I read a lot...and when I read Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers, I was opened to a whole new kind of fiction. never before have I read any fiction on my life time where I actually understood the actions of many of the characters. The dress, the traits, the dialogue...everything...were things I actually could relate to. Perhaps it's because I'm from a Pacific Island...but it wasn't just the dialogue...it was also how the story was written. Rather than go by the basic past to present type of fiction...it was like I was reading parts of the speaker's diary. It was almost as if she was jotting down stuff as if they came to her mind just then.Very few writers have the ability to make the reader empathize with the characters. Lois-Ann Yamanaka did a wonderful job of making me more aware of my culture

Hurray for Lois-Ann Yamanaka! She is one our greatest talents--her voice powerful, poetic, particular, so funny, and very much her own. Her characters are riotous, uncontrollable, they LIVE. Lovey in particular is terriffic. Her fantasies and motives, loyalties and pains are like no one else's I'd ever known or read of, but they are the stuff of our greatest literature. She is one of the most vital female characters in recent literature, we need more like her! The pre-teen Madame Bovary of Hawai'i, the Moll Flanders of Hilo, as insouciant as Lolita, but with a voice as knowing as Humbert Humbert's, Lovey SPEAKS--she speaks her mind, and speaks UP, she sasses with the best of them, she speaks her dreams and wishes, and yet we see that even she is silenced sometimes.

This book stayed with me a long time after I read it. Its rewards are many, but it is worth re-reading it for the rambunctious, poignant poetry of its language and dialogue alone.

On all of our behalves, I wish Ms. Yamanaka a long and thriving writing career.

I was so amazed by this book when I first read it 3 years ago I have re-read and re-read it since. It vibrates with texture, reality, and wit, and has the power to bring tears to my eyes, as well as make me laugh out loud. I recommend this book to anyone who's sick of false and gooey accounts of culture, stiff characters, and weak language. Get ready for Lovey Nariyoshi, a girl who is definitely for real.

dis book shows wut people in hawaii go tru and how dey talk. reading this book is like reading my life. i bet choke people in hawaii can realate to dis book. i don't find this book offensive...its just how people live. the cussing and the pidgin talk doesn't boddah me at all....i hear that kine words everyday! k-denz

dis book really wen express what da many generations in hawai'i go tru... it also wen show how da yonga generation talk to each oda and what their families had fo go tru... if you really like know what hawai'i is, rather than believe dat we stil stay living in grass huts, and wear coconut bras, read any book that Louis-Ann Yamanaka or any other hawaii writer wrote for the true flavor of our islands.

Like the author, I grew up Japanese-American in 1970s Hawaii, largely in the world that Yamanaka portrays in her stunning literary debut, "Saturday Night at the Pahala Theatre." When I first read this book, I felt shocked, offended, scandalized, and totally unprepared to deal with a book that mirrored so closely the world that I knew. That's because I, like everyone else I grew up with, never saw ourselves in literature before. Quite simply, "Pahala Theatre" was the very first of its kind, and powerfully raw, emotional, and effective at that. It pulls no punches, and perhaps captures more pain than pleasure, but believe me, the pain she captures is "authentic" (I know, I know, "authentic" is a questionable descriptive term to use when judging fiction). Still, like none before it, this book provides a cathartic experience for those of us who, up until now, have never seen ourselves expressed as literary characters. (And no, Michener certainly doesn't do it-- not the interiority that we feel is our own, anyway. How could he?). Yamanaka's book focuses on adolescence in a particular time and place, and growing up Japanese-American in post WWII Hawaii meant that one was part of the population majority, and also not necessarily marginalized politically or economically. But you were still an outsider beyond Hawaii's shores, and mainstream American culture, transmitted via the media, made you aware of this daily. So there was a uniquely paradoxical "majority-but-minority" identity dynamic going on, which you should keep in mind while reading the book. Yamanaka's celebrated use of "pidgin," Hawaii's creole dialect, holds a mirror up to nature, as 'twere. You won't find it more "authentic" than in "Pahala Theatre"-- she does a spectularly natural job of it-- and it's gratifying that professional literary reviewers from the mainland have hailed her use of it as an "exciting new poetic language" (I always thought that pidgin has its profoundly expressive moments--even if many of these reviewers benignly misunderstand much of it). Take it or leave it, but know this: Yamanaka's is a literary world that is more deeply and exquisitely rendered than the "hula-girl-grass-skirt-aloha-shirt," commodified vision of Hawaii used for a century to lure tourists to the islands. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, mind you, but still, Yamanaka deftly captures the subtle sights, sounds, smells, thoughts, and feelings of growing up "Local" in Hawaii in the '70s. If you want an unparallelled literary expression of that particular culture-- small, totally unique, fragile, painful, and beautiful as it is --then buy this book!

