The Flower Master

Rating:
Summary: Great, but missing something....
Review: As always Sujata Massey takes us into the world of life in Japan allowing us to learn about a culture so alien to ours through the eyes of a half japanese woman named Rei Shimura. In this volume Rei is caught up in a murder in the world of ikebana - flower arranging.

The descriptions of life in Japan, the characters, the situations are all beautifully rendered in words and the book is a fantastic read. Except...

I really felt a bit disappointed by the ending. While I don't turn reading a mystery into a contest, I do like to match my wits against the writer - as many readers do. In this book, however, the identity of the murderer comes out of nowhere. There are no clues dropped, no subtle hints about their personality or motives, nothing that could make the reader even subconciously place this person in the list of suspects. And in the end the motive that is given to the killer is singularly confusing and contradictory. The killer torments one woman for years because of a perceived slight against an august family, yet turns around and steals from that same family in order to raise money. Why they want the money is never disclosed, and why they would steal from people they appear to honor and hold in high esteem is confusing.

I would have liked a crisper and better defined ending, though I did enjoy the book :)

Rating:
Summary: Great, but missing something....
Review: As always Sujata Massey takes us into the world of life in Japan allowing us to learn about a culture so alien to ours through the eyes of a half japanese woman named Rei Shimura. In this volume Rei is caught up in a murder in the world of ikebana - flower arranging.

The descriptions of life in Japan, the characters, the situations are all beautifully rendered in words and the book is a fantastic read. Except...

I really felt a bit disappointed by the ending. While I don't turn reading a mystery into a contest, I do like to match my wits against the writer - as many readers do. In this book, however, the identity of the murderer comes out of nowhere. There are no clues dropped, no subtle hints about their personality or motives, nothing that could make the reader even subconciously place this person in the list of suspects. And in the end the motive that is given to the killer is singularly confusing and contradictory. The killer torments one woman for years because of a perceived slight against an august family, yet turns around and steals from that same family in order to raise money. Why they want the money is never disclosed, and why they would steal from people they appear to honor and hold in high esteem is confusing.

I would have liked a crisper and better defined ending, though I did enjoy the book :)

Rating:
Summary: It's always a pleasure to see another book from Ms. Massey.
Review: Beyond the mysteries in Sujata Massey's books, which are always intriguing, it's wonderful to learn more about Japan through Rei's eyes. It's particularly amusing for me to get Rei's perspective--Rei, who's a Japanese-American woman living in Japan--on Westerners who come to work/visit Japan and can't even be bothered to learn to say the simplest of Japanese words. Loved the "gardener" and hope to see more. Readers for whom The Flower Master is their introduction to Ms. Massey should not miss The Salaryman's Wife and Zen Attitude.

Rating:
Summary: A great read. Japan comes alive in Massey's hands
Review: Half Japanese and half American, Rei Shimina grew up in California, but now calls Japan home. Though she struggles to adapt to the culture of her father's relatives, she has carved out a profession as a successful antiques' buyer. Without asking, her Aunt Norrie enrolls Rei in the prestigious Kayama School to study ikebana (flower arranging). To show respect to her aunt, Rei attends the classes.

At school, Rei quickly learns that the powerful Sakira Sato loathes Norrie. Not too long after classes start, Norrie finds a dead Sakira, an apparent victim of a pair of ikebana scissors. The police suspect Norrie. She found the body, shared a known grudge with the victim, and owned the murderer weapon. Rei begins to investigate who actually killed Sakira.

Masterful storyteller Sujata Massey paints a vivid portrait of modern Japan that brings to life the people and the clashing cultures. The story line flows rapidly along a journey in which anything can and does occur. Rei is an extremely likable protagonist whose trek for self awareness has traveled much afar from where she was in her previous tale. THE FLOWER MASTER is a master of a tale that fans of Japanes mysteries will relish until the next book in the series appears.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Rei is becoming too predictable
Review: Having read one of her earlier books, I looked forward to The Flower Master with anticipation of seeing a more experienced Ms. Massey write a more intense book. In her first book, The Salaryman's Wife, I had the killer pegged only a third of the way through the book and forgave the author considering it was her first novel. Again in The Flower Master it was a little too easy to see who the killer was. For me it was obvious and I screemed at Rei to open her eyes and ask the killer the same compelling questions she asked all her other suspects. Ms. Massey's style seems to be to make a suspect of everyone except for the real killer and then surprise you at the end. It worked the first time and was slightly unique, but in her third book it becomes repeatative.

