Rating  - 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 up of people just like us and that they suffered.
Also, if asked ahead of time, "How would you like to read a book about Sumo Wrestling?", we certainly would have said, "No, thanks." Yet, it was also extremely interesting to read about this sport, admittedly previously unknown to us. The same goes for Noh Mask Artistry. I researched and shared photographs of masks and information about how they are made with the group. We also shared a sumo wrestling video. So, again, this book gets points for its educational aspects, which lead to a very interesting book club discussion.
Our group thought it was necessary to include our opinion of the book as a warning to the uninformed reader who might think, "this must be a real page-turner with reviews like that!" The writing style felt predictable and left us wondering about a few things (such as, why include that bit about Aki catching the caretaker in the middle of the night - what was the purpose of that?) After a slow beginning, the book did pick up a little. But, quite frankly, if it had not been a reading group book, it would have been hard for us to get all the way to the end before giving up (some members didn't even make it that far).
This book was voted an average of 3 stars by the 6 reading group members who finished reading it.
Rating  - 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 strength and honor...... attributes of the main characters......Hiroshi, Haru,Kenji and the nurturing grandparents, Yoshio and Fumiko.......... Mask making provides a cover for the realities of war........as well as a cover for the truths that are so difficult to cope with in the main characters......the mangled hand of Haru , the unrealized true nature of the mask maker, Yoshiwara,the heartbreaking guilt of Aki,and the unattainable love of Haru for Hiroshi.......Tsukiyama has a way of telling a story that draws you in and holds you there and forever changes the way you think afterwards.
Rating  - Her best yet
I was surprised that another commentator preferred this to The Samurai's Garden. That book was only about a 3 star book to me but it was written 13 years before this book and it was her debut. I can see how she has grown and matured as a writer and she is at the top of her game right now.
This book is absolutely superb. My Japanese husband also read it and loved it. Time and again we had to go to the internet to look up places and events depicted in the book. If you don't have a burning to desire to go to a Noh performance then you haven't read the book yet! I can't wait for her next book!
Rating - Fantastic!
This was a great book, although I found it took me a while to get into it. The historical context is fascinating, and the characters are so interesting. An all-around beautiful book!
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