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.

What a story. You keep rooting for the underdog to rise above her low self esteem and expectations, the ending is not as you hope or expect, but it's real. All her books are wonderful, although this is the least painful in terms of dealing with poverty. It is a real and unique story that draws you in and makes you look forward to her next work.

I stayed up past midnight to finish the book. Today I am somewhere between here and there. Lois- Ann, I know those trails and streets, the taste of smoke meat and river opae, and your characters. You wrote about what you and I know; such a strong sense of place. How strange to feel and see it again through your sharp squid eye.

"Heads by Harry" reminded me of why I left Hilo ten years ago, and then on the very next page, made me wish I had never left. Mrs. Yamanaka captures so perfectly how it feels to grow up in a small town where everyone knows your parents, knows all about your mistakes, but about your triumphs too. Reading it becomes a uncomfortably personal experience when it is your small town she happens to is dissecting. This book is as close as most tourists will ever get to the elusive "real" Hawaii promised by their vacation brochures. A Hawaii where brutal men hide their sensitivity under masks of contempt for anything different or "haole". Where the effects of a colonial plantation past cast shadows on the lives of the descendants of Asian migrant workers and where family is your rock, your curse, your tonic - all at the same time. Reading "Heads by Harry" was too familiar and intimate at times, like sitting in your Aunty's living room on a lazy Hilo afternoon, eating smoked meat while watching a steady stream of people wrapped up in their own personal dramas go in and out, beer in hand. The rough language, noble but comical characters, the smell of Bayfront after the evening rain, the yellow-orange haze that descends over Mamo Street and the KTA parking lot after dark, "Heads by Harry" captures Hilo's essence entirely.Mrs. Yamanaka writes passionately about finding one's place in the world. And while many of us wouldn't necessary choose Mamo Street with it's dusty, out-of-business shop fronts and yes, cross-dressing hookers, she teaches us that sometimes we do not have the luxury of making the choice for ourselves. Anyone with a rural, small town background who now finds themselves lost in the modern, urban rat race should read this book. Only be prepared for the painful rush of childhood memories about not fitting the mold when fitting in is not an option.

Yamanaka does for Hawaii's Big Island city Hilo what John Steinbeck did for California's Monterey and Cannery Row. A rich, funny, haunting, raw trip through the blood and guts of growing up female and and razor-sharp sensitive anywhere in general and Hawaii in particular.