Gasa-Gasa Girl [Mass Market Paperback]

Naomi Hirahara (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 20, 2008

From the time she was a child, Mas Arai’s daughter, Mari, was completely gasa-gasa–never sitting still, always on the go, getting into everything. And Mas, busy tending lawns, gambling, and struggling to put his Hiroshima past behind him, never had much time for the family he was trying to support. For years now, his resentful daughter has lived a continent away in New York City, and had a life he knew little about. But an anxious phone call from Mari asking for his help plunges the usually obstinate Mas into a series of startling situations from maneuvering in an unfamiliar city to making nice with his tall, blond son-in-law, Lloyd, to taking care of a sickly child…to finding a dead body in the rubble of a former koi pond.

The victim was Kazzy Ouchi, a half-Japanese millionaire who also happened to be Mari and Lloyd’s boss. Stumbling onto the scene, Mas sees more amiss than the detectives do, but his instinct is to keep his mouth shut. Only when the case threatens his daughter and her family does Mas take action: patiently, stubbornly tugging at the end of a tangled, dangerous mystery. And as he does, he begins to lay bare a tragic secret on the dark side of an American dream.…

Both a riveting mystery and a powerful story of passionate relationships across a cultural divide, Gasa-Gasa Girl is a tale told with heart and wisdom: an unforgettable portrait of fathers, daughters, and other strangers.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If not as flawless as Nirahara's debut, Summer of the Big Bachi (2004), the second outing for Japanese-American Mas Harai—Hiroshima survivor, Californian, gardener and sleuth—offers many of the same felicities. Mas's estranged daughter, Mari, whom he has described since babyhood as gasa-gasa (constantly moving), invites him to New York City, where everyone seems to be gasa-gasa. Son-in-law Lloyd, also a gardener, has requested Mas's help in restoring a traditional Japanese garden attached to a mansion in Brooklyn's Park Slope. The father of the owner, tycoon Kazzy Ouchi, was the original owner's gardener, and Ouchi's daughter now oversees the development of the mansion into a museum about the Japanese in New York. Vandalism, theft and neighborhood opposition already threaten the project, but it hits a really big snag when Mas discovers Ouchi's corpse in the dry koi pond. Mas and old friend Tug Yamada begin an investigation that leads to a much sought after Japanese diary recording the sordid history of the mansion's early tenants. The endearing, quietly dignified Mas, supported by a cast of spirited New Yorkers, as well as the distinctive Japanese-flavored prose, make this a memorable read. Agent, Sonia Pabley. (Mar. 29)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Hiroshima survivor Mas Arai is a man of few words: luckily, readers are privy to his thoughts. This follow-up to her highly praised debut, Summer of the Big Bachi (2003), finds Mas leaving his Southern California home-and-gardening business to visit his daughter, Mari, in New York. Despite being married and recently having a baby, Mari, the titular "Gasa-Gasa Girl," is still as restless as her Japanese childhood nickname implies. (For his part, Mas finds all New Yorkers entirely too "gasa-gasa.") Mari and her husband, Lloyd, are going through tough times, both with their baby's health and with Lloyd's job, designing a garden for a half-Japanese multimillionaire. First, the garden is targeted by vandals, and then Lloyd's boss, Kazuhiko "Kazzy" Ouchi, is found murdered in the pond. With Lloyd the obvious suspect, Mas must track down a mysterious gardenia to help clear his son-in-law's name. Although Hirahara generates a satisfying level of suspense, what makes this series unique is its flawed and honorable protagonist. Seeing New York City through Mas' eyes, hearing his amusingly accented English, and struggling with him as he tries to avoid an emotional confrontation with his daughter give readers a fascinating insight into a complex and admirable man. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Dell (May 20, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440241553
• ISBN-13: 978-0440241553
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #732,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent writing about an under-explored section of American culture, July 30, 2005

By 

Michael K. Smith (South Louisiana) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Gasa-Gasa Girl (Paperback)

Old Masao Arai, American-born L.A. gardener and survivor of Hiroshima, is a character who grows on you. In this second book in what looks to become a series, Mas has been called across the country to Brooklyn by his daughter, who has married an Anglo named Lloyd -- who, Mas discovers, is also a gardener and a student of the Japanese style. "Gasa-gasa" means "always on the move" and that certainly describes Mari Arai Jensen. When the benefactor of the foundation that owns the garden where Lloyd works is mudered, everyone involved is pointing fingers in different directions, except that several of them end up pointing at Mari. Mas, well aware of having never been the best of fathers, takes upon himself the job of solving the killing to protect his extended family. He's aided by Tug Yamada, Nisei war hero and all-around straight-arrow, who's also visiting in New York, and by his network of cronies back on the coast. Things get dicey more than once, but Mas is a stubborn o ld coot and he keeps at it. The author has a gift for empathetic characterization and dialogue, and for efficient description in a scene. Her prose is direct and unpretentious, and I look forward to more stories about these guys.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gasa-Gasa Girl, September 2, 2010

By 

Buck60 (Gardena, CA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Gasa-Gasa Girl (Mass Market Paperback)

No Spoilers. Gasa-Gasa Girls a faster paced novel then the first book. The mystery is as good as good as the first book the characters are really good and the the is solid.
You should read the first Mas book or you may be a little lost.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars When does this get interesting?, June 9, 2010

By 

Dena M. Martin "Dena" (Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gasa-Gasa Girl (Mass Market Paperback)

This is my first time reading Hirahara - and probably my last.

I really can't add to the plot summaries already on the page, so straight to my review.

As evidenced by the three stars I gave the book, it's not a poorly written book. I imagine that some folks would and do like it and I've heard good things about the author before.

I had two main problems with the book: the plot and the main character.

Honestly, the plot was overly simple and, well, boring. A murder mystery should have suspense, or at leat (for some) humor. This had neither. I really didn't care who was murdered or why. There was no impetus to turn the page.

The main character, Masa, was really rather unlikeable. There was very little that was engaging or even sympathetic. He just seemed a dull, bitter, and slighly racist old man. That would be an okay start if there was some sort of character development - something that brought depth to his character, but the fact is that Masa and many of the other characters in the book were very one-note.

Unfortunately, this was a dull read and I really don't see myself reading the author again.