Opinion: The Street of a Thousand Blossoms

Beautifully written, the novel follows the lives of a handful of characters from 1939 to 1966; prior to Japan's involvement in World War II to the end of the American occupation. Gail Tsukiyama is known for her emotional and detailed writing, and her non-fussy storytelling style makes the pages flip themselves.

As soon as I curled up next to the fireplace with a hot cup of green tea and read the first chapter, I knew I was holding a masterpiece. The elegant writing captured me immediately and I spent all my evenings during the week reading. A family saga, the novel did not focus on one particular character, but instead divided the reader's attention between four main groups of people.
1. Hiroshi, an orphan with dreams of becoming a sumo wrestler; and Kenji, his younger brother, a quiet and introverted child with a keen interest in the masks of Japanese Noh theater.
2. Fumiko and Yoshio, the grandparents of Hiroshi and Kenji, who have taken care of the boys since their parents' unforeseen deaths before the war.
3. Sho Tanaka, a renowned sumo master; as well as his wife and two daughters.
4. Akira Yoshiwara, a famed Noh mask maker in the Tokyo area.
The Street of a Thousand Blossoms was written in a clear, clean, uncluttered style, which left the reader with all the information and the ability to decide what to do with it. Through the characters, I felt the desperation, hunger, and fear of the war, the horrors that came at such a high price. Tsukiyama's descriptions are so vivid; during the most intense moments of the war, I had to stop to catch my breath because I was so engaged in the story. There were also countless parts that were emotionally charged and left me dazed for minutes, pondering over what I had just read.
Reading this book was partially therapeutic to me, as thoughts of either one of the World Wars affect me and I close up like a flower at sunset, shut down within myself. Having gone to several memorials and listened to stories from a survivor of the concentration camps only shocked me further. I don't think I will ever be able to get over the impact and devastation of the wars, but reading about something so horrific that it makes me go quiet for a while is ironically a positive experience.
An intimate story of the true price of war; of what happens to ordinary people in frightening and tragic times; and of the children of a war era, struggling to find the strength to move forward.