The Garden

Into Shadow #1

by Tomi Adeyemi

In this dreamlike short story told in alternating prose and verse, number one New York Times bestselling author Tomi Champion-Adeyemi weaves a tale of a young woman’s journey to find her mother and uncover her secrets.

Fifteen years ago, Lęina’s mother, Yuliana, went searching for a mythical place called the Garden and never returned. Determined to learn the truth about what happened, Lęina travels to Brazil to search for the hidden realm, with Yuliana’s journal and a local tour guide leading the way. But Lęina soon begins to wonder if she’s looking for answers—or if what she truly wants to find is herself.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Fiction, Poetry, Audiobook, Magical Realism, Horror

33 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 15, 2022

About the author

Tomi Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American writer and creative writing coach based in San Diego, California. Her debut novel, CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE, comes out March 6th, 2018 and the movie is currently in development at Fox with the producers of Twilight and The Maze Runner attached. After graduating Harvard University with an honors degree in English literature, she received a fellowship that allowed her to study West African mythology and culture in Salvador, Brazil. When she’s not working on her novels or watching Scandal, she can be found blogging and teaching creative writing to her 3,500 subscribers at tomiadeyemi.com. Her website has been named one of the 101 best websites for writers by Writer’s Digest.

Reviews

[Carmen · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the stupidest things I ever read.

A meaningless story about a kook who hires a guide in Brazil to take her to 'The Garden' where she believes her mother went after abandoning her.

Not only does the story feature horrible poetry, but the MC also speaks in horrible poetry sometimes. Out loud. To other people. In seemingly normal conversations.

It's so fucking stupid. There's also no plot nor resolution. I don't know what the author intends me to feel but surely it's not pity that this Brazilian is stuck with some crazy American tourist who speaks in riddles and asks him inane questions like, "Which parent did you hate the most?" and "Do you believe in magic? Real magic - like the sun and the moon and the stars. And wolves that roam free at midnight... Fated love that heals old scars?" I mean, WHAT THE FUCK. What the fuck is this. Then she's contemplating if she loves him. LOVES HIM. This guy she met yesterday, the guy she hired to take her into the jungle. What the hell is wrong with this woman?

Highly disrecommend. Avoid. I don't care if Amazon is giving it out for free.

Here's an example of an inane conversation in this story:

"Then do you believe in curses?"

"I don't know."

"You're ruining the game."

"Is this a game?"

"Don't answer my question with a question."

"Even if my question leads to the answer?"

Angelo took a moment to think as he drove his red Jeep. Lęina counted the lighters around his car: two with spiral patterns, one dotted with stars.

"I think people can be cursed," he finally answered. "I've met a few."

"What happened to them?"

"Misfortune followed them like a cloud. Bit by bit, it took them down."

"So people can be cursed?"

"I think people can be cursed."

"People - but not books?"

"I think something has to be alive to be cursed."

"And you don't feel something alive in books? Haven't you ever felt the kiss of fabled winds brush across your face?" Lęina whispered. "Haven't you ever found yourself floating in an infinite space? Haven't you shed tears for characters you've never known? Felt emotions that can't possibly be your own?"

Angelo stared at Lęina as though transfixed.

Yeah, transfixed by the idea that he's agreed to be a guide to this fucking weirdo.

"You don't know that feeling?" Lęina pushed. "Deep, deep in your heart?"

"I think I do...," Angelo finally answered.

"Then you think books can be alive."

Lęina nodded in triumph. She returned her forehead to the window.

"You believe in curses, Angelo. I know you do." 35%

So fucking dumb. I would drive her back to the airport immediately if I were him. No amount of money, I swear.

NAMES IN THIS BOOK:

Lęina f
Angelo m
Yuliana f

[Andreda · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOTS OF SPOILERS, I SUPPOSE!!!

Okay I know I'm probably one of a very select few who enjoyed this novella, but hear me out. I interpreted this book in probably a darker kind of manner than most people did.

Leina asks Angelo a lot of questions, but most of them remind me of questions that people ask who are still trying to find a will or reason to continue to go on.

