This book covers quite of bit of early 19 century in the China/Japan from 1903 to 1942. It is written by a male Oswald Wynd but in a women's voice. He pulls much from his own background: His parents were from Scotland -the main protagonist, Mary Mackenzie; the author was born in 1913 in the foreigner's quarter of Tokoyo, Japan in 1913 while his father was working as a baptist missionary and spent most of his life in Japan--his protagonist spent most of her adult life in Japan and felt like it was her home. He covers a bit of the Russo-Japanese War, the boxer rebellion, WWI and WWII. The book is written in Mary's voice through her journal and letters. She is trying to find herself and her place in a foreign country and in situations that she was not prepared for. Wynd paints a good picture of the people in china (where Mary goes first to meet her fiancé and marry) and landscape and also Japan's landscape and people. Mary was betrothed in Scotland to a man she only met briefly and then he was stationed in China. She voyage across the sea to China were she married him to find her husband distant and in a distant land. Mary had a girl. She met a Japanese soldier and then was abandoned by her husband when it was found out that she was pregnant again but it couldn't have been by husband. The husband took her daughter, Jane. She made her way to Japan where her lover took care of her until her son, Tomo was born and then he took the son because he was of Kurihama blood and she was left on her own again. She eventually started a dress shop to support herself. 26-"The island is called the Great Natuna and belongs to the Dutch. The Dutch seem to have a huge empire in these parts that stretches for thousands of miles and includes thousands of island, some very big like Sumatra. At school we always thought there was only one really big empire and that was our, on which the sun will never set. I was looking at the island with the silly idea in my mind that it would be nice to be queen of such a place and never leave it when suddenlyI remembered Mrs. Carswell being carried down the gangplank at Penang looking already dead. I shivered. Mrs. B came up behind me then and asked what was the matter? I told her what I been thinking about and she said something I will always remember; 'Child, you are traveling towards the lands of sudden death.' She told me about a huge flood in China near a place called Wuhan in which some say as many as two and a half million people drowned, which is half of all the people in Scotland. Many of the bodies came floating down river to near Shanghai where Mrs. B was at the time."50- "It is not easy for a husband and wife to have interests together in Peking. Tennis is played here in the Quarter during the summer, but there are no winter activities such as as there used to be like skating outside the city walls and sometimes race meetings because the area is still unsafe for Europeans."78-"I have been thinking about friendship, how it is usually an accident."79-" You would have thought that in a place where the Emperor sometimes comes to worship there would have been priest about, or at least someone to pull up the weeds. Marie would not go down to the actual temple because she was reminded of the Boxer Troubles by what she says is the most frightening thing in China, a sudden deep silence where there should be continuous noise. It was certainly silent at the Temple of Heaven and we were quite glad to get back into the carriage again and hear the clip-clop of hoses' hooves."96-Tea party at winter glance.165-"The most terrible thing in the play is the idea of the Fates hounding, the witches their instrument, so that you know there is no escape for Macbeth, his doom inevitable. This is a little like the idea of God strict Presbysterians in Scotland still have, that He has chosen you for hell or heaven before you are born. It is a really wicked thing to pin on God. I cannot believe in Fate as we see it in Macbeth. I was not inevitable destined to climb a Chinese hill path and allow a Japanese soldier to make me with child. What I did then was from my own choice, I cannot blame God or the Fates, just myself. And often, looking at Tomo, I am glad."169-how the homes in Japan were built. How they survive earthquakes and fires.208-"I have learned a great deal about Japanese bows. A book could be written on the art, which is subject to stricter rules than flowers arranging. There are bows for one's social equals, these variable according to the circumstances of the meeting, and for one's superiors, bows for servants, tradesmen, even tram conductors, men's bows to women, always shallow, women's to men, always very deep, plus a huge assortment of women's bows for other women, these a complete language in themselves. without saying one word a lady can place you exactly where she thinks you ought to be and more fool if you don't know that you are being assigned your state, as newcomers to what seems the world's politest country never do. The visitor's bow was really very generous, classifying me as almost a lady, if not quite."232-Tsunamis238- The industrialization of Japan.288-the ginger tree-- I think she kept this in her garden because it was out of place just like she was.311-"I have seen this happen often enough before, waves of anti-Western sentiment, the worse after the American Exclusion Act, which branded the Japanese as yellow Asiatics and not fit to set foot on US soil. At that time I couldn't blame the people around me for the hard looks I got, and I don't now either, for this time they are the victims of the militarist propaganda machine, being groomed to think what the ruling generals, including Kentaro, want them to think." I liked the book and would recommend it.
