Mister Owita's Guide To Gardening

BookBrowse Review

BookBrowse

Gardening in its many forms requires patience. Carol Wall's garden doesn't transform into a colorful, blossoming maze of delightful flowers and trees overnight. Under Giles Owita's tutelage, we learn along with her that what we need most in our lives might not come right away. But when it eventually does, it gives us our just rewards...continued

Full Review (702 words).

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(Reviewed by Rory L. Aronsky).

Media Reviews

People

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.

USA Today

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.

Booklist

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

Kirkus Reviews

Owita not only performed an aesthetic miracle on Wall's property, but he also educated, enlivened and transformed her life and surroundings in graceful, heartwarming and rewarding ways. A pleasure to read. Wall's bittersweet story of human kindness has universal appeal.

Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This tender narrative gently probes the complicated terrain of American race relations, dealing with serious illness and facing the death of loved ones.

Author Blurb Kathleen Grissom, New York Times–bestselling author of The Kitchen House

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

Author Blurb Steve Lopez, New York Times–bestselling author of The Soloist

"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.

Author Blurb Jonathan Odell, author of The Healing

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.