Rating: 
Summary: Exquisite in every way
Review: A deeply moving reading experience, with details that unfold gently until the end. I highly recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: curious past
Review: Although i do think this a worth-while book i found it a little bit confusing because of the time shifting to the past, past memories and then present memories (if that makes sense!?). as you read, the 'memories' change and you find out what the truth is... or was. it will keep you wondering to the end.
Rating:
Summary: Confused?¿.I am
Review: Confused?....I amIn writing this review, I'm not sure I enjoyed this book as thoroughly as I have others. But I am sure that I don't hate it. The story centers on the protagonist Ellen. Early on as a child, she meets her cousin Randal. A fair boy with nice hands and red hair. It seems an attraction between these two set and there are a few moments that are a bit awkward because they were cousins. But I won't ruin the story. He goes off to fight the war (the 2nd one) and he dies, but not before giving a few letters and what not. He never said out loud how he feels, but does say that she is his main audience. It is about the middle of the book when we hit this part. She then meets Lt. Henry while at a football game. At this point she is a college student. He is not attracted to her, but rather a friend, Daphne, she brings along. He goes to Korea and asks her friend to continue a correspondence with him. She doesn't say no, but since it is hinted that she is a communist, she gives it to Ellen instead. She reads all his mail and falls in love with him. He returns and still thinks that her friend is writing to him. I won't divulge anymore of the plot, but I will tell you that at this time her minds start confusing and mixing up between Randal and this captain. I won't deny that it isn't original. But I couldn't find anything to grasp myself into. The characters were okay, but they don't stick with you. The writing was a bit shaky and a bit confusing when you read it. But if you give it time, I suppose the story will sink in. It is the writing that makes it confusing. The transition between Henry and Randall could have been a bit smoother. The story was a bit slow. There is no external antagonist to deal with, but rather the conflict lay on the shoulder of internal conflicts of Ellen. But I feel the one reason why I could not enjoy this book was that I just didn't like the characters. I didn't like Ellen because she was so different from myself. And often I find a book more enjoyable when you relate to the characters. I did not find one character that I related too. Overall, it is an okay book. It is rather short; around I say 200+ pages. It's a fine book to past the time with.
Rating: 
Summary: A Victorian novel
Review: Does the world of literature need another novel about unwed motherhood? Probably not. To make this story palatable it must be set in the past where it can be infused with romanticism. Although set in the Forties and Fifties, the novel evokes the Victorian Age with its cult of the dead and the romantic figure who dies young. Although the novel starts off strong in what was originally published as a short story, it sinks little by little into the cliches of women's fiction: love at first sight, marriage with a stranger to conceal an unwanted pregnancy, an abortion attempt, spousal abuse, attachment to romantic objects such as books and letters, numerous secrets, death by an unnamed disease, etc.
Although some writers (notably Anita Brookner) can make a dramatic story of an unfulfilled life, the author here makes the main character so passive, so unattached to anyone other than her long dead cousin, so passionless, that it is hard to care about her fate. This is not tragedy but victimhood that approaches, if it doesn't quite achieve, self pity. Our book group gave the book mixed reviews. While we appreciated the author's talent and strength in the initial chapters, we felt that the book emphasized style over substance. Self-conscious ambiguity did not draw in the reader as it did it Anil's Ghost; the contemplative tone consisted really of just recalling events with imperfect precision and led to few insights and self knowledge and repetition without revelation. This is an old-fashioned novel without much contemporary relevance.
Rating:
Summary: The damages of war
Review: Ellen, the narrator, gives us two sections of her life. In 1944, when she was fifteen, she fell in love with her cousin Randall, then nearing seventeen. Randall enlists in the army and is killed on Iwo Jima. He is the last soldier killed on that island, while trying to help a comrade and after the battle is already over.
Seven years later, Ellen meets Lieutenant Henry Rock who is on his way to Korea. While there, he tries to save a comrade the Viet Kong have nailed to a cross. He does return from Korea, but is mentally damaged. The gardens of Kyoto explain the psychological side of the story. You do not go to these gardens to sit on a wooden board to look at the stones . Rather, the gardens look at you, insinuate themselves into your inner being and pervade you with their tranquillity. But there is the fifteen stone. It is hidden, you cannot see it, but you know it is there. Randall knew before he left for the Pacific that he would not return. Henry knew that he could never forget the crucified soldier. Both unburden themselves on Ellen, who thus becomes damaged herself. She tries to get back to a solid life, and fails. Ellen searches for the fifteen stone. She knows it is there, but she cannot see it.
