Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Samurai's Garden is a soothing, hypnotic, heartbreaking, evocative book we all enjoyed. Is it the story of Stephen, a young Chinese man recovering from tuberculosis in pre-war Japan while under the care of a loyal family servant, the "samurai" of the title. The book explores cultural differences and similarities as it portrays the development of friendship and respect in disparate characters. With sparce and simple prose, Tsukiyama depicts her principals as humans who try to be good but not perfect; as people accepting their circumstances and finding inner peace despite their flaws and mistakes. Appropriate for all age readers, particularly young adults, we found a number of themes especially appealing: relationships, isolation/alienation and subsequent reconciliation, and the appreciation of inner beauty over physical appearance. Matsu, the "samurai," was a perfect teacher/mentor for Stephen, as he avioded putting him under a microscope, but rather served as his guide to realizing his spiritual self. We hope you enjoy this book as ,uch as we did!