The Gardens of Kyoto Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

1. The stark simplicity of the novel's opening lines, "I had a cousin, Randall, killed on Iwo Jima. Have I told you?" belie the intensity of the narrator's feelings for Randall which only slowly come into focus as the novel unfolds. How do the secrets the two shared and the wrenching loss she experiences after the tragic death of her first love shadow Ellen's life and all her relationships? Why does Ellen keep repeating "I didn't know him too well"? How is that statement true -- or untrue? The chaste friendship between the cousins depicted in the novel's early pages contrasts sharply with Ellen's later memory? fantasy? of their lovemaking: "I feel his tongue, warm, and want to pull my hand away but I do not want to at all...He has reached my neck, my face -- his leg to my leg... Soon he will tug me in an easy way to the cold, dirt floor, push my good Easter dress above my hips..." Are we to believe that this scene actually took place? What did you conclude was the true nature of their relationship? Are we ever sure?
   


2. The Gardens of Kyoto is both the title of Kate Walbert's novel and the title of a book about Japan's historic gardens of Kyoto that was Randall's prized possession. Talk about the author's use of the book-within-a-book device? Discuss the irony of Randall's infatuation with Japanese culture and his death in World War II in a mop-up operation on Iwo Jima after the fighting had ceased. In what other ways does the author make use of irony in narrating her story?
   


3. In the New York Times Book Review, Alida Becker wrote: "Walbert's novel is, in a way, an homage to the most famous of Kyoto's gardens, Ryoan-ji, a deceptively simple arrangement of 15 rocks set on raked sand, only 14 of which are visible at a time. One rock is always 'hidden,' but which one it is depends on the viewer's perspective." How does the novel's shifting perspective change the reader's perceptions of characters and events?
   

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Scribner. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.