(reviewed by JD Jung)
“…truth is a bitter enemy of those who profit from lies.”
Jose Gonzales is a fifty-seven-year-old widower and gardener who lives in Bakersfield, a large city in the California central valley. He loves books, his flowers and to be at one with nature. He is somewhat of a loner but still lonely, as his adult children and grandchildren live far away.
Upon hearing that his father was shot, Jose traveled to his hometown of San Pasqual, Mexico to be with him. At his bedside, his father cryptically told him, “They wanted to kill the truth, but the truth cannot be killed.”
He told Jose that an old optometrist had given him the “Eyeglasses of Truth”. This enabled the wearer to see “the ultimate truth— everything the way it is, without illusions.” That was too much for the optometrist as he felt it was easier not to know the truth, and better to make one’s own reality.
Jose found that his father kept a journal, and through it he learns more about his father and himself from a new perspective.
The Gardener, at under ninety pages, radiates love and compassion, as it exposes everyday battles between good and evil. With a certain amount of suspense, this allegory will exude different meanings depending on the reader.
A nice, quick, feel-good read.
