Book No: 66
Title: The Street of A Thousand Blossoms
Author: Gail Tsukiyama
Genre: Fiction
Published: 2007
Obtained: 2007/ Middle Bay Raffle
Completed: 7/30/08
No. of Pages: 422
Rating: 4/5*****
Gail Tsukiyama is one of my favorite writers. Her books are always graceful, peaceful, eloquent depictions of people caught up in events that they cannot control, yet always seem to become better human beings because of or in spite of the tragedies they face.
Hiroshi and Kenji are two brothers orphaned at an early age and raised by their loving grandparents. The book begins prior to WWII, and the deprivation and hardship of this war on the Japanese civilians is vividly rendered and brought to life. Continuing through the next 30 years, through post war occupation and rebuilding we watch each boy become a man, finding their places in the world. Hiroshi enters the world of Sumo wrestling while Kenji has a more artistic bent, learning to create the masks of the Noh theatre. Through their loves and losses we are completely immersed in the brother’s and the country’s struggles to rebuild from the ashes of a lost civilization, to find a new place in the world. With compassionate portrayals of both these two brothers and the strong women in their lives we become part and parcel of their struggles, defeats and successes. A completely different book than the other WWII book I read this month, this one far more riveting and heartfelt.
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