Although I thought the style of Wild Meat... was a bit too cute, given its sometimes tough subject matter, I think Yamanaka's current book, Blu's Hanging, is much more controlled. Though she again uses a child's point of view, she expands her visions of life and death, Heaven and Hell, and love and sex, showing a variety of types of each and giving her book a strength and universality which I missed in Wild Meat....It is more a novel in structure, less a series of episodes in the life of the main character. The beginning of the book has some scenes which I wish had been more subtle, but she develops these unpalatable episodes and creates parallels to them throughout the book, giving a depth and symbolism which enhance her messages. In short, Blu's Hanging is a book to read because it is a good book which goes beyond its very specific setting of a poor family with children growing up on Molokai. Yamanaka is speaking with a bigger voice

Although I thought the style of Wild Meat... was a bit too cute, given its sometimes tough subject matter, I think Yamanaka's current book, Blu's Hanging, is much more controlled. Though she again uses a child's point of view, she expands her visions of life and death, Heaven and Hell, and love and sex, showing a variety of types of each and giving her book a strength and universality which I missed in Wild Meat....It is more a novel in structure, less a series of episodes in the life of the main character. The beginning of the book has some scenes which I wish had been more subtle, but she develops these unpalatable episodes and creates parallels to them throughout the book, giving a depth and symbolism which enhance her messages. In short, Blu's Hanging is a book to read because it is a good book which goes beyond its very specific setting of a poor family with children growing up on Molokai. Yamanaka is speaking with a bigger voice

I read an article recently about this new Hawaiian writer, Lois-Ann Yamanaka in "Poets and Writers Magazine". Blu's Hanging is her third novel and I understand she has two more coming out within the next year. She has a fresh, unique voice -- the voice of Hawaii beyond the tourist hype. All the dialog is in Pidgin, in spite of the fact that this holds much disfavor and is thought of as low-class and crude. But this is about a poor family of Japanese Americans in Molokai, who live at the lowest rung of the society. The language makes the book ring with authenticity and immediately transported me into Yamanaka's world.

The story is about the three Ogata children, reeling from the death of their mother. Their father is a janitor and the family is poor, eating bread with mayonnaise as a staple and being ashamed of the lunches they bring to school. Ivah, the oldest, at 13 years old is the narrator, and tries to keep the family together. There's Blu, her 8-year old brother, who stuffs himself with food and is victimized by perverted relationships. And Maizie, who at 5 years old, has stopped speaking and suffers in school when a cruel teacher ridicules her for wetting her pants.

I feel for these children and their struggles. I admire their courage. And I want to hold them in my arms and embrace them. The world they inhabit is brutal. I feel a wave of nausea as they have to deal to the cruelty to animals around them. They keep going though. And truly love each other. That comes across loud and clear as they deal over and over again with viciousness around them.

The title of the book refers to a time when Blu was so depressed he tries to hang himself, but his weight breaks the rope. In spite of being forced to care for misused and abused animals, his humanity shows through in the kindness he can show them. When his older sister gets her period and is ashamed to buy sanitary napkins, he buys her some as a Christmas present. He writes notes to his silent little sister and does everything he can to maker her world bright.

Family secrets are revealed during the course of the book. And each character is so well drawn that I feel I know that person. The family are Buddhists, a world I am just starting to understand. This makes it logical that they are in contact with their dead mother's spirit. And I understand how upset Blu is when, after singing in a Christian play, he realizes that to become Christian means that he would have to believe that his Buddhist mother is burning in Hell.

