CompleteMartialArts.com - The Flower Master
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List Price: $6.99
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Manufacturer: HarperTorch
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780061097348
ISBN: 0061097349
Label: HarperTorch
Manufacturer: HarperTorch
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 400
Publication Date: 2000-04
Publisher: HarperTorch
Release Date: 2000-04-04
Studio: HarperTorch
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Editorial Reviews:
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Life in Japan for a transplanted California with a fledging antiques business and a nonexistent love life isn't always fun, but when the flower arranging class Rei Shimura's aunt cajoles her into taking turns into a stage for murder, Rei finds plenty of excitement she's been missing. Unfortunately too many people have a reason for committing the crime--her aunt included. While struggling to adjust to the nuances of Japanese propriety, trying to keep her business afloat, and dealing with veiled massages left under her door, Rei sifts the bones of old skeletons to keep her family name clear--and her own life safe from an enemy with a mysterious agenda. If Rei doesn't want to be crushed like fallen cherry blossoms, she's going to have to walk a perilous line and uncover the killer with a dramatic flare for deadly arrangements.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Comically bad
Comment: This is the third book from Sujata Massey that I have read, and I realize what a masochist I must be for enduring them so far, hoping that her writing would improve. I guess my interest in Japan (having lived there for a number of years) has, up till now (till I read this book), outweighed the irritation at reading such dreadful prose. But after The Flower Master, I just can't do it anymore.
Besides the main character, Rei, all of the other characters are so flat and lifeless as to be irrelevant. It was impossible for me to feel any empathy for any of them. And their speech and actions are often so out of place with the situation they find themselves in. Even Rei sometimes has these ridiculous thoughts that just don't fit the situation (sometimes dangerous) that she's in.
Also, (1) it doesn't seem that Mrs. Massey is capable of describing scenes coherently or vividly, sometimes being so vague as to be unclear; (2) her writing is often both confused and confusing (e.g. a character will say something and then a few lines later contradict him/herself--but nobody notices); and (3) the dialogues are too unrealistic for me to suspend disbelief.
Finally, the last ten pages (I won't give anything away) are supposed to be suspenseful and climactic, but I found myself laughing out loud at the utterly ludicrous situation. In fact, I often found myself laughing out loud during many scenes in the book (that I assume, were supposed to be serious, erotic, and/or suspenseful). And the poor quality of the writing makes all of this even worse.
Though I found the two books of hers before this (The Salaryman's Wife and Zen Attitude) quite bad, The Flower Master reaches new lows.
But the the fact that she only has two blurbs on the back cover by unknown writers should have been been a warning.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "Flower Master" is Masterful Suspense
Comment: The tenth and final installment of Rei's adventures, "Shimura Trouble", came out this past spring and Amazon is apparently having great trouble getting copies from its British publisher. While you wait for a copy to become available, you will want to revisit this, in my opinion, the strongest entry in the Rei series, both for its completely, affectionately inhabited Tokyo setting, but also for the meticulous (and oddly, for Westerners) compelling descriptions of the classical Japanese art of ikebana. The mystery set-up here, and its resolution, is also one of the better-plotted and surprising. In later installments, Massey has a tendency to overplay her hand, telegraphing well in advance who probably dunnit, but I guarantee that is not the case here. Events of the plot aside, you may even want to take up ikebana when you are done, it's that interesting.
When we last left Rei, she had settled into a domestic routine with Hugh Glendinning in his luxury apartment in Roppongi. She continues to reside there uneasily, torn over both commitment to Hugh and being a denizen of the most elite neighborhood in Tokyo. She counters this dose of Westernization by signing up for flower arranging lessons at a local school. This installment gives a prominent role to Rei's delightfully efficient Aunt Norie, who we will never enjoy in such largesse again. This book also introduces the mysterious Takeo Kayama, the wealthy heir to the flower arranging empire who presents an attractive, and Japanese, alternative to Hugh. In her ambivilent state, Rei is definitely torn, even if Kayama-kun himself may be sinister. This third installment continues, and improves upon, the strong plotlines, quirky characters and interesting tidbits about Japanese cultural icons and mores that Massey started in the two previous efforts. This was actually the first book in this series that came to my attention, and it hooked me immediately, even without Rei's backstory from the prequels. I have read them all now, and still believe "The Flower Master" is the best of the lot. If you only read one Rei Shimura mystery, this is the one to choose. But of course, this book is so captivating, you will want to read them all. Not all of Massey's later efforts live up to the high bar she set herself with her first three books, but you will never find another sleuth like Rei Shimura, "honto ni". (Truly!)
Customer Rating:
Summary: A Taste of Modern Japan
Comment: I've spent a lot of time in Japan and find her books very true to what modern Japan feels like. I've heard the cliche, "The Japanese are so polite" so many times from people who have never been to Japan that I could scream. You can pretty much get an idea of the appropriateness of that cliche from Massey's books.
It's so much fun to remember the areas she mentions. In this book she mentions the Ocha no Mizu area. This means tea water. When you walk out of the Ocha no Mizu train station there's a river which I imagine looked like tea water to someone important. There's an overgrown park nearby with a very dark and ancient temple. Not far, off a main street, is a beautifully restored very colorful temple.
So, if you've been to Japan--particularly Tokyo, you will enjoy the references to the neighborhoods in all of her books.
I guess I should talk more about the book. In this book we learn how her relationship with Takeo started. He seems much nicer and more reasonable as a boyfriend than he does in a later book, "The Bride's Kimono".
This book is a great mix of interesting characters, murder, and intrigue sprinkled with humour. The best part is that it all takes place in Japan--one of my favorite countries.
If you can, I recommend that you read these books in order of publication. I haven't and find it slightly confusing.
Customer Rating:
Summary: GREAT!
Comment: This is a great alternative to a standard grocery store mystery novel. She does a good job of showcasing the main female character and revealing slices of Japanese culture.
Great and quick read. You'll love it.
iKnow
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great, but missing something....
Comment: 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 :)
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