Another thing I grabbed from this was that the garden isn't a real place that we can see in our current state or form, more like a "heaven" of some sort. Which may be why we never actually see the garden and why at the end her mother is calling her home. This also makes me think the garden is like a "heaven":

"And if I don't come back?"

"I'll understand." Angelo touched his heart. "I'll pray it's because you found whatever you are looking for."

__

I say a "heaven" because I'm interpreting that Leina mother committed suicide: "..My mother told me of a garden... she followed it to her grave."

Which, in turn, would make the book become a curse because it's leading Leina down the same path but from a different kind of pain: "I think you are drawn to the familiar," Angelo smiled. "As people, we all are. We go to what feels the same. Even if that feeling is pain."

And lastly I'm assuming that Leina hasn't left her own home in reality. I believe this journey is more of a mental and emotional one than an actual trip to Brazil. I also don't believe Angelo is a real person but more of a spiritual guide that Leina has conjured up as a that last voice to keep her from following the same path as her mother: suicide.

Again I could completely be interpreting this in an absolute wrong way than Tomi Adeyemi intended, but as I've been dealing with my own mental health this is how I interpreted this story and in turn it made me enjoy it very much.

[Bookishrealm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hopefully, my review transfers over here from Amazon but if not just know that I didn’t enjoy this at all. What could have been a great exploration of the complex relationship between parent and child read like the dairy of a teenager who writes cringey poetry. I’m not sure what readers were supposed to get out of this, but it had potential to do something interesting and it failed in execution. I just knew that we were going to get some interesting fantastical elements, but nope we didn’t even get that. I’m not sure if “the garden” is supposed to be metaphorical for the garden of Eden where all life is said to begin; however, that’s lost in the grand scheme of the book. Alas, I had low expectations after reading my last book from her, but it still wasn’t able to curb the disappointment I got from reading this.

[Chantaal · Rating 1 out of 5]

This reads like a 13 year old’s attempts at writing ~deep fiction~ and has some astoundingly awful poetry.

[Dez the Bookworm · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank goodness this was short because it was hard to sit through. I don’t even know where to begin with this one. A whole lot of nothing going on really, just an odd book and I don’t recommend it.

[robin✨allthethingssheread · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok it's probably my fault for starting with the highest rated short story in this collection and following it up with uh... Whatever this was. That's on me.

The Garden felt completely pointless.
Lęina is absolutely insufferable. The fact that she's aware of her being insufferable didn't make her any less of a pain to read. Her sentences are pretentious, her poems are just sentences where you hit send a lot (R*pi Ka*r who?) and her exchanges with Angelo border on incoherent.
I get the metaphor. I promise I do. The story repeatedly hits you over the head with it and her guide is called Angelo for goodness' sake. But the result reads as a tired pastiche of attempted magical realism, amateurish poetry and an exploration of grief that goes nowhere as deep as it should.

[* A Reader Obsessed * · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars

Offered to read for free for Amazon Prime members, this is the first in a collection of short stories with the common theme of those searching for some type of personal truth or knowledge.

Haunting and with no definitive outcome or answers, the reader must infer what happens next. This sort of nebulous story never goes down easy for me, leaving me more confused with plenty of questions that will never ever be answered. Sigh.

[chantalsbookstuff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure what the point of this short story was?? I'll continue with the next one as its written by a different author, just hope the next instalment brings more to the table.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A young woman goes on search for her mother in a place far away called The Garden.

I found this story to be somewhat lyrical. At times I was interested and other times a bit confused. It was good nonetheless.

[earth to vivie' · Rating 2 out of 5]

"𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘓ę𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥
𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥."

the concept was stronger than its execution, while i enjoyed the rhythm, the ending didn’t make much sense to me, it felt like the story needed just a bit more length to fully develop, i didn’t have enough time to connect with the characters or the narrative, which left it feeling somewhat incomplete. 🤌🏽
alas i'll still read the rest of this collection, it's really fun to read!!

𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯
𝘸𝘢𝘴
𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯—
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘮
𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘵
𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭.

𝓹𝓻𝓮-𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭: I'll be reading the whole collection out of pure curiosity 👀

[Zoranne · Rating 2 out of 5]

what was the point of this????

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the Audible version of this book when finding it on the Kindle app home page. It appealed to me because it was so short. I’m a happy camper. lol

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

This book follows Leina, as she tries to find her mother, Yuliana, who disappeared while searching for a place called the Garden. Leina wants desperately to know the truth of what happened to her mother but how much is she willing to sacrifice?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I was so disappointed when I found out that there’s no update on whether Leina found her mother. I was so hoping that Leina would find her mother, as I know how much she was hoping for that.

I wish I had read this book myself instead of doing the audiobook version since I didn’t like the pacing the narrator used when going through the poetry. I do like the inclusion of the poetry but I don’t like the pacing the narrator used.

I feel like this book ended on a cliffhanger of sorts and it drives me nuts, even hours after I finished the audiobook. It still bothers me because I wanted more of a happy ending.

That’s the biggest reason I gave this book 3 stars instead of the 4 stars I wanted to give it. I feel like we didn’t receive the ending I feel we deserve but this is the only complaint I have, other than the pacing of the reading of the poetry verse.

Would I recommend this book? If you want a book with a foreboding feeling on the outskirts of your mind while reading this book, then yes. I am rather hesitant to recommend this book, though, which is sad.

[Fiona Knight · Rating 1 out of 5]

Part prose, part poetry, no part worked for me. I don't want to pile on it, because there's plenty of other reviews here that say it better than I possibly could - it was disjointed, overwrought, and ultimately unsatisfactory.

[Krysta ꕤ · Rating 1 out of 5]

this made no sense and the sections written in verse were actually terrible.. don’t piss me off, GOODBYE.

[Zana · Rating 1 out of 5]

"return to the Garden, my child.

remember all the things they asked you to forget."

Wish I could forget about this short story.

[Oscar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not good

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The prose are outstandingly beautiful, but the story itself lacks any substance. It's as though it tries to dazzle the reader with fancy words without backing it up with any plot. There's a garden, a journal and so much wasted potential. Disappointing, but this has certainly sparked an interest in more of Champion-Adeyemi's stories.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

The negative reviews are more entertaining than this short story was.

I didn't hate it, but it was pretty pointless.

1.5

[♥Milica♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what this was supposed to be?

[Alan (on December semi-hiatus) Teder · Rating 2 out of 5]

We've Got To Get Ourselves Back to the Garden
Review of the Amazon Original Kindle eBook (November 15, 2022), released simultaneously with the Audible Original audiobook.

As hinted in my title quote from the Joni Mitchell song "Woodstock", The Garden is a short story about a daughter following her mother's trail to a supposed mysterious garden in the heart of Brazil. It is a "dreamlike short story told in alternating prose and verse" that follows Lęina and her guide Angelo along the journey. The mother Yuliana had apparently abandoned the daughter in order to pursue this path. I missed understanding how the daughter knew the trail to follow, how did she get the mother's journal? Perhaps I just lost focus. It all ends very abruptly and requires an Unsatisfactory Ending Alert ™.

The Garden is one of seven Amazon Original Kindle eBooks/Audible Audio audiobooks released on November 15, 2022 as part of the Into Shadow Collection of short stories where "Some truths are carefully concealed; others merely forgotten. In this spellbinding collection, seven acclaimed fantasy authors create characters who venture into the depths where others fear to tread. But when forbidden knowledge is the ultimate power, how far can they go before the darkness consumes them?"

Trivia and Links
You can watch for current and past Amazon Original Kindle short stories which are usually paired with their Audible Original narrations at an Amazon page here (link goes to Amazon US, adjust for your own country or region).