It took me just a few hours to read all 261 pages of this book. There was no way I could put it down once I started. It is both sad and inspiring. And many of the scenes are shocking in their brutality. But its true and real and the story needs to be told. Highly recommended.

Ashton ...
1/6/02
Period 6

I recently read a book titled Name me Nobody. Emi-Lou Kaya feels as if she's a nobody. Her mother abandoned her at the age of 3, and she doesn't have a clue as to who her father is or might be. The popular Japanese girls at school call Emi-Lou: Emi-fat, and Emi-oink. Because Emi-Lou is overweight she is very self-conscious. She doesn't consider herself smart enough to be a nerd, but not quite unpopular enough to be a zero (she falls somewhere in between). The only people she can count on are her grandmother and her best friend, Von. Emi-Lou starts to worry about losing Von, when Von starts spending too much time with Babes, a girl from their Hawaiian Softball team. People at school start to call von a 'Butchie' (lesbian) and when Emi-Lou hears the rumor she becomes desperate to get Von back as her best friend.
I loved this book. Although it started off really slow in the beginning, from middle to end it was great. I liked it because this novel explores sexuality, racism, and the troubled times one might go through in establishing their own identity. I also loved the fact that Von always carried a place in her heart for Emi-Lou. She went so far as to shoplift diet pills to help Emi-Lou lose weight and feel better about herself.
My favorite part of this book was the ending. This was when Von discovers her true self, no matter how heart breaking it was to her family and close friends (especially her father). Eventually Emi-Lou gets over the situation and removes the wall she has built between Von and herself. Von never meant to hurt their friendship. Everyone learns to accept Von for the way she is. I recommend this book to kids who enjoy reading books with lots of drama! (Preferably for children 12 and over.)

Ashton Hinds
1/6/02
Period 6

I recently read a book titled Name me Nobody. Emi-Lou Kaya feels as if she's a nobody. Her mother abandoned her at the age of 3, and she doesn't have a clue as to who her father is or might be. The popular Japanese girls at school call Emi-Lou: Emi-fat, and Emi-oink. Because Emi-Lou is overweight she is very self-conscious. She doesn't consider herself smart enough to be a nerd, but not quite unpopular enough to be a zero (she falls somewhere in between). The only people she can count on are her grandmother and her best friend, Von. Emi-Lou starts to worry about losing Von, when Von starts spending too much time with Babes, a girl from their Hawaiian Softball team. People at school start to call von a "Butchie" (lesbian) and when Emi-Lou hears the rumor she becomes desperate to get Von back as her best friend.
I loved this book. Although it started off really slow in the beginning, from middle to end it was great. I liked it because this novel explores sexuality, racism, and the troubled times one might go through in establishing their own identity. I also loved the fact that Von always carried a place in her heart for Emi-Lou. She went so far as to shoplift diet pills to help Emi-Lou lose weight and feel better about herself.
My favorite part of this book was the ending. This was when Von discovers her true self, no matter how heart breaking it was to her family and close friends (especially her father). Eventually Emi-Lou gets over the situation and removes the wall she has built between Von and herself. Von never meant to hurt their friendship. Everyone learns to accept Von for the way she is. I recommend this book to kids who enjoy reading books with lots of drama! (Preferably for children 12 and over.)

Name Me Nobody, was the GREATEST book, I have ever read! I have read it 8 times and I am still reading it!!! Sterling of course, is my FAVE, and Von is almost like me...in a way...all the characters in the book reflect off me in a certain way. I'm sure lots of poeple have gone through things like Emi-Lou has! NAME ME NOBODY IS VERY GOOD! I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK TO EVERYONE!

-Kat

This book is chock-full of all the delightful, screwball, tough, and intense elements of Yamanaka's previous novels. As usual, it takes place in Hawaii, and the family is one of high dysfunction and much love, though strangely and disturbingly expressed. Be ready to confront your own demons as you delve into the backroom of "Heads By Harry".

