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Title: The Lady and the Monk : Four Seasons in Kyoto by Pico Iyer ISBN: 0-679-73834-7 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 27 October, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.96 (23 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: It is like being in Japan again
Comment: I agree with the reviewer, who wrote down there that this book is like being in Japan again. I first read it 6 years ago, and I still re-read it to this day, even opening pages at random, and reading what I find; This book is the closest the written word comes to capturing a visit to Japan (I have read virtually every "foreigner in Japan" Armchair-travel book that have come out since Pictures From the Water Trade, and this is hands down the best). By the way, some reviewers keep referring to Sachiko as a "character" as if this is a work of fiction, which it is NOT. Pico Iyer obviously would not use the real name of the individual, but this is an account of his stay in Japan, not a fictional tale. I have been in Japan, and studied the Japanese language and culture for over ten years, and I can attest that Mr. Iyer's observations are accurate and descriptive of Japan. If you are a Non-Japanese interested in Japan, have never been there, and wish to know how it feels, read this book! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Rating: 5
Summary: As if leaving Kyoto wasn't hard enough...
Comment: I was fortunate enough to visit Kyoto for a week during a three-month internship in Japan two years ago and instantly fell in love with the city. The harmony between the ancient and the modern in Kyoto and Japan in general is both astounding and captivating, and it was with great sadness that I had to tear myself away and head back to my job.
After returning to America, I bought this book and read it twice, without putting it down, it so brought me back to Kyoto and Japan. I've not read any of Iyer's other books, but this one was excellent. He conveys a definite emotion in his writing, and one that is quite suited to discussion of Japan I think. A sort of tragic interpretation of the events he experienced, which fits in very well with the Japanese psyche, where the greatest heros are the ones who come to tragic ends.
The reviews here which note that Iyer paints with too broad a brush, so to speak, I feel are unfounded. I don't think it was ever meant to be an encompassing guide to Japan or any sort of critique of its dichotomy-filled society, though he does note with care all of them he encounters. Instead, it is simply one man's experience in Japan, take it or leave it. Sachiko is a real person he met, with real problems, and she went about solving them in a real way. I know Japanese women in similar situations, so to say they either don't exist is silly.
I don't want to say too much about what happens, so I'll just finish by saying that I personally found this book very moving. I miss Japan a lot and I hope I can go back soon. Five stars easily.
Rating: 1
Summary: Iyer's Conceits
Comment: Save your money by not purchasing this book.
Iyer strikes me as one of the most conceited writers I've ever come across, and I usually have a thick skin to that sort of thing.
His florid writing and puffery frequently turned me off as I waded into this book.
I'm an enthusiastic reader about Japan, and I've lived there and I can say that Iyer is writing for the folks back home (who may never visit Japan) and not reporting it straight. If you want a fancy-pants fairy tale, buy this book.
I'd even rate Dave Barry's book about Japan as better quality journalism.
If you want to read some first-rate books from an author who traveled in Japan and wrote about during roughly the same time, I wholeheartedly recommend Alan Booth.
His books, _The Roads to Sata_ and _Looking for the Lost_ have a well deserved place on my bookshelf.
Buy those instead.
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Title: Falling Off the Map : Some Lonely Places of The World by Pico Iyer ISBN: 0679746129 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 26 April, 1994 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: The Global Soul : Jet Lag, Shopping Malls, and the Search for Home by Pico Iyer ISBN: 0679776117 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 13 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Video Night in Kathmandu : And Other Reports from the Not-So-Far East by Pico Iyer ISBN: 0679722165 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 18 June, 1989 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Abandon : A Romance by Pico Iyer ISBN: 037541505X Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 21 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: Tropical Classical : Essays from Several Directions by Pico Iyer ISBN: 0679776109 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 30 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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