Summer of the Big Bachi (Mas Arai) [Kindle Edition]

Naomi Hirahara (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In chapter one of Hirahara's seamless and shyly powerful first novel, a Japanese PI unsettles prickly, stubborn Mas Arai, Hiroshima survivor, widower and estranged father, and the other elderly Japanese-American gardeners who hang out at Wishbone Tanaka's Lawnmower Shack in the seedy L.A. suburb of Altadena. The PI's disturbing questions concern a nurseryman called Joji Haneda, reported dead in the atomic blast that leveled Hiroshima in August 1945, but who was actually still alive in California in June 1999. A month later, Haneda is brutally murdered. Mas must revisit his past and open old, still festering wounds in order to solve the crime, while the specter of bachi, akin to instant bad karma, hovers over him like the black clouds of his recurring nightmares. In his cherished 1956 Ford truck, unlikely sleuth Mas pursues a trail that leads him to an all-night noodle shop, an illegal gambling loft and a chow-mien bowling-alley/cafe. After his truck and dignity are stolen, Mas enlists the help of two lovingly rendered, all-too-human friends: Haruo Mukai, whose long white hair hides a false eye and shocking keloid scar, and Tug Yamada, a gentle, honorable giant willing to put his own life on the line for others. Peppered with pungent cultural details, crisp prose and credible, fresh descriptions of the effects of the A-bomb, this perfectly balanced gem deserves a wide readership.
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Review

"[A] seamless and shyly powerful first novel..... Peppered with pungent cultural details, crisp prose and credible, fresh descriptions of the effects of the A-bomb, this perfectly balanced gem deserves a wide readership."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Naomi Hirahara's story of forgotten men who share an unforgettable past sweeps the reader into a world most of us know little about. Luckily, our guide is Mas Arai, a complete original, and Hirahara's sure and generous voice brings him vividly to life.”—S.J. Rozan, Edgar award winning of Winter and Night

“Naomi Hirahara is a bright new voice on the mystery scene. Summer of the Big Bachi presents an intriguing puzzle written with a true insider’s eye for Japanese American life”—Dale Furutani, Anthony award winning author of Death in Little Tokyo

“A novel about social change wrapped inside a mystery, Summer of the Big Bachi toggles deftly between past and present and reveals the hopes and compromises that lurk on the fringes of the American Dream.”
—Denise Hamilton, Edgar award nominated author of Last Lullaby


From the Trade Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 347 KB
• Publisher: Delta (March 30, 2004)
• Sold by: Random House Digital, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FC1BOC
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,476 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing and unpredictable novel, beautifully written, July 25, 2005

By 

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

This review is from: Summer of the Big Bachi (Paperback)

Masao Arai is an aging Japanese gardener in Los Angeles who's just barely making it. He's also one of the several hundred American-born Japanese who was in Hiroshima in August 1945, an experience from which he will never, ever escape. He's not an important man by anyone's standards, he's not even very involved in anyone else's affairs (now that his wife is dead of cancer and his semi-estranged daughter has gone off to New York to be a film maker), but he has a few friends and many acquaintances among the other Japanese and Nisei in LA. One of them is a man known as Joji Haneda, whom he knew in Hiroshima, whom Mas has avoided seeing again for a couple of decades, because Joji is not what he appears. Now a young Japanese reporter, the grandson of a woman Mas also used to know, has turned up asking probing questions. And a local woman dies, with the grandson being blamed. And other Japanese are poking around, making trouble for Mas and his friends, and all the things Mas wants not to remember are coming back to haunt him -- especially about what happened to Joji Haneda. This book is marketed as a "mystery," but Mas isn't a detective. He doesn't even think of what he's doing as solving a crime; he just has to make amends. ("Bachi" is the avenging spirit of retribution; "what goes around comes around.") This is one of those involving, absorbing stories that stays with you for weeks after you finish the book and put it back on the shelf. The characters are very fully realized, the Japanese under-community is brought completely to life, and the most ordinary, unheroic people show the depths of themselves. An amazing book.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars window on Japanese American LA, May 18, 2004

By 

B. Nicolaides (La Canada, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summer of the Big Bachi (Paperback)

This book opens a window onto the lifeways and outlooks of an older generation of Japanese Americans in Los Angeles, told through the story of an unlikely protagonist, Mas Arai, a man of few words but strong convictions. Hirahara conveys a realistic, detailed sense of this subculture, giving the reader a sense of "being there." I enjoyed the rich descriptions of the "community hangout" (a rundown lawnmower shop), the seedy gambling joints, and the humble homes of Altadena, and getting a feel for how these folks related to each other and the world around them. I felt like I was eavesdropping on a community I knew little about, before this book. A great read, highly recommended.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than a Mystery, May 5, 2005

By 

Bada (San Clemente, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Summer of the Big Bachi (Paperback)

I picked this book up in the mystery section of my local library when I was looking for a fun summer read. Imagine my delighted surprise when I instead encountered a deep, complex novel exploring all of the great human themes: love, obligation, betrayal, loss, and redemption. It is set against an accurate portrayal of a sub-culture of L.A. most of us never see. Highly recommended.

My only concern is the apparent intention to make the protagonist into one of those serial mystery sleuths. He seems too uniquely suited to the history and situations in this book to be credibly trotted out for repeated triumphs.