A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery, Alison Anderson (Translation) is a 2021 Europa Editions publication. This lushly written novella length story profiles the reexamination of Rose’s distant and estranged relationship with her father, who has recently passed away. Rose travels to Japan, planning to stay only long enough to discover the contents of her father’s will. Her host for the duration of her visit is Paul, her father’s assistant. As Paul leads Rose through Japan, her resentfulness towards he...

I just finished this wonderful little book a few minutes ago… while spinning on the bike. I’ll write a review in a day or two.It was THE PERFECT book I needed right now!I’m embarrassed to say how much I feel like crying —Instead - I’ll just take a walk — and enjoy nature’s beauty! 5 easy stars - for the feelings that move me most in life:LOVE!I’m back… “A Single Rose” is about a woman, named Rose, who goes to Kyoto, Japan, [her first trip ever], after her estranged father, Haru Unen, died - to r...

This is a beautiful love story and so much more. One woman’s journey to Japan to learn about her deceased father whom she never knew, but in essence a journey of self discovery, of what happiness feels like. The novella is full of images, memories enhancing the philosophical nature of Rose’s journey. Ultimately, it’s filled with beauty, love and hope. I can’t quite give it 5 stars because while the writing is beautiful, I think that writing can be beautiful and descriptive without every noun nee...

At the age of forty, Rose receives word of the death of her father. A father she has no memory of ever meeting, a man she has spent most of her life both yearning for a connection with, and resenting his absence. Now she must travel to Kyoto, where he lived, for the reading of the will. She arrives there, not knowing the language, and is met by her father’s assistant, Paul. Paul will be her guide throughout her journey there, he takes her to the places her father has stipulated, although Paul av...

2.5★s“It had stopped raining. She became aware of the pervasive silence, a horizontal silence, pure and incomprehensible— it makes no sense, she thought. And yet the silence hovered over the pathways, and she felt she was slicing through it just below hip level, that it was creating a layer of invisible waves between stone and air.”A Single Rose is the fifth novel by French author, Muriel Barbery. It is translated from the original French by Alison Anderson. Rose, a forty-year-old French botanis...

A Single Rose by Muriel Barbery is a beautifully written book about love, forgiveness, and family. Rose goes to Kyoto Japan for the reading of her fathers’ will. A father who left her and her mother when she was just a baby. A father she had never met and had never received any communications from him. She’s resentful that he never contacted her, especially after her mother died a few years earlier. When she arrives in Japan, she meets Paul, her father’s assistant, and he takes her on a tour of

A short novel set in KYOTOMany readers, I imagine, will be familiar with The Elegance of the Hedgehog. A Single Rose is the latest work brought to an English audience by Gallic Books.It is clear that the author has visited Kyōto and has a real fondness for the variety of experiences and scenes that grace the city. This is a novel full of texture and sensuality, a keenly observed story that is set amidst the almost tangible world of 40 year old Rose, who finds herself in the erstwhile capital of

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.The setting: "...a woman's journey to discover the father she never knew and a love she never thought possible.Rose has just turned forty when she gets a call from a lawyer asking her to come to Kyoto for the reading of her estranged father's will. And so for the first time in her life she finds herself in Japan, where Paul, her father's assistant, is waiting to greet her.As Paul guides Rose along a mysterious itinerary designe...

It has been a very long time that I've read a book with writing so beautiful that it took my breath away, but this one did. Read more about it with my #bookreview on my blog here. https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2021/09/1...

Book Reviewed on www.whisperingstories.comForty-year-old botanist Rose Ueno has travelled from her home in France to Kyoto, Japan, for the will reading of her later father Haru whom she has never met and was a successful art dealer.Whilst there she stays in her late father’s home and is looked after by his elderly housekeeper, his driver, and his assistant Paul, a widower with a young daughter. Paul has been left a list of places from Haru to take Rose who has never been to Japan before nor does...

I was given a publisher's advance review copy, via Netgalley.I just loved Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog, with its acerbic tone but poignant message. This short book is entirely different. Rose is a 40-year old Parisian botanist who has never met or even communicated with her father, Haru Ueno, an art dealer who lives in Kyoto. Now Ueno has died and she has been summoned to Kyoto for the reading of his will.The reading doesn’t happen right away. Rose is put up in Haru’s home, waited on b...

I'll get to this eventually. Let's see if this one will turn me as homicidal as the ending of The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

Forty year old Rose has never met her Japanese father but on the news of his passing she heads to Kyoto for the reading of his will, arriving skeptical and disillusioned with life. Before his last wishes are revealed she is taken on a tour of the city and its temples by her late father's assistant, with whom she forms a connection. As the story unfolds Rose, like her namesake, blossoms and gains a new appreciation for life.This novella really struck a chord with me; the breaking and building of

Rating: 9/10Something about Muriel Barbery’s writing, even in translation, is just so rich for me that it’s just a pleasure to read.This is a short book, but it’s one that it’s worth taking time to savour. Barbery’s ideas can feel fleeting, or obscure, which I think some readers might find frustrating. I do acknowledge that her work isn’t exactly accessible. I think that’s what I like about it! It’s philosophical in tone, and when I say the ideas feel fleeting, I mean that there’s a way to read

Forty year old botanist Rose (note not so subtle choice of name – kind of sets the tone for the whole novel) has never known her Japanese father, leaving her untethered – naturally. When he dies she is summoned to Kyoto to hear the will read. Initially hostile and defensive, she is soon won over by handsome Paul, her father’s assistant (conveniently widowed) and finds herself drawn into her father’s world as she embarks on a journey of discovery and self-discovery against a background of Japan’s...

“A Single Rose” is a poetic journey taken over just a few days by two strangers brought together by a death. Rose received news that Haru, her father, had died. She must take her first trip to Kyo¯to Japan to settle his estate and to learn about the father that she never knew. This journey changes her life in ways she could never have anticipated.Paul, her father’s dedicated assistant, is waiting to greet her. Together they spend the days until the reading of the will exploring grief, abandonmen...

If you asked me at the halfway point what I thought of this book I would have told you I found it incredibly frustrating. The flower imagery bugged me - everything was spelled out in a way I hate - as if the writer didn't trust the reader. The protagonist, Rose (of course), goes to Kyoto to hear the will of her newly deceased father whom she never met. She is an angry 40 year old botonist (second of course) with no heart and no love of flowers or poetry. She is whiney and obnoxious. She meets Pa...

The language and imagery of this writing were just beautiful. However, I did stop reading 74% of the way in, as I (for the most part) cater to readers who prefer more conservative and conventional characters, and I'm afraid this one did not fit the bill. I respect every author, and their characters, to do and act as they please, however, I have been disappointed in the industry for forcing in "diverse" characters just for the sake of the thing, rather than for any purpose. Out of the blue, this

My sincere thanks to Net Galley and Europa Editions, the publishers of outstanding books for sending me this novel for reviewRose comes to Japan for the reading of the will of Haru, her father, whom she never knew as her mother left him before her birth. Maud, her mother was very melancholic, totally alienated her from her husband and finally committed suicide leaving behind her daughter in the care of her grandmother who died two years later. Hence, is no wonder that Rose, now forty, though hav...

An unusual book, not my typical choice, and I have to confess that I was lured in by the beautiful cover art. It is a delicate and gentle novel, very slow in pace - the story of a woman who is visiting Kyoto for the reading of her father’s will. The customs of Japan, the stunning botanical imagery and the value of silence are all evoked with grace and stillness. For fans of Japanese culture, art and proverbs and lovers of nature.