I received this book via care package (thanks to Heather) and had no idea what to expect. It was 100% enjoyable. The main character is a traveler who shares such insights and wisdom regarding traveling that make me feel 'connected' to the world of travels. It is a a story of life, exploring, accepting, changing, overcoming, and being set to the backdrop of Asian culture, conflicts and world conflicts - a fascinating read made even more so while living in an Asian nation.A few quotes which stuck out:"Travel seems to put more than distance between you and the people at home, an increasing number of things you have seen and thought about which you can't mention for fear they would shock, and this is really sad." (pg.26)"In Edinburgh it is easy to believe in Heaven as a reward for the good life carefully lived, but from what I have seen of the Far East I am having doubts of what once seemed certain." (pg. 38)"She isn't a restful woman to be with, your mind isn't allowed to go slack in her company, and this is what I needed." (pg. 149)"I sometimes wonder if under the disguises I wear to make myself more bearable to me I am really hard and selfish, pursuing what I want and brushing aside anything that is likely to hinder me in acheiving this." (pg. 168)"At the back of my mind is the feeling that there is a kind of virtue somewhere in not just being able to walk into a shop to buy a pair of shoes, but having to save for six months before you can re-shoe your feet, perhaps cutting out a meat meal a week in order to manage it." (pg. 221)"Some days, reading the papers, being forced to accept the truths lying under the exaggerations, I feel like a ghost returned from another age and, as a punishment for distant sins, forced to watch the crumbling away of everything I had once known, and lived in, and believed to be solid forever." (pg. 285)
Do You like book The Ginger Tree (2003)?
This is the kind of book that unfolds like a delectable seven-course meal. Not too rich and everything cooked to perfection. The characters are well-drawn, and sense of place is unforgettable. What I love about this book is how it shows opportunities and decisions conspire to shape one's life, but outside forces will intrude. We are never truly in control of our own lives. Natural disasters, political forces, and people we randomly meet will change our lives for good and bad. The plot of this book is 100% credible, and the end is touching without being sentimental. It hits all the major themes: love, loss, war, and betrayal. This is the most satisfying book I've read since Laurens van der Post's "A Story Like the Wind."
—Marija
Firstly...I loved reading this. It was unputdownable. I devoured the whole book in a day and stayed up late to finish it. I liked Mary so much, enjoyed her determined spirit and the way she refused to give in, appreciated the ups and downs of her life and the struggles she went through, and just wanted to hear everything. It's a great story, and I even enjoyed the letter format of the book, where everything is viewed through the lens of her diary. HOWEVER. The end was a MASSIVE let down. I reali
—The Book
This is a story of a young Scottish woman, Mary MacKenzie, who moves to China to get married in the early 1900s. She tells us her story through diary entries and letters. The writing carries us from event to event in her life in a rather robotic way: this happened and then this happened and so on. The writing was very affectless which made me feel very distant from Mary and unengaged in her story. This made for quite tedious reading. Several times I felt like putting down this book, but thought that it must get more interesting once we got to WW1 and WW11. I was wrong. The one good thing about this book is that I learned something about what it was like for European women to live in China and Japan in the early 1900s.2 1/2 stars.
—Anne
