About the Book- The Garden of Words by Midori Motohashi
Can a poem save your life? Words are powerful. Insults and rumors can derail a career; a bit of encouragement can give someone the strength to pursue their dreams. When a high school boy skipping class to sketch shoe designs and a taciturn woman drinking a morning beer meet in a Tokyo park, they say little, but the woman bids farewell with an ancient tanka poem. Will the boy figure out the poem’s meaning-and its corresponding response-before it’s too late?
“A faint clap of thunder Clouded skies,
Read on for our review of The Garden of Words by Midori Motohashi
Perhaps rain comes
Will you stay here with me?”
Our Review of The Garden of Words by Midori Motohashi
I must admit that this was my first time reading a manga in its physical form and the reason why that matters is because a typical manga reads in the opposite direction. So naturally you have to train your brain to read and prepare for this new experience
I am in total love with the artwork. So for me, the book is more an artwork. A piece of art worth preserving. As a novel/story, I have my qualms because it freaked me more than being able to relate to it.
I feel like there is a lot that is lost in the translation of this book. Perhaps in its Japanese version, it might not be as questionable as I felt while reading the English version I had. If this was originally in English, then there is so much wrong with the basic setting. Anyway since each story appeals differently to each, I am just going to leave it at that. But I would still say that I definitely felt a lot was left lost in translation.
Maybe it’s meant to be like a poem, where you have to peel out layers to understand the deeper meanings? Clearly, I failed at it because the basic setting of the story was a bit uncomfortable for me. ( Maybe I was reading it wrong but to me, it felt like a student-teacher relationship)
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to say that I was head over heels with the artwork of the book. It was a beautiful piece of art on every page but I was not a fan of the basic story.
Squirrel Rating
