Four Seasons in Five Senses: Things Worth Savoring

Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0393325369
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Average Customer Review: (From 3 total reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com:
California peach farmer David Mas Masumoto’s Four Seasons in Five Senses is about awareness–of the process by which peaches are grown and enjoyed; of the sensual “stories” by which farmers learn their work and place in it; and of farming itself, whose cycles of birth, growth, and decay make it a telling metaphor of life. In a series of short essays, such as “How to Eat Peach,” “Got Umami,” and “The Art of Grunting” (an amusing exploration of work sounds), Masumoto shows readers his inner-outer world. Masumoto’s eye is, however, always fixed on the narratives we tell ourselves. “The best farmers of personalized products strive to create true stories and personal connections through our fruits,” says Masumoto, “a journey through four seasons in five senses.” But Masumoto also lives in the world of commercial imperatives. “We [farmers] work for pennies,” he says, “and people of America spend a smaller percentage of their income on food than do people in any other country.” A provider of a highly perishable “handmade” product that must nonetheless reach consumers in a state worthy of his commitment to it, Masumoto is frustrated by the plight of “slow food” in a fast-food world. “Farming must be circular in contrast to the straight lines of business,” he says.

Despite repetitiveness, some overreaching prose (”I see with my senses, aware … a tree with peach lights in it, a siren of harvest time,” for example), and an inclination to self-regard (as opposed to self-attentiveness), readers will follow Masumoto’s tale avidly, enjoying particularly his depictions of the peach growing process. For those of us lost to modern industrial life, the realization that there is a farmer behind every piece of fruit our supermarkets sell, and that his or her whole awareness can be in that fruit, is a revelation. That disclosure is at the center of Masumoto’s enlightening tale. –Arthur Boehm

Book Description:
The nation’s favorite literary farmer pays homage to the life of the senses.

Rushing from one thing to another, we lose sight of the art of living, which for California farmer David Mas Masumoto is also the art of farming. Not fast farming, of the kind that produces fast food, but slow farming, the kind that notices each change of light and temperature and produces peaches with juice that runs down your chin.

On the farm, appreciating the fruits of one’s own labor requires all the senses: smell that knows when a peach is ready to be picked; sight that observes the health of a season’s crop; touch that measures the weight of a fruit; hearing that recognizes each voice that calls out across the fields; and taste that savors the refreshing tang of a fruit at that perfect moment of ripeness. Taking us into his fields to witness the cycle of the harvest, Masumoto reminds us that we must stop living on the run in order to savor the world around us.

Customer Reviews

Love of the Land by Valerie Adolph
The writer is a farmer who grows organic peaches and grapes (for raisins) in California. That’s about like saying that Mother Teresa is a nun from Eastern Europe…true enough as far as it goes, but it misses the point. The writer is a gentle philosopher who loves his farm and his crops and celebrates both with all of his senses throughout the year. To read this book is to share that intense feeling about the land and growing things, along with the hope and despair that accompanies each crop.

In very few books do you encounter such a deep love of the land and growth of plants and sensitivity to it. Seldom do you find an understanding of the unity and wholeness of farming in its true sense. The writer incorporates his own Japanese background and the labour of his parents and grandparents and the toil of his Mexican farm laborers into his understanding of the soil, the climate, the market and most of all the fruit he grows.

All five senses are used to give the reader a multi-dimensional feeling of immediacy. The writer shares with us the sweat, the dust, the heat, the memories and the hopes - all the complexities of growing a truly luscious peach. This is no sentimental view of farming, but it does explore the soul of the relationship between a man and the land.

This book is for anyone who loves the land and understand the magic of growing things.

Peach love by Tong L. Ginn
Reading David Masumoto’s Epitaph for a Peach changed the way I viewed peaches. While I always liked peaches, Masumoto’s passion for peaches elevated them to the top of the fruit ladder. However, I felt that he had reached the end of that genre. How much more was there to say about peaches and peach growing? I was wrong. Four Seasons and Five Senses is a wonderful book which deepens my affection of peaches and enhances my knowledge of the process.

He has grown so much as a writer since Epitaph for a Peach. He’s able to bring to life the love of farming, the excitement about organic peaches, the anxieties about the market and weather, the sensuality of eating luscious fruit, the uncertainty of prices, and the difficulty of the labor. He breaks the stereotype of ignorant farmers. He connects peach farming with such diverse subjects as chamber music, migrant labor, and entomology.

I did not want the book to end.

Having tasted Masumoto’s peaches also helps for they truly are amazing. I recommend the book to anyone who appreciates good food, wants to know about the experience of organic farming, and is interested in whole process of getting a peach to market.

What a delightful book by Tong L. Ginn
Reading David Masumoto’s Epitaph for a Peach changed the way I viewed peaches. While I always liked peaches, Masumoto’s passion for peaches elevated them to the top of the fruit ladder. However, I felt that he had reached the end of that genre. How much more was there to say about peaches and peach growing? I was wrong. Four Seasons and Five Senses is a wonderful book which deepens my affection of peaches and enhances my knowledge of the process.

I did not want the book to end.