Still, I look forward to reading her other books. They are a nice diversion, if you aren't seriously looking for a Holmesian style mystery. Aside from that I see little for anyone who either isn't interested in Japan or who hasn't or doesn't live there. Living in Tokyo, I find the setting to be my primary attraction to the Rei Shimura series and can forgive the lack of a true mystery -- the reason I gave this 3 stars and not 2. But if you have no idea where Tokyo is on the map and don't care about Japanese antiques, then perhaps you should look elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: A fan of the series
Review: I have read all of Sujata Massey's books, and enjoyed each one. She really knows how to tell a story. Her character of Rei Shimura is appealing because she is intelligent and normal. The fact that Ms. Massey's books are set in Japan was the reason I first bought one, but the story convinced me to buy the others. You should, too!

Rating:
Summary: The Best So Far
Review: I keep trying to find an adjective that appropriately describes Sujata Massey's piquant and wonderful Rei Shimura series. With this third, and best, addition to the series, I think I have found one, although it hardly describes the talent of the writer: delicate.

Exquisite delicacy, akin to the ikebana arrangements described in this book, is the hallmark of Massey's wonderful mysteries. Imagine murder, mayhem, forensics, and all the rest of the usual crime-novel/mystery genre told in a setting of kimono, cherry blossoms, the aforementioned ikebana and the constant east-west conflict of the heroine, and you have a slight idea of just how different these books are--and just how delightful.

This story finds half Japanese-half American Rei Shimura thriving as an antiques dealer, despite the end of her tumultuous relationship with Scotsman Hugh Glendinning. Dragged to her aunt's ikebana school for lessons (as part of her aunt's ongoing project--making Rei comfortable with her Japanese side), Rei soon stumbles on a murder. And not just any murder. This is as bloody as any samurai killing--but in place of the sword, the fatal weapon is a pair of ikebana scissors. Who among the genteel, proper women at the school could have committed such an atrocity? And most of all, why?

As Rei sets out to solve the mystery, she is threatened by all sorts of hostile influences, from a radical pro-environmentalist organization to a sinister and unseen writer of threatening haiku--to her own treacherous heart, as she finds herself drawn to the handsome son of the school's chairman.

It all makes for a fascinating and utterly wonderful mystery. This is a series not to be missed!

Rating:
Summary: terrific insight on modern day japanese life
Review: I really enjoyed this book. rarely does a book captivate me so much that i constantly think about the next time i'll have a chance to read it. you won't know what you're missing until you read the flower master

Rating:
Summary: A good read but I much prefered her earlier books.
Review: I very much like Sujata Massey's style, and I am quite taken with her main character Rea Shimura. I also like the views that Massey gives us of Japanese life through the eyes of a Westerner.

I felt that this, her third novel, was another pleasureable romp, following Rea as she gets unwillingly involved in and solves yet another mystery.

I found, however, that this tale did not fire my interest as her others had. I enjoyed meeting her friends again and watching a new man enter that circle. I liked the insights into Ikebana culture.

I only gave it three stars, however, because I felt that the the lengthy build-up led to a surprising but not particularly exciting resolution. As I finally closed the book my feeling was - Okay, hmmm. Nowhere near a Wow!

I have no doubt that other readers who, like me, anticipate the latest Massey story will want to read this one. I am just hoping that the next is more gripping, intriquing, moving....

Rating:
Summary: Colorful, fun romp through Japan.
Review: In this, the third book in the Rei Shimura series that began with THE SALARYMAN'S WIFE, we attend ikebana (flower arranging) classes with Rei and her aunt and meet a lot of interesting characters. We learn a little (not enough) about ikebana, and a little (not enough) about the murder and its surrounding mystery. In fact, there were a couple of obvious points that were not followed up or explained. I enjoyed THE FLOWER MASTER, but I kept feeling that there was something left out -- not enough detail, action, whatever. I loved the first two. Maybe it's just me. Try it for yourself. It doesn't discourage me from wanting to read the next one, though. I love whatever view of the culture Massey gives us, along with her fine ability to create a sense of place.