The fact that the inexplicable things she found out at the beginning of her stay tend to fade away for the most part when she gets busy, and I loved how well it meshed with the theme of the book. As the days go by, Marianne finds a way to give herself and her visit a purpose though her work: she definitely needed to take some matter in her own hands to drop a bit of her baggage. The regret and the grief that Marianne is feeling intertwine and mix with the somber atmosphere at Yanagi Inn. And as much as there clearly were a few elements of mystery and creepiness of The Shining, the story ended up taking a different turn halfway through the book. One of the questions I find myself asking to myself lately is how the cultural context of a story influences it, or better, how the execution of a story given its premise changes based on the culture of the storyteller.
With such a premise, I was expecting a sort of The Shining set in the Far East, and I was intrigued. Plus, she really needs some time away from Chicago. She grew up in Japan, after all, and the few scattered memories she has of her time over there are good. She is proposed with a grant to photograph the garden of a hotel in Japan, and she accepts on a whim. It’s the story of Marianne Lennox, a young woman in a very difficult moment of her life: her mum has just died and her relationship with her boyfriend is going nowhere. The plot in itself isn’t the best part of the book if you ask me, the theme and the feelings it stirs make it pale in comparison, but still it’s not my place to give it away.* In the following I’ll try my best to convince you that you have to read it without getting into too much detail, because it’s a new release (it’s coming on October 22nd). I have to say that the book wasn’t like I expected it to be, both from the premise and from the first few chapters, but I still loved it. A gothic mystery set in Japan, this is what I was told to expect, and thus there was only one possible answer for me. This is why, when I was asked to read and review The secret garden of Yanagi Inn by Amber Logan, I couldn’t say no.
All those pictures portraying cherry blossoms with a sight on Mount Fuji in the distance, or some temple close to a pool of water just fascinate me and make Japan one of the top spots in my “Places to go” list. It’s a fascination that I have for things that are so much different from what I’m used to, and I have to say that I envy the sense of peace and wisdom I usually associate with Japan. Even though I can’t say I’m an expert, not at all, I have to say Japanese culture fascinates me.
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