The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

By: Gail Tsukiyama

Narrated by: Stephen Park

Gail Tsukiyama's The Street of a Thousand Blossoms is a powerfully moving masterpiece about tradition and change, loss and renewal, and love and family from a glorious storyteller at the height of her powers.

It is Tokyo in 1939. On the Street of a Thousand Blossoms, two orphaned brothers dream of a future firmly rooted in tradition. The older boy, Hiroshi, shows early signs of promise at the national obsession of sumo wrestling, while Kenji is fascinated by the art of Noh theater masks. But as the ripples of war spread to their quiet neighborhood, the brothers must put their dreams on hold - and forge their own paths in a new Japan.

Meanwhile, the two young daughters of a renowned sumo master find their lives increasingly intertwined with the fortunes of their father's star pupil, Hiroshi.

©2007 Gail Tsukiyama (P)2007 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC

Critic reviews

"Gail Tsukiyama is a writer of astonishing grace, delicacy, and feeling. Her lyric precision serves not only to leave the reader breathless but to illuminate human suffering and redemption with clarity and power." (Michael Chabon)
"Well written and emotionally gripping." ( Library Journal)

felt I was told story rather than seeing

The story was somewhat interesting, but wish the author had included more social-interpersonal cultural details. That way the characters would be more multidimensional and relatable. As it is the story is a little flat and plodding at times. I never could quite glimpse the inner workings and emotional makeup of the character.

Amazing story!!!

Enjoyed the book and the narrator was excellent in delivering images to the theater of the mind! Was drawn in from the very beginning.

Enjoy it!

If you could sum up The Street of a Thousand Blossoms in three words, what would they be?

Love, sad, and interesting story

What did you like best about this story?

The grandmother, very strong lady!

What about Stephen Park’s performance did you like?

He was great!

If you could rename The Street of a Thousand Blossoms, what would you call it?

I would leave it just the way it is.

Great Audio Book

This is a new author to me, so I was a bit hesitant at first. I'm glad I decided to listen, as it was very enjoyable.

Also, I noticed quite a few similarities between this audio book, and the movie "Letters from Iwo Jima". A bit interesting, simply because of the number of times I recognized something in common between both stories (which both took place during WWII).

A great listen if you haven't already purchased it!

Unique story.

A bit hard to follow, yet a wonderful listen. The actual plot was not certain to me yet the details of Japanese culture and interesting and nicely written. I will listen to this again. And am planning read more from Gail Tsukiyama.

Another great story from Ms. Tsukyama

Street of a Thousand Blossoms is the best Gail Tsukyama book I have read so far! Taking place in Tokyo prior to WWII, it follows the lives of two brothers raised by their grandparents as one becomes a Sumo champion and the other a famous artisan. Life in Japan leading up to, during the war and afterwards is brought to life in vivid detail through the lives of very well-developed characters. I enjoyed this book immensely and recommend it highly to anyone who loves historical fiction - this is as good as it gets, I think.

Bad pronunciation

Proper pronunciation of Japanese words would have made the story telling better. Overall good story.

Vanilla, but beautiful vanilla

For evoking a sense of time and place and mood, I give this story 5 stars. It is beautifully written and very well read by the narrator. However, there really was no STORY or conflict or surprises. All the grandparents were sage and wise. All the parents were happily married. All the kids were good and succesful and followed their dreams. And any potentially messy plot points were neatly resolved with a kind word or two from someone, or a convenient outside event. As a mood study of Japan just before and after WWII, this book is very successful. As a story, it is not.

pure joy

I love the interpersonal relationships that Gail creates. the emotions are so strong. The joys are also so strong.. excellent relaxing book to enjoy.

Loved the story

I really loved the story and the reading was really good too. I had been worried after reading some reviews that the Japanese pronunciations would be odd or bad but I was not bothered by them at all (but I not a native Japanese speaker so maybe that is why.). I really have enjoyed Gail Tsukiyama’s books and this did not disappoint!!