Rating: 
Summary: Real food for the brain and heart
Review: This is one of the best books I have ever read. I was up every night until I absolutely had to turn off the light. Gail's writing is beautiful, fluid, and engrossing. She paints vivid pictures that instantly unfold rich, clear panoramas and detailed interiors, all with a palpable atmospheric presence. Her story vividly brought back my own visit to Hong Kong as a child, 34 years ago, and satisfied my need for beautiful visual description and the desire for historical reality: what it felt like to live in a particular place at a certain time. Tsukiyama treats her characters with respect, and I really felt great human dignity and grace flowing through them all; the thing that can unite us, crossing all human boundaries and raising us above human injustices. I felt that I was there and gazing into the eyes of each one. This book is well worth reading, it's been recommended to me by women of all ages and backgrounds, and I wrote this review because I couldn't disagree more with the first reviewer (Marianne Merola). There are many books out there, but not many that nourish your soul. I love to read, have devoured a great deal of good literature, and now I am very particular about how I feed my head. Many thanks to Gail Tsukiyama!
Rating: 
Summary: wONDERFUL bOOK
Review: This was one of the most popular books of my book discussion group. Everyone loved it. I t is a great story and has people that you can care about. Go for it!
Rating:
Summary: wONDERFUL bOOK
Review: This was one of the most popular books of my book discussion group. Everyone loved it. I t is a great story and has people that you can care about. Go for it!
Rating: 
Summary: I am amazed to realize...
Review: this was written by the same person who wrote the Samurai's Garden. THAT was a great book. Maybe I shouldn't have said that The Language of Threads should have been in the hands of a better writer; maybe I should have said that the hands of this great writer should have crafted a better book. Was she in a hurry? Did she have too many ideas? too many agendas? I didn't read the first book, so entered with little interest in these characters, so maybe I wasn't the reader she wrote for.
Rating:
Summary: The Strength of Women
Review: This year I was introduced to the author Gail Tsukiyama when a book group I belong to chose to read The Samurai's Garden. Gulping this book down in a matter of hours and loving every page, I then read her newest book Dreaming Water and Tsukiyama's first book Women of the Silk. Both books were wonderful and now that I have finished the sequel to Women of the Silk, The Language of Threads, I wish I could be reading all of these books for the first time.The Language of Threads picks continues the story of Pei wh we first met in the previous book Women of the Silk. The Language of Threads begins in 1938 Pei at 28 is bound for Hong Kong and the Japanese have begun occupying China. At the age of 8, Pei who was given by her parents to the Sisterhood to become a silk worker. But now the silk factories are all but gone and the other silk workers are scattered around China trying to steer clear of the Japanese. Accompanying Pei on this voyage is Ji Shen, a 14 year-old girl, who after watching her parents and sister killed by the Japanese made her way to the girl's house of the Sisterhood where the silk workers vowed to care for her. When the time comes for Pei to leave the area, she cannot forget the promises made to Ji Shen and makes plans to travel and care for her. Once in Hong Kong, Pei is reunited with other sisters of the silk factory who now work as domestics in grand homes. Pei is immediately employed but learns the hard way that she won't be treated as fairly as before in Hong Kong. When she is accused of stealing from her employer, she is forced to leave her job. But fate steps in and Pei finds herself working for a kindly English woman, Mrs. Finch who also allows Ji Shen to live with them. As the months pass and the Japanese become more and more of a presence, these three women become very important to one another and act towards each other as if they are family members. But once again life turns and when Mrs., Finch is sent to an internment camp for British citizens, Pei must not only find a way to care for herself and Ji Shen but to survive the Japanese takeover of Hong Kong. And when tragedy strikes, once again Pei must make a life for herself and all those she holds dear. The Language of Threads is a wonderful book although at times it is equally heart breaking. We first meet Pei at 28 and when the book finishes she is 62. Her story is well told and like the strands of silk she once handled comes together quite poignantly at the end. And we, as readers rejoice in her life filled with dark days overshadowed by triumph and ultimately joy. Like the characters from Tsukiyama's other books Pei is a well-crafted character who you will think of as a real person and won't soon forget. I really loved both Women of the Silk and The Language of Threads and cannot recommend them enough. Besides offering solid characterizations of the people, I learned about the lives of those young women sent by their families to work in the silk factories and life in Hong Kong during the Japanese takeover of China before and during WWII. Most of all what I will always remember about these two books is the courageous woman who made a worthwhile life for herself and others against all odds.