Rating:
Summary: A book so good it deserves whatever publicity it gets!
Review: Every once in a while, a book comes along that is so stirring in its message and so elegant in its composition that you cannot wait to tell everyone you know about it. This is one of those books. Like the real gardens of Kyoto, it is quiet, subtle, and cerebral. At the same time, it is immensely powerful in effect, full of dramatic contrasts which illuminate the bedrock of life itself. The mood is contemplative and introspective, and the reader ultimately gains new insights into the nature of human relationships. The main character, Ellen, is a young girl during the early 1940's, fascinated by her cousin Randall, a slight, sensitive boy, a few years older, that she sees only once or twice a year. Randall expands Ellen's view of the world, showing her secret rooms in his house and inviting her to share some of his intellectual curiosity about the Underground Railroad which once stopped there. The voices of these young people, each alone in many ways, speak directly to the reader and involve him/her in both the action and the values of the times. Ellen shares Randall's fear as he leaves for the World War II, where, we have discovered in the opening sentence, he is killed on Iwo Jima. He leaves Ellen a box of "treasures," including his diary and his copy of The Gardens of Kyoto, a book given to him by his mother. As the diary and book reveal Randall's family history, we also learn about Ellen's family, the relationships of the parents, their relationships with each other, Ellen's relationships with each of them, and her relationship with the father of the child to whom she is leaving the written record which constitutes this novel. The plot is full and rich with many overlaps of time and detail as the narrative shifts from pre-World War II to Korea. The main characters are fully developed, understandable people trying to adapt to their changing world the best way they can, some more successfully than others. However fascinating the story is (and it is totally captivating), Walbert's underlying themes and their development are even more fascinating (or were to me). She illustrates, among other things, that as in Kyoto's gardens, our views of "truth" are limited by our vantage points, that we sometimes confuse shadow with reality, and that there is a universal desire among all men to find peace and serenity. This is a remarkable novel, satisfying on every level, a total pleasure to read, with insights into so many aspects of life that you will be thinking about it long after you have finished reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh
Review: I approached this book with great anticipation, since I have studied and written on the trauma of war (the general theme of THE GARDENS OF KYOTO). However, I found GARDENS to be badly forced, and not particularly lyrical or moving. The characters are not believable or compelling, the writing is not poetic or memorable, and the structure of the book is wildly incoherent. If it were a puzzle worth solving, that would be one thing . . . . but it's not. Given the topic, it should have been much, much more.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and tragic
Review: I finished reading this book in a couple of hours - I could not put it down! I don't really understand the point of the whole story, but the emotions I felt while reading it is what sticks in my mind. What was implied affected me more than the words on the page (as Randall says, "you had to read between the lines.") The author has a beautiful and lyrical style of writing, and I loved the way she weaved the different stories together and around each other. Randall was the most fascinating character for me. While reading the book I kept wishing I could know what he was thinking. However, since this is from Ellen's point of view, I guess he will remain a mystery figure to me. This book definitely left me wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and tragic
Review: I finished reading this book in a couple of hours - I could not put it down! I don't really understand the point of the whole story, but the emotions I felt while reading it is what sticks in my mind. What was implied affected me more than the words on the page (as Randall says, "you had to read between the lines.") The author has a beautiful and lyrical style of writing, and I loved the way she weaved the different stories together and around each other. Randall was the most fascinating character for me. While reading the book I kept wishing I could know what he was thinking. However, since this is from Ellen's point of view, I guess he will remain a mystery figure to me. This book definitely left me wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: wonderful book
Review: I must disagree with the reviewer from Cincinnati. This beautiful novel is one of the best I have read in recent months, although if Cathy was looking for a travel book about Kyoto, she would be disappointed. Kyoto and the gardens are employed as symbols of the life the narrator recounts. The chronology of the novel can be difficult but replicates the way our memories do work--not always in a linear fashion. I think that Walbert has great insight about the often illusory worlds we build for ourselves so that we can keep going. Her writing style is a joy to read.
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