The Queen of Tears by Christ McKinney (1999. Mutual. ISBN 9970400595)
These five “quickie” reviews involve books I read on my recent trip to Kaua’i and Oahu, Hawai’i. The first of the selections, The Queen of Tears, is a mass market paperback I picked up in the gift store at the Marriott where we stayed in Lihue, Kaua’i. The author, Chris McKinney, is an instructor in the English Department at Honolulu Community College. I selected the book because it had a local connection. I often pick up regional short fiction or novels on my travels so as to delve deeper into local history and culture.
Soong Nan Lee is an aging Korean American, having immigrated to Hawai’i after the Korean War and after establishing herself as an actress in Korean B-movies; historical dramas in which she frequently played the lead female, cast in those roles by her movie producer husband. As Soong Lee looks back on her life, we learn family secrets, the source of Soong Lee’s stubborn independence, and are provided glimpses of contemporary Hawai’i as seen by various members of Lee’s dysfunctional family. The novel weaves together the traditional and the modern, the oriental and the American, to form a well paced and intriguing read.
Though the end is a bit predictable, all in all, the story is well crafted.
I have another of McKinney’s books on my Kindle awaiting a bedtime read. I’ll let you know what I think about that novel once I finish it.
4 stars out of 5.
And the Mountains Echoed by Khalid Hosseini (2013. Riverhead Books. ISBN 9781594631764)
Another in Hosseini’s novels exploring an area of the world (Pakistan and Afghanistan) we Americans only know (from television) as an unforgiving morass of seething anti-Western rhetoric and hate, while not as surprising or as compelling as The Kite Runner, this is an engaging and lovingly told generational story set in rural Afghanistan, Kabul, Paris, and America.
The story of Pari, a motherless little girl, and her big brother, Abdullah, this tale alternates between first and third person narratives (a technique I’m using in my forthcoming novel, Sukulaiset: The Kindred). If you loved The Kite Runner and appreciated A Thousand Splendid Suns, you will heartily enjoy this read.
Not a masterpiece but a pretty darn good book!
4 1/2 stars out of 5.
A Kaua’i Reader Edited by Chris Cook (1995. Mutual ISBN 1566478324)
This is another local book I picked up while on vacation in Hawai’i. I bought A Kaua’i Reader from the Talk Story bookstore in Hanapepe on the western shores of Kaua’i. Intrigued with the thought of reading a collection of short stories, essays, legends, poems, and songs about the Garden Island to broaden my perspective, I must say that, in general, this volume was the least engaging of the books I devoured while on vacation The essays by Chris Cook (who also served as the editor of the collection) are well written and worth the effort. The journal passages lifted from the “discoverer” of the islands, English sea captain James Cook, were also informative. But I found some of the material from old travel articles and the translation of ancient stories and legends to be a bit boring, if not tedious, and, despite their alleged cultural connection to the island, not all that instructive.
My favorite piece in the book is Jack London’s fictional treatment of the rebel leper, Ko’olau, who held off government forces that came to Kaua’i to remove him to Moloka’i due to his leprosy. As painted by London’s prose, Ko’olau is a mythical freedom fighter, a legendary force in opposition to the government akin to Crazy Horse or Chief Joseph. A fine, fine story, leading me to buy a collection of London’s work written when the Californian visited the islands.
Overall, a bit disappointing but a gem here and there that make the total package worth the effort.
3 and 1/2 stars out of 5.
Stories of Hawai’i by Jack London (1986. Mutual. ISBN 0935180087)
Anyone who has read “To Build a Fire”, one of London’s classic Yukon stories will immediately recognize the genius in this collection. London crafts a sequence of short fiction that is breathtakingly sparse yet eloquent, finely tuned, and imaginative. And, unlike the more staid and direct essays and non-fiction contained in A Kaua’i Reader (bits of history that were written with an eye to educating the reader about the Garden Island) London teaches the reader in subtle and entertaining ways without being preachy or pretentious.
London wrote these stories after building a yacht, the Snark, and sailing the new boat on its maiden voyage from the author’s home in San Francisco to the islands in 1907. He returned to Hawai’i in 1915 and 1916 (as the Great War was raging in Europe) and collected more bits of local lore and legend from which to craft short fiction. Of the other tales in the collection, my favorite is London’s characterization of a Chinese Hawaiian’s personal relationship with his mother depicted deftly in “The Tears of Ah Kim.”
The book ends with two essays London wrote of his experiences, the best of which, “A Royal Sport”, describes the author’s attempts at surfing.
Well done and a perfect introduction to the islands.
4 and 1/2 stars out of 5.
Hotel Honolulu by Paul Theroux (2001. Mariner. ISBN 0618219153)
Sex. There’s a lot of it in this book. I like sex. I like reading about sex. I liked reading about sex in this book. I liked this book. Got your attention?
Theroux writes about Hawai’i as an outsider, in the persona of a down-and-out novelist who, because he can’t write anything that makes him money (sound familiar?) winds up managing a tourist hotel in Honolulu. Not one located on famed Waikiki but one located a street or two away from the frothing Pacific, in a seedier, less desirable part of the city. In many ways, this is an intimate portrait of a man, his wife, his struggles, and their love set against an unlikely, quirky backdrop of transient humanity that flows in and out of the hotel. All of the characters Theroux spends time with become folks we care about, people we want to get to know better. In some cases, we’re granted fuller, more in-depth interviews with these visitors; and in other cases, the tourists and locals taking brief turns on Theroux’s stage disappear without so much as a “farewell”.
As a fan of Mosquito Coast (one of this author’s best known works) I was expecting a bit more dark and a bit less levity in the author’s prose. But I found Theroux’s mix of social commentary, humor, psychological profiling, and yes, sex, to be a satisfying and complete read.
A master story teller at the top of his game.
5 stars out of 5.
Peace.
Mark
