thunder_bunny 's review for:

Silk by Alessandro Baricco

4.0

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This story, I've heard it before*. Plagiarism? Not necessarily, it might be simply that both writers based it on something in the public domain**. Did it ruin the experience for me? Somewhat. This is a really short book, I was done with it in an hour, so I did not have to suffer the agony of knowing all the little twists and turns beforehand. And it's not like both of the stories are 100% alike, little differences abound. But main revelations, the premise, the buildup, the ending - I've heard it all from Takashi Matsuoka already, he made it a part of a larger, epic story, chopped this love story to pieces and delivered it in small chunks, but it was all there alright. 
Was Matsuoka's story better? To me, it was. If you enjoyed Shogun and overall lean more towards eventful, fast paced historical fiction, Matsuoka is your guy. If, on the other hand, you're more of a romance kind of person, you'll probably prefer this rendering. And this is a neat, fresh rendering: a brief historical romance with a twist (with literary leanings, if that's what you go for). Highly likable overall. And despite the deja vu factor, I still did enjoy it.
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* It was either in [b:Cloud of Sparrows|1419383|Samurai 1 Kastel Awan Burung Gereja|Takashi Matsuoka|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183443198s/1419383.jpg|2247118] or [b:Autumn Bridge|1419406|Samurai 2 Jembatan Musim Gugur|Takashi Matsuoka|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1183443352s/1419406.jpg|1249995] by [a:Takashi Matsuoka |31731|Takashi Matsuoka|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1242123545p2/31731.jpg]
**I'm too lazy to research this theory. Sorry! We'll leave that one unsolved...