Scan barcode
A review by tshrope
Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara
3.0
First off I wouldn't categorize this as a Mystery as the publisher has done. Most of the mystery is about the reader finding out what the main character, Mas Arai, already knows.
What this book is really about is Mas, a 69 year-old Japanese-American who lived through the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, moved back to his birthplace, California, after the war and settled down into a "typical" American life in the suburbs of LA. But Bachi (sort of the Japanese version of Karma) seems to find him and he must come to terms with Hiroshima and the role he played in his friend's death.
Hirahara certainly knows the Japanese-American community in Southern California. This knowledge gives the book credibility and an insider's feel to it. She takes the reader to a predominantly Japanese cemetery, Little Tokyo, a Ramen House, even a Japanese Gentleman's Club. Her use of Japanese, and heavily accented English also lends authenticity to the story.
I agree with the blub on the back of the book by Denise Hamilton, "A novel about social change wrapped inside a mystery..." Hirahara does a nice job of doing just that, and most readers will finish this book knowing a lot more about the effects of the bombing on Hiroshima on the Japanese who lived through it and about subsequent generations of Japanese-Americans.
What this book is really about is Mas, a 69 year-old Japanese-American who lived through the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, moved back to his birthplace, California, after the war and settled down into a "typical" American life in the suburbs of LA. But Bachi (sort of the Japanese version of Karma) seems to find him and he must come to terms with Hiroshima and the role he played in his friend's death.
Hirahara certainly knows the Japanese-American community in Southern California. This knowledge gives the book credibility and an insider's feel to it. She takes the reader to a predominantly Japanese cemetery, Little Tokyo, a Ramen House, even a Japanese Gentleman's Club. Her use of Japanese, and heavily accented English also lends authenticity to the story.
I agree with the blub on the back of the book by Denise Hamilton, "A novel about social change wrapped inside a mystery..." Hirahara does a nice job of doing just that, and most readers will finish this book knowing a lot more about the effects of the bombing on Hiroshima on the Japanese who lived through it and about subsequent generations of Japanese-Americans.