[.uk] The Gardens of Kyoto

Download Description:
In a mesmerizing debut novel of romance and grief, a woman looks back on her coming of age in the long shadow of World War II and tells about the death of her favorite cousin, Randall, at Iwo Jima. When Ellen receives a package containing Randall's diary and a book called "The Gardens of Kyoto", her bond to him is cemented and the mysteries of his short life starts to unravel.

The tyranny of social conventions:
This is a book to give to those people who lament the decadence of modern society and look longingly to a more innocent time: a time when every husband was right, every wife happy, every soldier heroic, and every girl a virgin until marriage. Apparently, that's what social mores of the 40's and 50's insisted on. So what could you do, if your life wasn't as picture-perfect as it was supposed to be? The characters in Walberg's book face this dilemma. Some of them sacrifice their desires in order to fit in, while others die themsleves as sacrificial lambs on the altar of conformity, and the rest simply spend their lives lying about who they are. Five characters in this book are soldiers; none fits the "hero" mold that society prescribes for them. Even the one who died on Iwo Jima was not killed in combat, but died accidentally after the fighting was over. Yet this isn't really a book about war - more about a society that worked so hard to keep up appearances, that no one was allowed to be different, or even human. Consider the plight of the narrator's oldest sister. In one of the most poignant moments in the book, she breaks decorum by crying at the dinner table in front of the whole family, then confesses a desperate and shocking problem. Members of the family silently look to the father, waiting for his response. But Rita's problem is so far outside the bounds of what "nice people" talk about, that all he can do is mumble weak, useless platitudes at her. The pitiful thing is that he adores his daughter -- but social conventions won't let him help her, or even admit that her problem is real. When the problem leads to her death, the whole family continues to lie to eachother as if they never saw it coming. And in the ultimate victory of good etiquette, the narrator politely thanks her sister's killer just hours after Rita's death, knowing full well what he has done. Those were the good old days? Thank God I missed them.

Confused?ý.I am:
Confused?....I am In 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.

Where's the payoff?:
The Gardens of Kyoto is the story of several dull characters who only shine when compared to the dishrag-like personality of the passive main character, Ellen. It's like listening to the dementia-fogged ramblings of that great-aunt no one can stand. The narration is overclogged with bizarre and inapt descriptions. Point of view jumps back and forth with no rhyme or reason, and she leaves things unexplained for far too long. For example, I didn't figure out what the character's first name was until book three. She describes scenes which entice the reader to find out more; such as the hidden room in her uncle's house which was a hiding place of runaway slaves, and then she drops them, or explains them with an easily missed sentence or two. I wanted to find out more about something, anything, that involved a plot, but alas, a plot was not forthcoming. If it weren't for my husbands insistence that this book was interesting, I would have put it down in the first chapter. After a while, and with repeated promises from him that it would get better, the loose ends and the irrational passivity of the main character kept me enrapt. As he warned me, it's like a train wreck. I have to say that the loose ends were wrapped up at the end, and yet it was extremely unsatisfying. A character driven novel should have intriguing characters, and yet The Gardens of Kyoto is filled with bland passive automotons who merely stagger through life allowing things to happen to them. The only time the main character actually takes action of her own accord, is when she is doing something pointlessly destructive. From page one to the end, this book kept me asking, "(...) When's something going to happen?"

Rambling, cluttered and yet interesting:
I struggle to write this review because I'm not sure if this book was good or terrible. I can only say, it is some of both. I loved the story of Ellen and her cousin Randall - the commonalities they shared, the introspection and retrospection he inspired in her. The twists and turns of the story kept me turning pages. The author takes this tale and weaves into the story of Randall's father, his lost love Ruby, her brief encounter with Professor X who (and here the story gets very dull) is associated with the war department and the decision not to drop an atomic bomb on Kyoto Japan, and this wraps back to a book Randall loved and left to Ellen upon his death (no secret, he dies in line one). Beyond this, the author incorporates domestic abuse, slavery, abortion, adoption, the Korean War, mental illness, suicide, murder and millions of descriptions of social propriety as Ellen becomes an adult in post WWII Philadelphia. It's a jumble of flashbacks and somehow all of this is pulled together in an interesting story -although quite anti-climactic. This book was recommended to me and yet I hesitate to recommend it to anyone looking for an entertaining read. It is definately thought provoking and even disturbing in a way - I find the author a bit squashing of the human spirit. Her characters lie, cheat, and keep awful secrets locked inside of themselves and do little to help their fellow man. The one character I liked dies in line one.

Good to read if you can't sleep.:
"The Gardens of Kyoto" started out semi-promising, but went nowhere. The story, the characters, the writing were all dull. The only reason I got this book was because I was being rushed in the bookstore. I wish I had been given more time to look around since I'm sure I would have picked up something more interesting.