Full to overflowing with expression and meaning this is a spirited and dramatic, yet emotionally astute novel. This is a book of love, of response, of energy, a constant flow of articulate reflection and reaction. It is worth noting that while this sits perhaps as a novel of love, it contains within, ferocious battles and torturous deaths. Denis Theriault is an award-winning Canadian author from Montreal, I first met his work when I reviewed the The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman back in 2014 and it has stayed with me, if forced to reveal my favourite books, this would be on the list. Each time I read one of his novels he spins me in a new direction, yet the words are distinctively and eloquently from his pen. The Samurai of the Red Carnation is set in Japan during medieval times when you could battle as a samurai or a poet. Matsuo leaves home to become a samurai, yet after training turns instead to the art of poetry. As I travelled with Matsuo and slipped into and through his emotions, it was when he was engaged in poetry that I began to truly know him. I completely forgot that I was reading a translation, so congratulations to Louise Rogers Lalaurie for her work. I fell head over heals for this novel, and it sits as a LoveReading Star Book as well as a Liz Pick of the Month. Strewn with action and adventure yet wonderfully thought-provoking, The Samurai of the Red Carnation is a beautifully written work of art, that I can highly recommend.
Matsuo is born to be a samurai, but as he is being trained in the art of war he realises he was meant for a different art altogether. Turning his back on his future as a warrior of the sword, he decides instead to do battle with words, as a poet. Thus begins a story of romance and adventure, love and betrayal, that takes Matsuo across medieval Japan, through bloody battlefields and burning cities, culminating in his ultimate test at the uta awase - where Japan's greatest poets engage in fierce verbal combat for the honour of victory.
A charming, magical, picaresque journey through medieval Japan, filled with mystery, meaning and wonderful imagery. Denis Thériault's brilliant evocation of the noble art of the waka (classical Japanese poetry) is an absorbing, pacy and immensely enjoyable read -- Sean Lusk, author of The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley
Author
About Denis Thériault
Denis Thériault is an award-winning author, playwright and screenwriter living in Montreal. He has long been fascinated by Japan, and Japanese poetry in particular. Haikus were central to his The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman, which was an international bestseller, translated into sixteen languages across the world, won the Japan-Canada Book Prize and was selected for the Radio 2 Book Club in the UK. The Samurai of the Red Carnation once again revolves around traditional Japanese verse, and is set during the medieval golden age of poetry in Japan.
