Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i [Paperback]

Garrett Hongo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 1996

Part memoir, part Japanese American family chronicle, part luminous work of natural history, Volcano tells what happened when Hongo returned to his birthplace in Hawai'i, as a young man, to reclaim its dreamlike landscape and his own elusive past. A magnificant evocation of heritage and place.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Japanese American poet Hongo presents a memoir and family history centering around a return trip to his birthplace, a small Hawaiian village called Volcano.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Award-winning Japanese American poet Hongo tracks his roots back to Volcano, Hawai'i, where he was born.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (May 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679767487
• ISBN-13: 978-0679767480
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #757,255 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mislabled as a memoir of Hawaii, it's a spiritual odyssey, August 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i (Paperback)

This enormously moving book is presented more as a natural history of a land, Hawaii, when it really is a history of one man's soul. Touchingly self revealing, it shares the torment and the ecstasy of one person's search for meaning. I felt the natural history information, the eternal tree and the omnipresent volcano, were metaphors, not the meat of the book. I encourage readers on a personal path of understanding to take on VOLCANO as a guidebook of a singular journey - one that may resonate with many of us. It is wonderful

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Chasing Ghosts from an Invented Past, November 12, 2004

By 

Kirby Wright - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i (Paperback)

Hongo delights us with his poetic voice and I was expecting big things with this memoir. But doesn't a 'memoir' mean you've spent some meaningful time in a locale and are a bit of an expert on it? Hongo left Hawaii for California at a young age and knows little if anything about the history of the aina. His spiritual angle on looking at a leaf, stream, or hardened lava flow is somewhat interesting but the book lacks any meaningful punch because there is little or no characterization. I was expecting him to reconnect with people from his childhood but there are none. He is chasing ghosts from an invented past and the writing suffers for it.