Rating:
Summary: The Language of Life and Love
Review: This year I was introduced to the author Gail Tsukiyama when a book group I belong to chose to read The Samurai's Garden. Gulping this book down in a matter of hours and loving every page, I then read her newest book Dreaming Water and Tsukiyama's first book Women of the Silk. Both books were wonderful and now that I have finished the sequel to Women of the Silk, The Language of Threads, I wish I could be reading all of these books for the first time. The Language of Threads picks continues the story of Pei wh we first met in the previous book Women of the Silk. The Language of Threads begins in 1938 Pei at 28 is bound for Hong Kong and the Japanese have begun occupying China. At the age of 8, Pei who was given by her parents to the Sisterhood to become a silk worker. But now the silk factories are all but gone and the other silk workers are scattered around China trying to steer clear of the Japanese. Accompanying Pei on this voyage is Ji Shen, a 14 year-old girl, who after watching her parents and sister killed by the Japanese made her way to the girl's house of the Sisterhood where the silk workers vowed to care for her. When the time comes for Pei to leave the area, she cannot forget the promises made to Ji Shen and makes plans to travel and care for her. Once in Hong Kong, Pei is reunited with other sisters of the silk factory who now work as domestics in grand homes. Pei is immediately employed but learns the hard way that she won't be treated as fairly as before in Hong Kong. When she is accused of stealing from her employer, she is forced to leave her job. But fate steps in and Pei finds herself working for a kindly English woman, Mrs. Finch who also allows Ji Shen to live with them. As the months pass and the Japanese become more and more of a presence, these three women become very important to one another and act towards each other as if they are family members. But once again life turns and when Mrs., Finch is sent to an internment camp for British citizens, Pei must not only find a way to care for herself and Ji Shen but to survive the Japanese takeover of Hong Kong. And when tragedy strikes, once again Pei must make a life for herself and all those she holds dear. The Language of Threads is a wonderful book although at times it is equally heart breaking. We first meet Pei at 28 and when the book finishes she is 62. Her story is well told and like the strands of silk she once handled comes together quite poignantly at the end. And we, as readers rejoice in her life filled with dark days overshadowed by triumph and ultimately joy. Like the characters from Tsukiyama's other books Pei is a well-crafted character who you will think of as a real person and won't soon forget. I really loved both Women of the Silk and The Language of Threads and cannot recommend them enough. Besides offering solid characterizations of the people, I learned about the lives of those young women sent by their families to work in the silk factories and life in Hong Kong during the Japanese takeover of China before and during WWII. Most of all what I will always remember about these two books is the courageous woman who made a worthwhile life for herself and others against all odds.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: To get the most from this book, Women of the Silk should be read first. I thought this story was as beautifully written, interesting, and captivating as Women of the Silk. The relationships between the women in this story are inspiring, and the historical information is very educational. Tsukiyama's simplistic, beautiful, writing style painted a portrait in my mind and brought to life the women living in China during that time.
Rating: 
Summary: Great writing, poor plotting
Review: While I agree with reviews indicating that the author has a beautiful style, I was tremendously disappointed at the lack of payoff in this book. Yes, there are interesting situations, compelling descriptions... but the entire last third or so of the book fails to deliver anything worthy of the set-up prior to that. Did the author just get tired out? Too committed to just tying up loose ends from the previous book? This was quite a bummer as I wanted to like the book and had invested time and emotion up to that point.
Rating:
Summary: Great writing, poor plotting
Review: While I agree with reviews indicating that the author has a beautiful style, I was tremendously disappointed at the lack of payoff in this book. Yes, there are interesting situations, compelling descriptions... but the entire last third or so of the book fails to deliver anything worthy of the set-up prior to that. Did the author just get tired out? Too committed to just tying up loose ends from the previous book? This was quite a bummer as I wanted to like the book and had invested time and emotion up to that point.
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