How the Hula Girl Sings

HTHGS is a lyrical, poetic chronicle of a recently paroled felon's return to small town America. Mr. Meno writes with a dark, terse voice which captures the reader's attention. This trip inside a off-kilter, violent and sometimes insane world left me wanting more. A pure and thoughtful exploration of guilt and love in a world with little room for either.

This book is the type that I find few and far between. Without so much as blinking i was already through the first hundred pages. Since i have a very short attention span, you can see why this is a big deal. This book made me not want to sleep, eat, or do anything to deter me from its pages. When it was over I was left sated but wishing there were a thousand more pages to come. Luce Lemay's auspicious heart, dealt a hard luck hand, kept me filled with hope, wonder and awe. Even after a month since I finished it, I still can't help but wonder what old Luce is doing now.

This book was quite a surprise to me.In college I became deeply infatuated with acertain style of writing—that of such Southernwriters as William Faulkner, FlanneryO'Conner and especially Carson McCullers. Joe Meno carries on this great Southern gothictradition in his new book How the Hula GirlSings.Meno creates a claustrophobicsmall town seething with sicknessand hate. He fills it with characters such asan abusive father whose feet were eaten bygangrene, a woman who kills small animalsand nails them to her walls in hand-crochetedsweaters so that she can mourn them, and aback stabbing ex-con who fashioned his faketeeth out of gravel.While this book is not a traditionalmystery I believe that it is well worth the read.The story moves along at a good pace and isextremely engaging. (The Librarian, 5 cats)

What can I say? This is just an excellent read. Meno combines the quick, tight story movement of a pulp novel with a poet's view of the world. The language is simple but moving. Combine all that with some solid, fascinating, very human characters, finish it up with a powerhouse ending and you know what you got? One hell of a book.