Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart

Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart

Author: Visit Amazon's Carol Wall Page | Language: English | ISBN: 0399157980 | Format: PDF

Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart Description

From Booklist

She knew nothing about gardening. He knew everything. She was a well-to-do white woman. He was an impoverished immigrant from Kenya. And yet, in the garden he transformed for her from a patch of weeds into a flowering paradise, Wall and Owita found common ground in the triumphs and tragedies they shared. Both would admit it was an unlikely friendship. She was a fretter, consumed by things she could not control: her recurring cancer, her father’s Alzheimer’s, her mother’s stroke. He had a tranquility and acceptance that was mystifying in the face of all he had had to endure: a daughter left behind in Africa, a PhD in horticulture he couldn’t use, forcing him to subsist on part-time jobs, and, worst of all, the devastation and shame of being HIV-positive. Both had their shares of heartache over children and parents and life-threatening illnesses that challenged them in unimaginable ways. In this heartbreaking yet heartwarming paean to the joys of friendship and gardening, Wall crafts an elegiac tribute to an extraordinary man. --Carol Haggas

Review

 

“In this profoundly moving memoir, Owita teaches Wall how to find grace amid heartbreak and to accept that beauty exists because it is fleeting—as in her garden, as in life.” —People, 4 stars

 

“A perfect spring awakening.” —Good Housekeeping

 

"No green thumb is required to enjoy the warmhearted pleasures of Carol Wall's moving memoir, Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening.... magnetically compelling ... Grace and gardening go hand-in-glove in this fine book about what really matters in life: friendship, kindness and watching a garden grow." —USA Today

"A pleasure to read. Wall’s bittersweet story of human kindness has universal appeal." —Kirkus Reviews

"I couldn’t put this book down. I found myself liking the principal characters from the opening pages, and my affection for them never wavered. If you enjoy inspirational memoirs or gardening books (or both), this moving account of a life-changing friendship is for you." —Bookpage

 

“In this heartbreaking yet heartwarming paean to the joys of friendship and gardening, Wall crafts an elegiac tribute to an extraordinary man.” —Booklist 

"[T]his memoir chronicl[es] the many lasting rewards garnered from an unexpected friendship..." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

“This memoir touches upon everything that is important in life. Not only is it beautifully written—I am also in awe of Carol Wall’s raw honesty and incredible courage.”—Kathleen Grissom, New York Times–bestselling author of The Kitchen House

“Carol Wall’s suspenseful tale of human frailty and courage is a marvel. In her garden, an unexpected bond slowly forms as two people from distant worlds help each other confront long-buried secrets and fears. Deeply personal, poetic, and brimming with humanity, this is a book of lasting grace.” —Steve Lopez, New York Times–bestselling author of The Soloist

“Carol Wall’s disarming memoir Mister Owita’s Guide to Gardening is a poignant tale of an unlikely teacher and a doubting student, who, by bringing a neglected patch of ground back to life, reveal the secrets of reclaiming, restoring, and freeing a wounded soul. It is a generous story filled with grace enough to bring healing to the reader as well. An engaging personal and spiritual journey into life’s essential questions.” —Jonathan Odell, author of The Healing
 

See all Editorial Reviews

• Product Details
• Table of Contents
• Reviews

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam (March 4, 2014)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399157980
• ISBN-13: 978-0399157981
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

As usual I received this book for free in exchange for a review, this time from Shelf Awareness. Also as usual I give my candid opinions below.

To summarize, this book is a memoir that is only remotely about gardening. Rather than focus on those things that we putter about with in the ground it's really a story of the relationships that we cultivate with others and the impact that those relationships have on our lives.

To the positive side of things, the author of this memoir is as brilliantly introspective and self-aware as any of a memoir author I've read in a long time. It has been my general observation that authors of memoirs seem to describe in painful detail how they stormed through the world and how they made a difference and why you should recognize their greatness in some way. In this case the author candidly describes how one simple man made a huge difference in her own life while being unafraid to lay out for all to see how she very easily could have missed out on what he had to offer.

Also to the positive, the book has much to say about society and how we look at others. I will avoid spoilers by resorting to generalities, but we see examples of unintentional prejudice based on race, socioeconomics, general appearance and all this from a woman who prides herself on being a champion against these prejudices. This book is a delightful example of those accidental judgments that we all make and the author is candid enough to share these with us. Finally, we do also find in this book a delightful example of humanity and weakness under what is otherwise a superhuman image. Proving finally and completely that no one is entirely what they seem whether that be positive or negative.

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