This novel of a Japanese-American family is “a tender tale of secrecy and obligation, introducing us to a Hawaii the tourists never see” (Glamour).
When Spencer Fujii’s grandparents arrived in Hawaii at the turn of the twentieth century, they brought Japanese customs with them. Five decades later, those traditional expectations still shape the lives of the Fujii family.
Spencer, the son of first generation sugarcane plantation workers, is the middle child. This “small gem” of a novel, an ALA Notable Book of the Year, follows his childhood days with his much-loved big brother and the tragedy that separated them; the traditions of responsibility, acceptance, and sacrifice that Spencer struggles with into adulthood; and his moving, final communion with his mother (Kirkus Reviews). With “wonderfully vivid emotional details . . . Iida allows us to know these people, and the land they come from” (Newsday).
“Deborah Iida’s fine writing and her wonderful ear opened the window on the world of Japanese-Americans in Hawaii, a world that captivated this reader.” —Abraham Verghese
“The scenes between Spencer and his mother . . . provide rich demonstrations that Ms. Iida has mastered the difficult art of capturing the rhythms of hesitation and circumlocution, the ways in which characters talk about everything but the only thing on their mind.” —The New York Times Book Review
