyable, I suppose, well written and all that, interesting details, but the main character, apparently designed as a strong, resilient wo...more
Several of our book club 2012 selections have been about Asian cultures. I'd gotten weary while reading of the daughter who is battling with a new American culture while worrying about her parents who are having difficulty adjusting.
Therefore, when I picked up The Ginger Tree somewhere cheap, I read all the other book that I had in the house before picking it up one night. It didn't take many pages for me to realize that I had inadvertantly stumbled on a well-written treasure that I savored fro...more
Therefore, when I picked up The Ginger Tree somewhere cheap, I read all the other book that I had in the house before picking it up one night. It didn't take many pages for me to realize that I had inadvertantly stumbled on a well-written treasure that I savored fro...more
I first read this book ten years ago or more, borrowed off my aunt's bookshelf. Maybe I shouldn't be but I'm always impressed when a male author writes so authentically and powerfully from a female perspective. Mary Mackenzie is one of the most compelling and sympathetic fictional characters I've ever "met". The book begins with her leaving Scotland in 1903, just twenty, to marry a well-born Scot in China, and follows her across forty years, first in China, where she has an affair and is cast ou...more
This has been sitting on my shelf waiting to be read for more than 10 years. I was attracted to it by the recommendations of others but put off by the fact that it is told in journal entries and some letters, which is generally not my favorite way to convey a story. However, in this case, I was pulled into Mary Mackenzie's world from the first few pages and stayed there. It's been a long time since I've read a book that kept calling me to sit down and read every moment but this one did just that...more
I received this book via care package (thanks to Heather) and had no idea what to expect. It was 100% enjoyable. The main character is a traveler who shares such insights and wisdom regarding traveling that make me feel 'connected' to the world of travels. It is a a story of life, exploring, accepting, changing, overcoming, and being set to the backdrop of Asian culture, conflicts and world conflicts - a fascinating read made even more so while living in an Asian nation.
A few quotes which stuck...more
A few quotes which stuck...more
This novel was written in the 1970s by a man who was born in Tokyo to Scots missionaries. He has combined his personal experience of Japan and his skill as a writer to create a fascinating tale, set in China and Japan in the first half of the 20th century. The main character, in whose voice the story is told, is Mary MacKenzie, who, as a 20-year old, is betrothed to a military attache stationed in Peking. She sets out by ship from Scotland to China, shaped in her habits of mind by the Victorian...more
This was a very enjoyable story, written as journal entries and letters from an Englishwoman who travels to China at the beginning of the 20th century to marry a military attache. She has an affair with a Japanese nobleman, has his child and is banished by her husband. The main character, Mary Mackenzie, settles in Tokyo where she spends the next 40 years, first as her lover's kept woman and then as an independent businesswoman, becoming successful in her own right. Her half-Japanese son is take...more
Mar 04, 2009
Espresso
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Espresso by:
Suzie Mckee Charnas
Shelves:
novel
When I read this book the first time I did not like the main male character in the least, but I did not have the faintest understanding of Japanese culture either. The second time I read the book, I had a bit more understanding of the cultures involved and so I enjoyed the book a great deal more.
I think that while I identify with the female main character much better than I do with the male main character, he did his best to interact with the foreign woman he brought into his life on her terms,...more
I think that while I identify with the female main character much better than I do with the male main character, he did his best to interact with the foreign woman he brought into his life on her terms,...more
Nov 30, 2011
Amy Warrick
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
historical-fiction
One of the few books I read again and again. The story (told in letters) of a Scots woman who goes to China in 1903 as a young bride, then meets and has an affair with a Japanese nobleman. She relocates to Japan and spends the next forty years making a life and career in Japan. It is absolutely fascinating. The author has done a marvelous job at bringing his characters to life and his depictions of Japan are spot-on (as far as I know, having made a cursory tour of that enormous museum in Tokyo)...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This book is about a Scottish woman, Mary McKenzie, who came to the Orent as a bride, and as a result of an adulterous liason, remained there as a single woman for most of her adult life. The book was narrated entirely through the protagonist's journal entries and her letters to one of her friends. While you get into her thoughts, you come away knowing very little about people in her life, especially the men, who are quite mysterious. I enjoyed the book and the insight into that era of Japan's...more
Loved it, loved it, loved it. Beautifully written fascinating account of the fall from grace & subsequent struggle to establish a life on her own of a Scottish girl from Edinburgh who goes to China in 1903 to marry a rather stuffy unpleasant British military attache. Mary Mackenzie keeps a diary and the novel follows her very brief cataclysmic affair with a Japanese officer recuperating in China from a wound incurred during the Russo Japanese war, her pregnancy, her banishment by her husband...more
We can't always agree with our friends but how boring would that be if we did. Deborah recommended this to me and I was intrigued by the plot. In 1903 a Scotswoman travels to China to marry a man stationed there. The story is told in journals and letters and spans 40 years with this woman put in the middle of quite extraordinary times, i.e. two world wars, cataclysmic earthquake and her two children physically taken from her. I would be a mess after one of these occurrences. She takes it all in...more
