Customer Reviews

The Teahouse Fire

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Many historical novels feel all too "set" in a distant time and place, and reading them is like having to walk gingerly through poorly constructed scenery. The Tea House Fire grows out of its setting with the grace and sureness of an organic process that we watch unfold with wonder. The extraordinary details on every page mean that the research for this novel must have been massive, yet it reads as though the author simply grew up in ninteenth-century Japan and assimilated the knowledge of the world she describes as she has her American narrator asssimilate it: as the adoptive daughter/sister in a family that has been teaching the art of tea for centuries. The Tea House Fire creates a world you will want to spend time in. The prose is delicate and original; the characters are unfamiliar and getting to know them slowly is an unusual pleasure, as is making acquaintace with the world that is drawn for us by Ellis Avery in such fine strokes.

...but it just wasn't my "cup of tea."

Perhaps I was expecting something more akin to "Memoirs of a Geisha" or "Distant Land of My Father," etc., but I just could not get into this novel. I enjoyed the first hundred or so pages and found myself somewhat interested in the characters, learning about the art (for lack of a better word) of the tea ceremony and the political situation in Japan in the mid-eighteen hundreds. However, that is pretty much where it ended for me. It became too drawn out, slow and rather boring. I felt at times that certain details I needed to know were missing and thus found myself somewhat confused with the way the story was being told and its flow. Perhaps it would have been better if written as a young girl, as opposed to being written as an older woman looking back on her young years? Essentially, it became a chore to pick it up and read, which for someone like me who devours at least a book or two a week, is usually not a problem. Therefore, I gave up and never got past page 162. While its rare for me to put down a book, I just couldn't read it anymore and realize that I don't even care to even know how it ends.

I'm not sure if this review will be helpful to others. As I said, I really came into it wanting and expecting to love it and it just missed the mark with me, however there are many other reviewers on this page who loved it. While I don't personally recommend this book, I think it would be of value to those with a particular interest in Japan, this particular time period, or the tea ceremony.

Of all the remarkable things about THE TEAHOUSE FIRE, I'll highlight this one: there are precious few novels that educate the reader without talking down to her, that feed the heart without soppy romanticism, that accomplish poetry without pretention, and that evoke effortlessly the true strangeness of being cast adrift in a world of others' making. This is one such novel. Avery unfolds the life of Aurelia/Urako with such delicacy and precision that her intoxicated reader is moved to terror by the appearance of the wrong tea bowl, to panic by the counting-out of a bow, to unalloyed joy at the eventual gift of love so hard-won. Avery's world is a world of people signalling to each other, as best they can, through gesture and object and the language of ritual, the awful fact that desire rests on the impossibility of making itself known. "One moment, one meeting" is the mantra of tea ceremony, and this book is a sequence of such moments: in which all mistakes are swept away by the understanding that there is no such thing as a mistake.

Avery's lucid and exacting prose will be appreciated by fans of Louise Erdrich or Annie Proulx; her eye for historical detail is comparable to Emma Donoghue's or Sarah Waters'. The grace with which she brings these talents together is uniquely her own.

"The Teahouse Fire" is a fabulous read for many reasons: Author Ellis Avery's poetic and richly detailed prose; her ability to weave a compelling plot (and plot twists), as well as create unforgettable characters whose loyalties both linger and shift across the decades; her passion for tea ceremony and personal knowledge of the ritual; and her extensive research on the Meji period in Japan. Avery writes with authority and deep understanding of the human condition. I loved this book and hope it's the first of many from a gifted writer who deserves to become a household name. "The Teahouse Fire" would be an excellent selection for book clubs!

The Teahouse Fire hits all the bases. Beautiful language, detailed but relevant descriptions, rich historical context, characters you love to spend time with, and a complex and exciting plot.

Barbara Caruso brings to life Ellis Avery's novel THE TEAHOUSE FIRE, a story of Japan as it's opening up to the West for the first time. One Aureila Bernard, an American orphan in 1866 Koyoto, observes the changes taking place and sees the transitions women are experiencing in their culture in this outstanding, warm drama recommended for general-interest lending libraries.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I was really looking forward to reading this book but was a bit disappointed after doing so. The story itself is actually very interesting but it was very slow at times which made it hard to stay tuned in. Many people reading this book might be expecting something similar to Memoirs of a Geisha (which it is not). The book is well written and you can tell that the author spent much time researching Japanese history to ensure she got it right. I appreciate the fact that the author attempted to go that extra mile to educate her readers however at times it was also a bit prolonged. One last point to mention is that the list of characters was a bit confusing at times. There were moments where I had to flip through previous chapters to remember which character the author was speaking of and how they were related to the main character. Often times when I read a book, I like at least one character in the story but I didn't particularly like any of the characters. In short, I would not recommend this book to people who do not like slow-moving novels.

The Teahouse Fire, Ellis Avery's first novel, is an epic of late 19th century Japan, as seen through the eyes of an American orphan--Aurelia Bernard.
After a teahouse fire, Aurelia escapes the torment of her Uncle Charles, and is adopted by the Shin family, who change her name to Urako. Guided by the daughter of a famous Kyoto tea master, Urako learns--among other things--that "a teahouse is a net to catch the sky."
Urako falls in love more than once, and is loved more than once. The sensuality of her inner world and the formality of Japanese tea ceremony (and the hierarchy from which, in part, the ceremony arises) lend this book both tension and grace. In the end, Urako must leave Japan and return to America. She strips away all that is unessential and basks in that which remains--love.
Avery's prose is hypnotic and precise. One hears in the cadence of sentences, and in the attention to detail, a lover of beauty. "Sharp. Sweet. Grass. Green. That bowl of tea was all things in all places. A pivot between the living and the dead."
Read this book. You will enjoy every sentence.

The Teahouse Fire is the story of a young girl, Aurelia, a young girl who comes with her uncle from America to Japan. On the night they arrive, the place in which they're staying burns, and Aurelia runs away. She is taken in by Yurako, a young woman whose father owns a teahouse in Miyako, later Kyoto. Aurelia then becomes Urako. The book begins in 1866 and ends in the 1920s, and covers a period in which the cultures of East and West meet, sometimes with adverse results. It's a wonderfully well-written novel, though sometimes the language is hard to follow. But other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed The Teahouse Fire.

I am in my second reading of this amazing, warm, informative and completely unforgettable story. The first time I went through it as a drug-addict who couldn't live without his dose. This time I am taking it as a medicine; drop by drop. In short, The Teahouse Fire is one of the best books I've read in many years and it's not just because the writer has done her research but it's mostly because she possesses the talent to do what she is doing; tells us a story with vitality, care and enormous sensibility.
I can't wait to see it as a movie. You must read it!!!!