The Samurai's Garden Audiobook By Gail Tsukiyama cover art

The Samurai's Garden

A Novel

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The Samurai's Garden

By: Gail Tsukiyama
Narrated by: David Shih
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The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Gail Tsukiyama uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for her unusual story about a 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen who is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsu's soulmate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.

©1994 Gail Tsukiyama (P)2017 Tantor Historical Fiction Heartfelt

Critic reviews

"An extraordinarily graceful and moving novel about goodness and beauty...Tsukiyama is a wise and spellbinding storyteller." ( Booklist)
Beautiful Storytelling • Engaging Characters • Gentle Pacing • Historical Depth • Well-paced Reading

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This gave me a wonderful look at two cultures with only a few very well developed characters that became like friends.

Lovely story of gentle characters.

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First of all I love her writing this book was no exception to others I have read great story and great performance from the reader !

Outstanding Story

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Such a wonderful, poignant story! Although haunted by the ominous echoes of a distant war, the events related are quite ordinary, the day-to-day happenings of a small group of characters in a little resort town in rural Japan. And yet there’s something truly compelling about it all. I couldn’t stop listening. The characters completely drew me in. It is a beautifully told tale and, by the end, deeply moving. I loved it.

Lovely

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Normally, I don't like reading however we were given this book as an option for my AP 11th grade english class. It was amazing. This story truly captures everything and I definitely recommend.

love love love

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I just finished this book, so beautifully written.
It is a MUST read.
With the world being so “upside down”, it is so good to read a book that depicts nothing but goodness.
The narrator, David Shih, is excellent.
My thanks to all involved, JK.

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL

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I loved everything about this book except the fact that it had to end. I could have listened to so much more about the lives of these characters I had grown so fond of.

Japanese culture, past and present, is something I have become interested in since my last trip there this Spring. I have read Memoirs of a Geisha, Shogun, Wabi Sabi , and this book since my return. I only hope I can find another that I can enjoy as much as this one.

Wonderful story with characters I grew to love

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The narration was great. The imagery of the story beautiful. Easy to listen to and imagine while
Driving. The author tells a very good story that is enjoyable, thoughtful and engaging. I lived it. I will audioread another!

Imagery and narration

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This is my first time reading this book as an adult. I came back to see if it still held up from when I read it as a teen. It does. While I will say I feel it starts slow, the slow unraveling of the plot and the secrets of the characters pays off better than if it were to all be revealed at once. This way there are little nuggets of surprise throughout instead of one big reveal followed with nothing. Overall it's a story that will stick with you and is the perfect pallet cleanser.

A slower burn that pays off

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This is such a great story and I loved the narration! Such a beautiful tale of a time in someone's life. Perfectly executed descriptive imagery.

LOVED it!

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This was a gentle, beautiful and poignant story about a young Chinese man’s bittersweet idyll in a small, seaside Japanese village during the Sino-Japanese war. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was sorry when it ended.

A gentle, beautiful, poignant story

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