Rating: 
Summary: A strong simplistic style
Review: Since I have been living in Japan for the past 11 years, I believe that is was easier for me to respect the style Tsukiyama uses. From most of the reviews I've read, I think most people have been too closed minded to accept it. This novel is very powerful in the themes it presents through its characters. Tsukiyama has simplyed mastered the use the the "understatement". Most American Readers may not be able to appreciate this style because they fail to see that it represents a line of thinking so prized in Japan. I believe Tsukiyama has a beautiful style that celebrates the simplistic view of life. Definetely a huge break from the busy, complicated lives most people live through in today's world. Read it and apply it to you lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Would have been a good short story
Review: Everything in this book could have been accomplished in 100 pages. I found it very overwritten; action that should have taken 2 paragraphs are drawn out into 3 pages with a lot of repetitive description or needless reflection. I can imagine a writer struggling with a long-ish short story and then deciding to "flesh it out" into a short novel by expanding it. It feels expanded. The "as-told-to" style of storytelling feels contrived and laborious in places. Imagine person A telling us what person B told him about what person C said to her. Ugh. For this kind of book to be successful, we need to see the main character change during this transitional experience. Though he tells us he has learned from his experience in this small village, we don't *see* it. I also found the book one-dimensional -- a story with one layer. The author introduces a bunch of subplots but (annoyingly) doesn't develop them. Events take place and are described that add nothing to the story. Maybe her poetic, implied style of writing would be better suited to poetry.
Rating:
Summary: A lovely, peaceful book!
Review: I loved Samurai's Garden. It is the first book I have read by Gail Tsukiama. From the first chapter I felt transported to a peaceful world, despite the underlying theme of the war. I was sad when the book ended. It's a lovely story written beautifully. I can't wait to read more of her books.
Rating:
Summary: SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL
Review: THERE IS A SERENITY ABOUT THIS BOOK WHICH MADE ME FEEL THAT I WOULD HAVE ENJOYED BEING IN TAMURI . I FOUND STEPHEN'S CHARACTER TO BE WEAK AND INMATURE.MATSU WAS MY HERO AS WAS ,SACHI MY HEROINE.GAIL'S WRITING IS SIMPLE BUT PEACEFUL,IT FLOWS AS DID THE GARDENS IN THE TEXT.
Rating: 
Summary: a beautiful book
Review: this book is one of the nicest presents given to me. The person who gave it to me wrote inside the cover, "it is a book about what is important in life" and this is so true. It is a beautiful, peaceful, mesmerising book, which continuously comes to mind long after I have finished reading it. A brilliant book that desreves to be appreciated. My only regret is that Gail Tsukiymamas novels are not available within the UK
Rating:
Summary: a quiet, lovely story
Review: I usually read fast for plot, and this book forced me to slow down, breathe, and enjoy it. It's a quiet story, well told, refreshingly different from most current fiction. You simply can't rush through it, or you'll miss its beauty.
Rating: 
Summary: Simply a simple book
Review: The book is simply written and has a simple theme. While the author writes of beauty, the writing is not particularly moving or eloquent. It has an artifice of a journal, but it is the stiff kind of journal one writes when one expects another to read it. Details rather than giving an insight into setting or a connection between setting and the other elements of the narrative just sort of hang, as though a teacher required them. I found nothing that compelled me to pick this book up when I put it down. Despite the somewhat clumsy mystery of what Matsu really is about, and the shadow of the Japanese invasion of China creating a somewhat unconvincing issue for the narrator,I never felt enfolded in the tapestry of story telling, or, theme development. My bookgroup, too, loved this book. I cannot wait for them to read "Waiting" and compare the two books. Both are simply written, but WAITING has a strong interpretive that moves through the simply narrative facts into a wise and ironic ending while Samurai's Garden simply tells us at the end what we already knew the first 50 pages into the book.
Rating:
Summary: The Samurai's Garden
Review: This is a well written work that maintains the readers interest, conveys thoughtful examples of love and life. It has typical orential twists and delvers an excellent message of loves indurance and mankinds refusal to accept natures defeat. I enjoyed it very much.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely Textured Story--Highly Recommended!
Review: A wonderful, touching story so beautifully written that one cannot help but be drawn in. The author has done a fantastic job of telling the story of a young man torn between two cultures on the brink of WWII. Well worth the money and time spent reading it!
Rating:
Summary: Our monthly book club found this book eloquent and moving.
Review: The women in our book club enjoyed this book and found much to discuss. We talked about the war as a backgound as well as the differences between Chinese and Japanese cultures. We discussed the growth and maturation of the characters at length. The authors's devices and the style of her writing were talked about. As a whole, the group found this to be beautifully written and very meaningful in character portrayals. The consensus was that this is a novel of losses and gains and this phenomenon is repeatedly found in this very moving book.
| 
