Customer Reviews

Mililani Mauka

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I've read author Chris McKinney's book The Tattoo, and was impressed by the grittiness and rawness of the story and the characters. But I remember wondering whether readers outside of Hawaii would understand the nuances of the place and the actions. I don't remember having this same thought when, for example, I'm reading about the recent immigrant in SoHo, or even a lobsterman in Maine.

Mililani Mauka is similar to The Tattoo in regional detail. If you've driven around the town, or gone out to the west side, you'll recognize the places and the details. McKinney writes with such detail that you will pick up on sights and smells!

In Mililani Mauka, the life of a middle class community college instructor slowly becomes intertwined with a homeless woman and her son. The instructor finds he is living in the homeless woman's old house, sold after her husband had gone on a rampage in an armored bulldozer, attacking the downtown and WalMart until he was shot and killed by police. Needless to say, the residual trauma of the event has not dissipated.

McKinney writes well. Mililani Mauka is a good addition to the modern Hawaiiana literature.

This book is written well, but not fantastically. The story is a good one, though a tad ironic and unrealistic at times. The ending comes abruptly and seems to be tied into too-pretty of a bow.