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Loading... The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto (1991)by Pico Iyer (Author)
Work InformationThe Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto by Pico Iyer (1991)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A delicate and profound tale of an unexpected friendship of an Indian traveler-writer and a house-bound mother of two in Kyoto. Redolent of the misty and green countryside, the well-loved gardens and shrines of this Japanese heartland, the story ends not in bitter-sweet parting, but in a union in partnership that has lasted these many decades (it is the actual life-story of the author). It occurs to me that this sort of story of the meeting of two souls, totally without any context or shared history, could probably happen only to an Indian. A great book for learners of Japanese, as it delves into the Japanese soul and into the vagaries of communication across cultures with not-so-strong language skills. ( ) Nothing much happens in this exploration of cultural distinctions. We're not even sure how far the author "gets" with 'the lady,' though it does not really matter. Inasmuch as I have always been fascinated by Kyoto and Zen, I found it fascinating nevertheless. Also explores the world of the expat and how reverse culture shock strikes once one leaves the country one has been visiting. no reviews | add a review
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When Pico Iyer decided to go to Kyoto and live in a monastery, he did so to learn about Zen Buddhism from the inside, to get to know Kyoto, one of the loveliest old cities in the world, and to find out something about Japanese culture today -- not the world of businessmen and production lines, but the traditional world of changing seasons and the silence of temples, of the images woven through literature, of the lunar Japan that still lives on behind the rising sun of geopolitical power. All this he did. And then he met Sachiko. Vivacious, attractive, thoroughly educated, speaking English enthusiastically if eccentrically, the wife of a Japanese "salaryman" who seldom left the office before 10 P.M., Sachiko was as conversant with tea ceremony and classical Japanese literature as with rock music, Goethe, and Vivaldi. With the lightness of touch that made Video Night in Kathmandu so captivating, Pico Iyer fashions from their relationship a marvelously ironic yet heartfelt book that is at once a portrait of cross-cultural infatuation -- and misunderstanding -- and a delightfully fresh way of seeing both the old Japan and the very new. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)952.1864048History and Geography Asia Japan HonshuLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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