Reviews

Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara

vailynst's review against another edition

4.0

Notes:

Currently on Audible Plus

- Fantastic narration by Brian Nishii! Jumbled English & Japanese/Korean/etc have a distinct sound/cadence and he did a nice job of making that happen within the narration.

I went looking for a "mystery" and this one was of the results on Audible. This story is not a mystery. It's a cool mix of Japanese immigrant life in California and the terrible fallout of WWII & Hiroshima bombing. A bit of history mixed in with snippets of a Japanese American man, his family & friends. I really enjoyed the way Naomi Hirahara portrayed the perspective of Asian American life.

yangyvonne's review against another edition

1.0

Ma Arai was born in America, but lived in Japan during the war. When the bomb fell, events occurred that shaped the next 50 years. In 1999 Pasadena, he is a gardener whose wife is dead and daughter gone. He becomes involved in a dangerous situation that exposes a secret he helped to hide, imprisons the grandson of one of his old friend's sister and almost costs him everything. In the end, Mad helps to establish peace, but not before bachi (a kind of karma) has its way with many.

The story was there and was compelling at times, but the author's decision to use words like "knowsu" and "youzu" and "neva" was embarrassing. After 50 years, why would these men talk in broken sentences, especially when some of them had management or white collar jobs? Plus, why are the characters ALL flawed? Not one was redeeming, making me not invest in the outcome. She should have had resolution on the daughter too- otherwise why add her drama to the mix?

joyxrm1's review against another edition

3.0

There is a darkness to this book as the protagonist, the 70 year old Japanese-American gardner in So. California comes to terms with his past. But he bravely peels away the layers of his history revealing how it shaped his relationships and choices. There are so many sides to the story of the Japanese-American experience in WWII with Pearl Harbor, their internment in the US, those that served in the US military, those who had returned to Japan prior the war and then finally those that were there at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Once again we understand that war is not simple and integrity is often times dependent on happenstance.

chonkeyhong's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

alee's review against another edition

3.0

I liked this book - Maybe it's because I like mysteries and grew up in Southern CA, or maybe it's because I like fiction that really captures a place and people, or maybe it's because I find the idea of karma interesting... who knows. I had not read the reviews before reading this book but did hear about the author on NPR (plug for public radio here). I'm glad I tried this book. Quite an interesting read.

rincey's review

3.0

See me talk about it briefly in my May wrap up: https://youtu.be/ymb11Zcb248?t=9m50s

lizruest's review

3.0

In some ways this was a light mystery. In other ways (seeing Hiroshima through a survivor's eyes), certainly not! Either way, worth reading.

akagingerk's review

2.0

I completely failed to connect with the main character, Mas Arai.

And that's really too bad, because this novel is more character-study than whodunit. His story is interesting. As a boy, he lived in Hiroshima -- during the second World War. Now an old man, he's a gardener in California. And people are poking around in a past he'd rather forget.

He should be an interesting character.

And yet. I don't know. Maybe it was partly the phonetic Japanese dialect. (Thatsu for that's, heezu for he's.) But I suspect the real reason I felt distanced from Mas is that early on, readers are made privy to how Mas ruined his family life, how much he cost them through... selfishness? Addiction? Machismo? Don't know, don't care. Nothing else I learned about him resulted in more than superficial, transient feelings of sympathy.

jameseckman's review

3.0

An interesting book, I would not really call it a mystery but more of a roman noir, though in later books it maybe that the Mas Arai takes on a real investigators role. An ugly tale of dark secrets from the past and present day disappointments, its not a happy read. The generation gap problems are so true, reminds of some of my friends. The author certainly captures an LA feel, I could picture in my mind many of the locations. A decent read, but I'll probably hold off reading more in the series until much later.