I had to LOL, as this story's purported 'poetry' seemed to meet Alice Mair's test for prose as she explained in P.D. James' Devices and Desires, a recent re-read of mine:

"... it is poetry, not prose rearranged on the page.”
“With modern verse, can one tell the difference?”
“Oh yes,” she said. “If it can be read as prose, then it is prose. It’s an infallible test.” - Alice Mair explains her test for prose to her brother Alex.

[Sari · Rating 5 out of 5]

First time reading the author and I'm not going to stoooop.
I'm freking out about how good is her writing style and how she could made a metaphor works as a short story.
Totally recommend the audiobook💜

[h o l l i s · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is part verse, part story, about a woman's journey to follow her mother's footsteps to a mythical or legendary garden and I sadly didn't like the poetry elements (which just read like bad poetry as opposed to evoking any kind of feeling or visual) or the story.

I felt nothing for the character or the journey and was glad this was one of the shortest of the set. Also very glad I didn't actually start with this and know there is good to be found in this collection. Though I wonder if I've already experienced the best there is? Guess we'll see!

1.5 stars

---

This review can also be found at A Take From Two Cities.

[Sacha · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Garden by Tomi Adeyemi

⭐️⭐️ (2*)

This short story is part of the “Into Shadow” series, but unfortunately it really didn’t work for me. I’m not sure if I simply didn’t understand what was going on or if it was meant to be deliberately dreamlike and ambiguous, but I never connected with it. Even after reading the official description, I still felt confused and disconnected.

“In this dreamlike short story told in alternating prose and verse, Tomi Adeyemi weaves a tale of a young woman’s journey to find her mother and uncover her secrets. Fifteen years ago, Leina‘s mother, Yuliana, went searching for a mythical place called the Garden and never returned. Determined to learn the truth about what happened, Leina travels to Brazil to search for the hidden realm, with Yuliana’s journal and a local tour guide leading the way. But Leina soon begins to wonder if she’s looking for answers—or if what she truly wants to find is herself.”

Maybe it was meant to feel like a dream, a hallucinatory journey, or simply a poetic exploration of grief and discovery. Whatever the intention, it just didn’t resonate with me, and I was relieved when I reached the end. I have no doubt Tomi Adeyemi is a talented author, but this story wasn’t a good showcase of her abilities.

[Deidra (ShadeTreeReads) · Rating 2 out of 5]

umm not sure

Sometimes with these Amazon original series, it takes reading 2 or 3 of the stories to understand the theme. That said, I rated this on enjoyment and the writing style. I didn’t like it and the writing felt like it was doing too much. It’s no secret that I hated CoBaB so I went into this with the expectation bar on the ground. In that regard, I guess I got what I was looking for. Short storytelling isn’t for everybody and it’s hard to pull off.

[Dun's · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the first short story in the Amazon Collection's Into Shadow. If someone asked me to sum it up, I'd shrug and say, "It's part poetry, part narrative? The main character is a young woman looking for her mom? In Brazil? Some sort of garden is mentioned?"

No idea what this was about. I listened to the audiobook while folding laundry. At least I had a neat pile of clothes when the story ended.

[Dana Cristiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up.

This was a nice short journey of self-discovery.
The premise in my head is that, in the end, your road is still yours to take.
It's easier with someone close, but it's your journey, not theirs.

The discussions between the characters were interesting to think about.

Looking forward to the next one in this series. :)

[Elena Linville-Abdo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stars: 2 out of 5.

This is definitely not my kind of story. I am not into poetry and I like my stories with more "meat" then whimsy in them. This really failed to capture my attention, and the 43 pages seemed to last much longer than they should have.

This is the case of it's not you story, it's me. Also, I'm not sure why this story is listed in the horror category. There is nothing scary in it.

[adela · Rating 1 out of 5]

i wanted to like this so bad but it just felt bland.

[Ayeley 𐙚 ·˚ · Rating 1 out of 5]

⭑ ⭒ ⭒ ⭒ ⭒
0.25


This was

the absolute

fucking worst


novella
I have
ever
read

[Rachael]

Oddly repetitive, and uneventful.

Almost DNF, but I kept hoping something would happen… *spoiler* nothing really happens in this short story. 😂