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2 Reviews
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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
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...
Published on August 11, 1999
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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Chasing Ghosts from an Invented Past
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...
Published on November 12, 2004 by Kirby Wright
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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,
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,
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.
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Volcano: A Memoir of Hawai'i by Garrett Kaoru Hongo (Paperback - May 28, 1996)
$19.00
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