Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart

This was a book that I am glad that I read. I had mixed emotions to parts of it, but still found myself choosing to pick up the book in a quiet place to read and finishing it rather quickly. I love to garden and have developed some special friendships with unlikely people (also immigrants). I felt that I was going to connect so much with the author. I was surprised to discover that I didn't feel I had as much in common with the author as I expected. Then I realized that was the key. Gardening and befriending people from all walks of life have always been who I am. They come naturally to me (plenty of other things don't). They did not come naturally to Carol Wall and in the process of opening herself up to both those things, she learned so much. She was brutally honest about herself - she had to look herself in the mirror, both literally as she dealt with fear of returning cancer, and figuratively as she faced truths about herself. Mr. Owita is a very special man and I am thankful to Carol Wall for sharing him with us. She was better for having known him and I feel I am better for having read about him.

What began as a story about a lady wanting to have some updated landscaping/gardening done in her yard turned into much more… the value of your those whom you love, how your memories and life experiences create who you are even when you’re oblivious to what’s happening around you, you are never too old to learn something new, and relationships are truly what is important. Very good, true story. Highly recommended for men & women.

It is difficult to review this book without giving important details away. But Carol, a teacher and wife, is going through many issues in her own life and she meets Mr. Owita, a gardener from Kenya. Carol is not dealing especially well with things when she meets Giles Owita. The relationship that builds and the obvious effect it has on each of them, maybe especially Carol, is surreal. This book is so well written, that you feel as though you are part of the story when you are reading it. You feel as though her triumphs are your triumphs and when I finished the book I had a different outlook on life. Everyone can relate to this book and take a piece of it with you through your own travels through life. My husband also read this book and he too could not put it down. He told me he could not remember reading a more well written book ever!!!!

What an honor and a privilege to get to know Carol Wall ("Mrs. Wall") and Giles Owita through the medium of paper and ink. Just like Giles' expert hands at gardening turns many a backyard mess into a flourishing garden, Carol's expert command of language allows us readers to vicariously experience and relive their touching and sunny friendship. And what would life be without dear friends to lighten the way? Carol and Giles do not just live in the pages of this moving book, but continue to reach out and touch those who had the pleasure of knowing them - members of their family, friends, garden owners and many, many students. Without sentimentality but with a keen sense of fully living in the moment, this lovely book will envelop you with its grace and beauty.

This is an unforgettable story of two unlikely friends who change each other's lives. Nothing is as it seems in the beginning of the story when a high school teacher looks for landscaping help in her yard. Mr. Owita has been helping her neighbor with her yard, and Mrs. Wall hires him. At first it seems they will never be friends but nothing in this story is as it first appears. Both Mrs. Wall and Mr. Owita help each other through health crises and their friendship remains strong and true throughout. This book reminds us to look beyond first impressions and to not judge quickly. There are many unknowns in everyone's life.As a gardener and lover of anything that blooms, I enjoyed the description of how Mr. Owita transformed the Wall's garden but obviously he was much more than a gardener!

What a beautiful testament to a very special man. Carol Wall shows how friendships can grow and deepen in Spite of our flawed natures. Carol and Giles are polar opposites in the way they handle life's challenges and I must confess to really not liking very much the author's self focused personality yet she is someone who recognizes her flaws and tries to change. She has suffered many health blows and it is though God has placed this wonderful man in her life to help her deal with them. She is an excellent writer and Giles Owita is such a unique person that I continued to read where I might otherwise stopped because of the authors personality which, to her credit, she doesn't try to gloss over. I have been enriched by coming to know this wonderful man and that credit does indeed fall to Carol Wall.

I enjoyed reading this memoir by Carol Wall.She shared freely of her thoughts and feelings as she endured trials that would slow down any of us. Interwoven were her impressions of a truly remarkable man who happened to be her gardener and happened to be from Kenya. Focused on her own troubles, she felt miserable and discouraged, but as she learned she could share, that she was not alone, and that Mr. Owita was carrying burdens of his own, her burdens lightened as she helped to bear his. Great story. I enjoy the spiritual part of gardening, and read the book because of that interest. I was not disappointed.Marjorie Eldred, Author of Seeking the Treasure: 101 Nuggets to Warm Your Heart, Journey from Addiction to Freedom: A Family's Prison Experience, and Blooms, Blunders and Blessings: Garden Stories I Just Had to Tell.

It took me a while to get around to ordering this book (naw, I don't think I'll care for it. . . .) and in so doing, I almost missed a superb story on many levels. I can relate to the author of my years ago; so much to learn about what is truly important in life and one never knows whatothers can learn. Even if you grow weeds . . . whatever . . . I guarantee you'll want to be a better person when you've finished reading this.Don't like flowers or gardening? It doesn't matter. Read on.

There were some touching moments, but generally the author gave the impression of being rarely exposed to people of colour. She was quite condescending of Mr. Owita (maybe that's why he never called her by her first name until the end.) She was like, Ooh...he's Kenyan, but he can write so beautifully. Also, the pacing was disjointed. For instance, she goes to see Mr. Owita's wife who is obviously dying to reveal something, but then they are interrupted by Mr. Owita, and it doesn't come up again for some time, and then other things have happened and the reader has already forgotten about it or lost interest. Strange memoir. It's as though the author really wanted to tell her cancer story, but she needed to meet this Kenyan gardener to make the story appealing. I don't agree with the subtitle that she "learned the unexpected joy of a green thumb and an open heart." She didn't do much actual gardening herself and I won't say anything else because it might be a spoiler.

From what I'd seen before reading the book, I thought it was going to be more about gardening and the close relationship between the narrator and Mr Owita. However, I found that, although the narrator kept mentioning their closeness, I didn't really find evidence in the text of it. Neither was there much about gardening. I wonder if this was a diary which was heavily edited before putting into print? As I said, disappointing.

Copy a bit warped from damp. Story about cancer more than gardening I think.

ok as expected

Lovely story and well written