Cutting Back

My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto

By: Leslie Buck

Narrated by: Caroline McLaughlin

At 35, Leslie Buck made an impulsive decision to put her personal life on hold to pursue her passion. Leaving behind a full life of friends, love, and professional security, she became the first American woman to learn pruning from one of the most storied landscaping companies in Kyoto. Cutting Back recounts Buck's bold journey and the revelations she has along the way. During her apprenticeship in Japan, she learns that the best Kyoto gardens look so natural they appear untouched by human hands, even though her crew spends hours meticulously cleaning every pebble in the streams. She is taught how to bring nature's essence into a garden scene, how to design with native plants, and how to subtly direct a visitor through a landscape. But she learns the most important lessons from her fellow gardeners: how to balance strength with grace, seriousness with humor, and technique with heart.

©2017 Leslie Buck (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Buck has as good an eye for cultural dissonance as she does for pines that need pruning...This is an absorbing read about the formative interplay of humans, cultures, and gardens." ( Publishers Weekly)

Eat Pray Prune

Inspiring! I enjoyed hearing the author's adventures in the art of the Japanese garden. The descriptions of the gardens, some centuries old, and the unique and wonderful Japanese tools, are fantastic. I loved every detail about the workers' routines and procedures. As a matter of fact, I wish there were more technical details. I am not a gardener, but I love a good nonfiction about a complex craft. I probably would have liked more information, and less of the diaristic drama. To be honest, the interior monologue was at times more of what you'd expect from a callow college student than a 35-year old person from a diverse metropolitan city. The low point was probably when the author is seriously competing with (and being unapologetically passive aggressive towards) a teenaged coworker. She is so busy sulking that she misses the moment when he finally gets to prune his first tree - that would have been a great anecdote if she were a bit less self-absorbed.

That said, the author does a very good job of expressing the frustration of trying to fit into a highly stratified, highly segregated culture, coming from the US. I was quite intrigued by her strategies and choices. I am not sure I would have managed without a confrontation in some of those situations. I very much recommend this book if you are interested in adventurous travel, situational humor, gardening, Japan, memoir, or just a good story. (Listen to the sample to see if you like the narrator - I didn't mind except for the brutal slaughter of Japanese pronunciation.)

Cutting Back: The Poetry of Pruning is a Delight

Where does Cutting Back rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 10%. Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto is a delicious memoir. Both the delicacy of pruning and the necessary fearlessness of the pruner are the contradictions at the heart of the arborist's life--and at he heart of Leslie Buck’s book. It gave me so much to think about! The whole concept of pruning and shaping is very much like a poet's method of revising. The delicate hierarchy of the world of Japanese gardening men was beautifully described. Buck’s friendships with these men were tender and complex. Her frustrations, her youthful stubbornness, the hesitating boldness with which she made the leap to Japan in the first place, all unfolded with zest. Although there is a placidity in arbor work, the book had the quality always of leaving me wondering and wanting more--ever leading me to the next chapter.

Have you listened to any of Caroline McLaughlin’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I very much liked the way Caroline McLaughlin narrated the book, a casual American voice in formal Japanese apprenticeship.

Great insight into Japanese culture

Informative and reflective, with a constant sense of "what happens next?", I'll be playing this book again immediately to extract even more details. Had to slow it down as the fast paced narration seemed the antithesis of Japanese garden vibes. Highly recommend.

A Beautiful Journey!

Leslie Buck's account of her apprenticeship in Japan fascinated and challenged me. Her vision to live and work in another country, and to be trained in a discipline in which she was already accomplished, took humility, grace and courage. This narrative captured me. Leslie, like one of her trees, was nurtured, shaped, and at times shocked by the pruning of her personal journey. In Cutting Back she applies the principles of pruning to her own life which is the mark of a disciple, and shares them with us, which is the mark of a teacher. This book is an immersion in another culture and an account of personal relationships
that frame this very intimate story. If other cultures interest you, you will be fascinated by this book. If you hunger for a story of personal growth and persevering through adversity, read Cutting Back. If you are a gardener and want insights on the art of pruning in the Japanese tradition, you will be enriched. I just loved this story!!!!!!

A stumbling reading of a beautiful story.

This story is deep and honest with its readers, giving us insight into Leslie’s insecurities, struggles, successes, and her shifting view on many things as she worked among the Japanese Craftsmen. I ate up her small technical side notes and learned not-a-few things from her memoir.

The worst part was the staccato feeling of the narrator’s telling. It didn’t flow very well and I felt that I couldn’t relax easily while listening to this book.

All-in-all, a lovely story and worth the listen despite the rough reading.

This should have been an easy book for me to enjoy

Any additional comments?

This should have been an easy book for me to enjoy. I am really interested in Japanese culture. I enjoy gardening. This should have been a win/win situation. However I really struggled with the narrator Caroline McLaughlin. I stopped listening to the book about 40 mins in or so because the narration was not very good. Pros: she has a good voice. Con: She needs to work on her style of narration. The way she talked made me feel like a newscaster was reading the story. That's the best way I can explain it. I totally understand that narration is difficult, and I hope she improves as she hones her skill.