The Samurai's Garden

This is a story set in the late 1930’s, in a small coastal village in Japan with the backdrop of Japan at war with China. Stephen, a Chinese student recuperating in Tamuri, identifies with the complex love story involving 3 friends. One can feel the physical & spiritual growth of Stephen as his life gets entwined with the other characters. Gail Tsukiyama’s characters are always deep and she makes the reader feel, that they have the qualities of the samurais –loyalty, self discipline and respectful behavior and a strong code of ethics. I loved the description of the gardens with the plain almost ugly rocks symbolizing the life of the female character, a leper. As this short story about longing & isolation progresses, you get involved with it.