The Street of a Thousand Blossoms @ richardeward.com

The Street of a Thousand Blossoms
by Gail Tsukiyama
from St. Martin's Press

Customer Reviews:

• Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

• Ambitious but Flawed
  It is clear what Gail Tsukiyama wants to communicate in her newest novel, "The Street of a Thousand Blossoms." The book strives to convey love, loss, coming-of-age, the horrors of war, the rebuilding of a nation--and throw in a little instruction in Japanese culture to boot.
  Spanning more than thirty years immediately before, during, and after World War II, "Blossoms" follows the lives of the residents of Yanaka, a suburb of Tokyo. It finds its main characters in Hiroshi and Kenji Matsumoto, two young... more info

• A beautiful yet sad story
  I love this writers work. This was a very wonderful story but very sad. I enjoy the poetic way Gail Tsukiyama writes and have enjoyed all of her work. I gave this one 4 stars because it dragged in parts and I wanted to hear more about the No masks and theatre. The writing style kept me turning the pages.

• Educational, But Hard to Get Through
  Our CHATTER Reading Group reads literary works of fiction and nonfiction. Based largely on the 4.5-star rating other Amazon.com readers had given it, we read and discussed "Street of a Thousand Blossoms". Knowing that everyone else had rated this book on average 4.5 stars, it was difficult for us to go against the grain. We even discussed WHY others might have liked it so much. Certainly, it was interesting to consider Japan during the WWII period and realize that the "enemy" of the U.S. is a country made... more info

• Wrestling Made Beautiful By Tsukiyama
  Street of A Thousand Blossoms is an epic work spanning the pre and post war years in Japan. History comes to life through the everyday struggles of ordinary people trying to cope with the destruction,deprivation and misery of war.The topics of sumo wrestling and mask making at first did not appeal to me ,but in the deft hands of Tsukiyama I was drawn in and won over.It occurred to me that these two topics offer wonderful analogies to the many themes running though the novel. Sumo wrestling represents... more info

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