Rating: 
Summary: Beautifully woven!
Review: I have read all of Gail Tsukiyama's books and this is one of my favourite. The story began with how Pei, a silk worker from China arrived in Hong Kong with an orphan, Ji Shen. It went on to tell us about their lives in Hong Kong manifested in the face of kindness, betrayal and a fight for survival. Pei's second & last employer, Mrs Finch was really a gift bestowed by divine providence. She was a kind soul with an extraordinarily big heart. Mrs Finch treated both Pei and Ji Shen as children she never had. She shared everything she had with them. As how life is usually, the story has many unexpected twists which left me gaping. The Japanese invaded Hong Kong and life was miserable for all. The Japanese occupation began to take its toll on the people. The weaker ones perish while the stronger ones fight on hoping for the occupation to end. Bloodshed was everywhere. Black markets were so rampant. Everyone lived in constant fear and trepidation. When the occupation finally ended, everyone cheered and expected things to get better. Somehow, loss was inevitable, during or even after the war. Pei had been resilient, to the war, to the painful losses that she underwent. She was fortunate that she had friends who were there for her, some from her sisterhood and a friend who had been the brother of a soulmate. In the end, the story was dotted with a joyous reunion. That somehow, made up for the loss earlier in the story. Though this is a work of fiction, I could vicariously feel what the people during the occupation felt, their helplessness, their agony, their excruciating losses. My heart ached for them. Ms. Tsukiyama is indeed a wonderful story weaver. I'm waiting in eager anticipation for more of her masterpieces!
Rating:
Summary: Serenity
Review: I have read each of Miss Tsukiyama's books and found each of them to be writing which enables me to become interested from the first page until the last. There is a sense of calm in her books, coupled with stories which are not the ordinary. As I have completed each of her books I have shared them with my friends and have never heard a word of crticism. I lived for a number of years in Japan and Korea and her books bring memories of days gone by. My only recommendation would not be to Miss Tsukiyam but rather to a reader. Make notes of names and relationships for reference as you proceed through the book and it will assist you in refering back to certain personalities in the book. My final comment is "when will Miss Tsukiyama's next book arrrive on the shelf"?
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Sequel
Review: I have read The Samurai's Garden and the book that preceeded this one, Women of the Silk. I thought this was an excellent sequel to that book. As usual I found Gail Tsukiyama's writing lyrical, beautiful and very soothing. The pace of her writing reminds me of peotry and I find her description of life in China, during very transitory times, fascinating and informative, without feeling as if I am having a history lesson. I felt very saddened when I finished this book, because I have known Pei since she was a little girl, and this book ends with her in her sixties. Although I loved the book, It loses a star, becasue it just rushed through the last 20 years of her life, and I would have liked more. Maybe she should write a book to fill in those blanks.
Rating:
Summary: moving!
Review: I loved this story....it swept me to Hong Kong, held me , and left me wanting more.....
Rating:
Summary: Sorry to have it end
Review: I've read all of this author's works. My favorite is Samurai's Garden. In this first book she carefully develops her characters never being too wordy. Meaningless conversation is absent - a woman of few words. Women of the Silk was another masterpiece - further developed in Language of Threads. Wonderful reading! A delight!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent narrative about turbulent times
Review: In this story Pei has to work hard and mind her companion who is younger and in need of emotional support. Both characters are very well developed and both have seen more horrors of war than its fair. Pei succeeds where many fail due to her courage, determination and plain acceptance of her fate. This is only the second book I have read from Tsukiyama but I definetely want to read more. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Threads
Review: Our bookclub reads a wide variety of interesting books, some good, some not so good. The Language of Threads presented us with an opportunity to read about the experiences of both the Chinese and the British in Hong Kong in WW2, as well as to share a little with the select group of Sisters of the Silk.How disappointed were we? The Language of Threads reads like a hastily thrown together novel, and we found ourselves wondering if it were the poor sister to a richer "Women of Silk". The lead character is flat, with little exploration of her inner world, and as a main protagonist she is unable to hold the novel together. There were so many opportunites to take this book further. Instead we got threads, which were sadly lacking. Although many of our readers were fascinated by the historical component, and we all agreed that Mrs Finch was a lovely woman, strongly drawn and powerful, we felt that this book was missing something. None of our group had read anything by Gail Tsukiyama before, but we all felt that we should try Women of Silk. It sounded so much more promising than this thinly woven sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Conceit but NOT a Great Book
Review: The time is fascinating, that of the Japanese occupation of China and Hong Kong, and the character, a woman whose family put her into the life of the silk workers, could be fascinating as well. She's not. She's flat. She comes to Hong Kong, makes a life, raises an orphan, inherits another orphan, creates a business, saves a sister, and ultimately returns to her home village in mainland China...and she's still flat. Tsukiyama tells us all about Pei, but lets us feel nothing. She does things, she says things, and a catalogue of a life is listed flat on the page.(For example, in the most romantic part of the book, Pei realizes that a man is getting ready to ask her to marry her. This is the reader's first insight about the relationship. Less than a page later, she says "no." That's it. I've deleted none of the drama) From the pen of a better writer, this could have been a GREAT book. As it is, it's historical fiction with great unrealized potential.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, but hearwarming.
Review: This is a sequel to Women of the Silk, and is consistent in writing style and interest. In this novel, Pei flees to Hong Kong ahead of the Japanese, and with the support of her sisterhood of ex silk workers establishes herself. Tsukiyama has a modest style, with simple prose, and clear cut characters. She plots well, and affirms such virtues as loyalty and kindness and strength of character without being cloying. Thus, she is able to expose the reader to terrible historical times, yet leave the reader with a very positive experience.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, but hearwarming.
Review: This is a sequel to Women of the Silk, and is consistent in writing style and interest. In this novel, Pei flees to Hong Kong ahead of the Japanese, and with the support of her sisterhood of ex silk workers establishes herself. Tsukiyama has a modest style, with simple prose, and clear cut characters. She plots well, and affirms such virtues as loyalty and kindness and strength of character without being cloying. Thus, she is able to expose the reader to terrible historical times, yet leave the reader with a very positive experience.
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