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britlaccetti's review against another edition
4.0
Out of the three Yamanaka books I have read, Heads By Harry is definitely the most "mature". By mature, I mean the characters are more matured. I don't know if this is just because her main characters in Heads By Harry are older, but I didn't find myself cringing at every thing.
Heads By Harry focuses around a family whose line of business is taxidermy. That fact alone makes Heads By Harry unique. Whenever there is a problem it seems as if the main character, Toni, rips apart the skin of an animal to make herself feel better, which I thought was interesting. In the family the reader is introduced to three teenagers, Sheldon the girly mahu, Bunny the slut sister, and Toni the sidetracked tomboy slacker. Unlike Blu's Hanging and Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers, Heads By Harry has a supportive family structure. The parents always seem to be around, and not high or drunk or dead, and make pretty decent money. But, Yamanaka proves that even the most stable family has problems.
I particularly like the predicament that Toni gets herself into. It make me chuckle a few times, making me feel like a horrible person.
I give Heads By Harry 4 stars. It was actually really good. I enjoyed it. If you want to read a less shocking novel by Yamanaka I would choose Heads By Harry over the other two I already reviewed for sure.
Heads By Harry focuses around a family whose line of business is taxidermy. That fact alone makes Heads By Harry unique. Whenever there is a problem it seems as if the main character, Toni, rips apart the skin of an animal to make herself feel better, which I thought was interesting. In the family the reader is introduced to three teenagers, Sheldon the girly mahu, Bunny the slut sister, and Toni the sidetracked tomboy slacker. Unlike Blu's Hanging and Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers, Heads By Harry has a supportive family structure. The parents always seem to be around, and not high or drunk or dead, and make pretty decent money. But, Yamanaka proves that even the most stable family has problems.
I particularly like the predicament that Toni gets herself into. It make me chuckle a few times, making me feel like a horrible person.
I give Heads By Harry 4 stars. It was actually really good. I enjoyed it. If you want to read a less shocking novel by Yamanaka I would choose Heads By Harry over the other two I already reviewed for sure.
jenna0010's review against another edition
3.0
The threads of girls coming of age, class and racial politics in 20th century Hawaii, and animals domesticated, consumed, and preserved in various forms, continues in Heads by Harry. This one follows Toni as she navigates the population of wild pigs, her father's taxidermy business, and the stakes in her future as a girl nearing womanhood. Not for the feeble hearted, this one is gutsy.
mmf418's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This is the first book by this author I’ve read and I am eager to read more. I was immediately drawn into her writing style and found myself going back to read passages again because they were that good. I cried at the end because it was beautiful and I was sad that it was over.
taratearex's review against another edition
4.0
i read this book in high school and loved it, i have little recollection of the specific story other than its about a japanese american girl growing up in hawaii with her gay older brother and pretty younger sister. her dad owns a taxidermy shop and she wants to take over someday but her dad sees it as a mans job. i just remember really loving this book. i think i will have to read it again. oh and apparently its the 3rd book in a trilogy which i just found out when i looked up the book to put it on here, maybe ill find the other books.
nikkigee81's review against another edition
4.0
I remember reading Blu's Hanging a long time ago, and I still find that one better, but this was still very good. Yamanaka's prose is very evocative, and the characters are fully formed. Toni, the middle child, wants to work with her father, who owns a taxidermy shop, but he feels it is not woman's work. He wants her to finish college and make something of herself, but Toni finds herself drifting through life, trying to prove herself.
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