The Samurai's Garden in Around the World in 80 Books

Sep 15, 2010 Kat (A Journey In Reading) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned-books, read-in-2010, historical-fiction, favorites

This was a beautiful book that has so many layers among its simple writing. Simple beauty.

Stephen is a Chinese man who is away at college when he is stricken by an illness and is sent home to recover. His parents decide to send him to their family home in Japan to recuperate. It is Japan where Stephen learns that many things in life are not as they seem, the things he once thought were important are irrelevant. Stephen is taken care of by his family's caretaker Matsu. Matsu has taken care of the ...more

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Nov 06, 2010 Sunflower rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction-read-2010

Accept what life gives you, don't resist....for me this is a theme that winds its way through this book. It is a graceful, calm and gentle book; reading it is somewhat like sitting in a Japanese garden admiring the handiwork of the gardener. The story is narrated by a young man who goes from Hong Kong to Japan to recover from his TB, and along the way discovers a world where the characters suffer illness, natural disaster, unrequited love, the suicides and deaths of friends, and all with the bac ...more

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Feb 19, 2011 mstan rated it liked it

Shelves: asian

I'm not quite sure what to say about this odd, contemplative little book. It's just about a young Chinese man recuperating from a long illness in Japan, who makes friends and discovers more about life and his family as he meanders about. ...more

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Nov 06, 2010 Madeleine rated it liked it

Shelves: japan

I have read all of my expensive purchased English novels and have now moved on to various abandoned books I've ended up with. I enjoyed this (which has been sitting on my shelves unread in I think three different countries). ...more

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