Told in the distinctive rhythms of Hawaiian Creole English, this vibrant...wholly original” coming-of-age tale (Elle) is “a rare book-exuberant, fresh-voiced, rich, crazy, stabbing, comic, and as true-toned as a crystal glass tapped with a knife” (E. Annie Proulx).

Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers (Harvest Book)

Literature & Fiction

Yamanaka, Lois-Ann

United States

Harvest Books

Father of the Four Passages: A Novel

From "one of the most original voices on the American literary scene" (The Atlantic Monthly) comes the powerful tale of Sonia Kurisu, a young woman who grew up troubled in working-class Hawaii and struggles to raise her young son alone. Alternating between the present and the past, Yamanaka depicts Sonia's difficult childhood, her addictions to drugs and alcohol, and her string of bad lovers. As she tries to gain control of her life, she is haunted by the ghosts of three children she never had. A work of raw energy and searing honesty, Father of the Four Passages is an extraordinary testament to the redemptive power of love.

Contemporary

Picador

Her name is Lovey Nariyoshi, and her Hawai'i is not the one of leis, pineapple, and Magnum P.I. In the blue collar town of Hilo, on the Big Island, Lovey and her eccentric Japanese-American family are at the margins of poverty, in the midst of a tropical paradise. With her endearing, effeminate best friend Jerry, Lovey suffers schoolyard bullies, class warfare, Singer sewing classes, and the surprisingly painful work of picking on a macadamia nut plantation, all while trying to find an identity of her own. At once a bitingly funny satire of haole happiness and a moving meditation on what is real, if ugly at times, but true, Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers crackles with the language of pidgin--Hawai'i Creole English--distinguishing one of the most vibrant voices in contemporary culture. 
Stories from this enduring novel have been adapted into the film Fishbowl, by groundbreaking director Kayo Hatta.

Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers: A Novel

Humor & Satire

Behold the Many: A Novel

In 1913, stricken by tuberculosis, young Anah, