Customer Reviews

Summer of the Big Bachi

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Being a Japanese-American (sansei from the Midwest), I really felt that the characters rang true - no "model minority" stereotypes. Just ordinary people, some good, some bad, caught up in a situation (the mystery) that doesn't get fully explained until the end. If you're looking for a hard-boiled mystery, this might not be your cup of tea. The characters and their background is what stands out. The protoganist is a kibei (American-born but raised in Japan - most speak accented English) who lived through the A-bomb blast in Hiroshima. The mystery involves events that occurred back then.
This book was a quick and enjoyable read and I look forward to her next book.

Over fifty years have passed since the Americans dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. During the subsequent five plus decades the world has dramatically changed as Japan and the United States are allies with an economic rivalry as two of the most powerful nations on the globe.

Numerous Japanese survivors of the Hiroshima debacle have lived and still reside in Los Angeles. This included until recently gardener Joji Haneda, who died less than a month ago in a Ventura County hospital. Two Japanese visitors were seeking out Joji. Shine magazine writer Yuki Kimura wanted to ask him about what happened to Yuki's vanished grandfather Riki Kimura just after the bomb fell, something he believed Joji had known. Working for a client, private eye Shuji Nakane wanted to question Joji for information on a stolen classic 1956 Ford pickup. However, Yuki will learn the stunning truth about 1945 and his lost grandfather, but also ends up arrested for murder.

The intrigue surrounding Hiroshima at the time of the bomb and the insightful look at the Japanese-American subculture in Southern California overwhelm the mystery. The cast is strong especially the two visitors and the three conspiratorial friends hiding the past including perceptions of Joji. Though the mystery behind what happened to Riki seems minor, fans of astute looks at subcultures within the so called American melting pot will appreciate Naomi Hirahara's delightful debut.

Harriet Klausner

Naomi Hirahara is a talented writer and a gifted storyteller. She draws you into a world you might think you knew but that feels foreign from the viewpoint of the main characters. Japanese gardeners have been so commonplace, yet very uncommon in American society. To see this country through their eyes is very humbling. This story makes you realize what courage and hard work it takes to make it here as someone perceived as "different." The author lets us glimpse the interesting personalities of her characters and how these protagonists figure out ways to survive together. The story is suspenseful with full character development. And the praise one feels for the main characters evolves through subtle description. At the end of the story your heart is touched by poignant acts of friendship and gentle charm.

For fifty years, Japanese American Mas Arai has built a life for himself and his family in Pasadena. Since he works as a gardener, it hasn't been a comfortable life, but they have survived. Now he is a widower and his daughter has moved to New York. Mas is enjoying the quiet his life has become.

All that is shattered one June afternoon. Mas enters one of his favorite haunts, Tanaka's Lawnmower Shop, to find a stranger asking around about Joji Haneda. The man claims to be a private investigator. Mas tells him nothing, but the encounter shakes him to his core.

Mas hasn't had any contact with Joji in years. Now the owner of a nursery in Ventura, the two men used to be friends. But that was in Hiroshima during World War II. And the two share a secret from the dropping of the atomic bomb that Mas would prefer to stay hidden.

Still, the encounter makes Mas start working on looking Joji up himself. Unfortunately, he isn't the only one. A young reporter with wild hair from Japan is also asking around. And someone doesn't want Mas poking around any more. Why the sudden interest in Joji?

I have heard great things about the novel. Much of the praise is well deserved. The book paints an interesting picture of the Japanese American sub-culture as well as life in Japan during World War II. History buffs will certainly enjoy that aspect of the book.

While not the traditional murder and three suspects I normally read, the book is well plotted. The story starts strongly and moves along rapidly to its climax. Only the last few pages of wrap up drag a little. Still this is a minor complaint.

Mas is a well drawn character. It was easy to picture this Hiroshima survivor as a real person. While he had some obvious faults, he was still likeable. I kept reading because I cared about what happened to him. The story is told third person from his point of view, and the narration takes on a haunting noir quality right from the start.

So why the three stars? Because it was almost impossible to get into the book. The conversations were peppered with Japanese words. I could usually figure them out from the context, but sometimes I couldn't. Additionally, in an effort to make the dialog have an authentic dialect, the words were often purposefully misspelled. Not only did they not help me picture how the characters talked, but I had a very hard time following what they were saying sometimes. Finally, the characters names were foreign. While this seems obvious, several of the characters names were so similar I had a hard time keeping them straight. I realize this last one is more my problem then the authors, still all three of these kept me from getting truly engrossed in the tale. Instead of inviting me into a culture I know nothing about, they served to make me feel like an outsider. Honestly, I almost put the book down at one point.

I'm glad I persisted. This book has an interesting tale with believable characters worth reading about. The flaws are strong enough to make me only give it a hesitant recommendation, however.

80% crowd pleaser book for JAs and for anyone who grew up in Los Angeles postwar.

A real page-turner with a lot of plot. Some harrowing war scenes. Lots of everyday marginal and common sleazy characters. Moral dilemmas, difficult families, working class perspectives. Enough realism to make you suspend your disbelief.

The centrality of the WW2 experience for JAs was a big theme, and, seems to be accurate. (Lots of food for thought about the effects of war on all different immigrant communities, especially Middle Eastern ones today.)

BTW - with only a couple exceptions, each Japanese word was followed by a phrase that, basically, repeated the word in one or two English words. So, if you see Japanese and don't get it, just keep reading. You aren't missing anything.

The main character isn't a detective but a survivor of Hiroshima, who with a small number of others went on to make a life for himself in L.A. He makes a living as a gardener, tending the lawns and shrubs of those living in the L.A suburbs. He doesn't believe in Jesus or Buddha, but Bacchi (`what goes around comes around').

Set in the present day, he gets caught up in a story with roots back to Hiroshima and a childhood friend Joji Haneda.

The story is a slow-burner. Good start, but many may have to persist to get through the middle section of the book because the pace doesn't accelerate. In fact, as another reviewer has commented, mixing Japanese words in disrupted the rhythm of my reading, as you 'stop' to work them out.

However, if you persist, this is an enjoyable mystery- interesting context, well-drawn characters, well-constructed plot and a conclusion that invites reflection.

Opening lines of a brief prologue :
"Mas Arai didn't believe in Jesus or Buddha, but thought there might
be something in bacchi. In Japanese, bachi was when you snapped at
your wife, and then tripped on a rock in the driveway. You didn't
suffer your punishment in another lifetime, but within the same life,
even within the next few minutes."

Mas is an aging gardener in Altadena, California. He harbors a secret
going all the way back to Hiroshima, before the war, before the A-bomb
dropped. His secret is just a closed-off part of his predictable life.
His wife is dead. His daughter has her own life and seldom sees Mas.
When Mas isn't working, he hangs out at Tanaka's Lawnmower Shop for
poker and gossip with his contemporaries.

Then an investigator from Hiroshima shows up asking about a local
nurseryman named Joji Haneda, who appeared on an American TV program
as a survivor of the bomb blast. It has been almost 30 years since Mas
saw Joji Haneda.

Mas muses that America is his home; there is no place for Hiroshima
anymore. ... "If Joji's in trouble, that's his business. If he falls, he
can fall alone." But bachi is closing in on Mas. He's mugged and his
truck is stolen, with the threat that unless he keeps his mouth shut
about Haneda he'll lose more than his truck next time.

Events force Mas to confront his past and his memories of two
childhood friends -- one survived the bomb blast, one did not. The
survivor became rich playing the black market. Mas makes allowances,
saying, "Well, he lookin' for a place for himself. Just neva found
it."

There is a arrest for murder, but the story belongs to Mas and the way
he puts his long-held secret to rest.

Hirahara paints a vivid picture of the Japanese gardeners who took
care of the lawns of Southern California before "they were replaced by
their former helpers ... with shiny new trucks, eager family members,
and cut-rate prices." Mas Arai is a memorable character.