My love affair with stories about the Far East continues! I came away from this book pondering the paradoxes of it. For example, the main character is a fallen woman who refuses to really detail that fall even in her personal diary, who questions if there is a God but demands to be married in the tradition that she knows, who leaves a loveless marriage for a man and a life where she will be ostracized and lonely, and who loves the Chinese more than the Japanese even though her success came in To...more
Love a book with a strong female character but... Mary was definitely created by a man. A stronger woman would not continue to love a man who took away her child (could not stand the character, Kentaro). To me, what Mary lacked in maternalism she made up for in business and dealing with men in a foreign culture that opposed her for so many reasons. Nothing wrong with that. Just don't tell me this character could've been created by a woman. The book was satisfying in presenting the Japanese and C...more
Mary Mackenzie travels from Scotland to China in 1903, to marry and spend the rest of her life away from her kin. Her husband is cold, distant, and on army business most of the time. Even after her daughter Jane is born, she is lonely, and falls into a brief affair with a Japanese nobleman. Her husband sends her away, to Scotand. But, Mary won't have it and goes to Japan instead. Her life swirls out of control as her children are taken from her and she is left to figure it out on her own. The bo...more
I really give this one 3 1/2 stars. It was really good and kept me going with it. The story of a young lady who is shipped off to China in 1903 to marry a British military officer. It is a series of journal entries and letters written by the main character, Mary. The book ends in 1942 with the end of WWii. The books goes on too long and towards the end you loose interest because the details are loosely woven and the time long in between entries. I just flat stopped caring about this woman. Loved...more
This novel is about a Scottish woman who travels across the world to marry a man she hardly knows in China and is caught out after an adulterous affair. It is similar in style to A Town Called Alice (I don't know whether this is due to the fact they were of the same period and deal in different ways with WWII in Asia). Definitely worth reading for a sense of China and Japan in the early twentieth century although this(coincidentally) was the third book in a row I read centred around adultery so...more
An all-time favorite. First read around time of publications then re-read for f2f discussion in 2003. Love the journal/letter format. Amazing that a man could write such a great novel from female point of view and have it feel so genuine. He managed to fill the book with huge amounts of Chinese & Japanese history and culture without ever seeming didactic. Tons of emotion and many beautiful passages that were worthy of noting in my paper journal. Members of my Book Group still mention this a...more
I don't usually enjoy books that are constructed out of letters and journal entries, as I find them disingenuous. They usually have way too much detail and foreshadowing in order to provide the drama - like whole conversations recalled or something like that. I just usually find them uninteresting and contrived.
But it really worked for this book. There are huge gaps in time, and crazy things happen with very little build-up or explanation (like this proper Scottish woman is suddenly having an i...more
But it really worked for this book. There are huge gaps in time, and crazy things happen with very little build-up or explanation (like this proper Scottish woman is suddenly having an i...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
” En 1903, Mary Mackenzie embarque pour la Chine où elle doit épouser Richard Collinsgsworth, l’attaché militaire britannique auquel elle a été promise. Fascinée par la vie de Pékin au lendemain de la Révolte des Boxers, Mary affiche une curiosité d’esprit rapidement désapprouvée par la communauté des Européens. Une liaison avec un officier japonais dont elle attend un enfant la mettra définitivement au ban de la société. Rejetée par son mari, Mary fuira au Japon dans des conditions dramatiques....more
A 20 year old girl from Edinburgh travels to China in 1903 to marry a British military attache whom she has met only a couple of times. The marriage fails and she has an affair and a child with a Japanese Count. She is left to her own devices. The book - in the form of her diary tells the story of her life over the next forty years, covering two world wars.
The in depth knowledge of Japanese culture that the author brings is amazing. But at times the book drags- perhaps because of the style and...more
The in depth knowledge of Japanese culture that the author brings is amazing. But at times the book drags- perhaps because of the style and...more
In 1903, Scotswoman Mary Mackenzie goes to China to marry a military attache in Peking. After the birth of their daughter, Mary falls into an adulterous affair with a young Japanese nobleman and bears a son. Her husband sends the daughter to live with his mother in England, and Mary learns to live on her own over forty years, mostly in Japan, including two world wars and the cataclysmic earthquake of 1923. An interesting picture of pre-WWII life in Tokyo, especially the near-slave status of wome...more
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From Wikipedia:
Oswald Wynd (1913 – 1998) was a Scottish writer, born in Tokyo of parents who had left their native Perth to run a mission in Japan.
He attended schools in Japan where he grew up speaking both English and Japanese. In 1932 he returned with his parents to Scotland, and studied at the University of Edinburgh and began to write novels. When World War II came he joined t...more
More about Oswald Wynd...
From Wikipedia:
Oswald Wynd (1913 – 1998) was a Scottish writer, born in Tokyo of parents who had left their native Perth to run a mission in Japan.
He attended schools in Japan where he grew up speaking both English and Japanese. In 1932 he returned with his parents to Scotland, and studied at the University of Edinburgh and began to write novels. When World War II came he joined t...more
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