I loved this book possibly even more than the rest Yamanaka has written. Her voice speaks as clearly through the female narrator as it does through her "in the closet" brother, brutish suitor, and old fashioned family. Yamanaka does a masterful job at showing both the full picture of the underclass in Hawaii, as now the middle class thanks to this story. This book takes you into not just Hawaii, but into all family relations, all over the world. There is no author to date I have found able to make each character as vivacious. I just cant wait for her next book to come out. This author has gotten me started looking for similar novels, though I have not yet found any to compare to the candor and heartfelt emotion in her own works. If you are looking for a story of family trials and tribulations, love and loss, and the beauty of the Islands, look no further.

I have enjoyed reading all of Lois Yamanaka's books. However, "Heads By Harry" is by far the most entertaining and most descriptive of life growing up local in the islands. Her characters have a natural rawness. They are frequently distasteful and crude, but Yamanaka portraits them in a style that you eventually love them all. It was hard to put this book down. I wanted the Pau hana hours to continue forever.

This was a disappointing book from the word GO, not just from the hackneyed lines delivered by the characters but the plot in general. I believe the publisher pushed this through hoping to make quick money off the writer's popularity.

It is almost impossible to believe that an author with the talents of Lois-Ann Yamanaka could write a novel as awful as "Father of the Four Passages." Ms. Yamanaka's three previous novels treat the traumas impoverished, alienated ethnic Hawaiians encounter as they come of age in what mainlanders would consider paradise. "Four Passages" presumably tackles these themes and tacks on how a dissipated, unconfident woman handles single motherhood in the shadow of suffocating guilt resulting from three previous abortions. Instead, this dreary, choppy story drowns in a disaffecting stew of alcohol, profanity and confusion.

If that weren't bad enough, Ms. Yamanaka has abandoned those qualities which make her previous books luminescent. Instead of using the patois of the island's lumpenproletariat, she forces her characters to mouth lines a television soap-opera writer would be embarrassed to use. Yamanaka's earlier works feature characters whose pain, isolation and dislocation compel both empathy and identification; the people who populate "Four Passages" are, ugly, mean and brutish. Her protagnoist, Sonia Kurisu, is a pathetic loser, completely without redeeming qualities. Her most salinet attribute is her seemingly endless capacity for self-pity. Yamanaka has failed so miserably in humanizing Sonia, that the protagnoist's ruined childhood -- replete with abandonment, religious hypocrisy and sexual insecurities -- engenders boredom rather than compassion. The supporting cast is even worse; stereotypical relatives and other low-life losers are simply unbelievable.

This lack of reality and basic believability crushes whatever art "Four Passages" may pretend to have. Even Yamanaka's style mocks her ability. For reasons beyond my ability to understand, Ms. Yamanaka frequently capitalizes words in the middle of the sentences. (Is this because what we are reading is some kind of experimental prose/poetry?) Her narrative dissipates its energy between unimpressive transitions from present to past. An absent father's poetic, third-person letters to Sonia, serve as constant reminders as to the unreality of the novel's entire premise.

Sadly, "Father of the Four Passages" reminds us that even our most creative and bold young authors miss their mark. This brutally vulgar novel fails. It fails to provide insight into the shattered hopes of a frightened, bewildered single parent. It fails to create characters with any dimension. It fails to enlighten, inform and instruct. However, its single greatest failure is its author's abandonment of those talents which rightfully propelled Lois-Ann Yamanaka to national attention.

I've never experienced such a work in my entire life. The use of fervent Christianity, symbolism, paranormal experiences, and emotional instability result resonate through my emotions. The surreal images were heartbreakingly beautiful when combined with the grittiness of seedy strip bars and junkies smacking up in filthy apartments. The experiences are intensified with the parallel surroundings of oceans versus Las Vegas. At first, I sat there reading it, racked by the explicit violence, hatred, and sadness, but soon I became numbed to the beauty of Hawaii and the heartache of Sonia Kurisu. I've never read another work by Yamanaka, but after reading this book, I believe I'll go look around for more. Definately try this book.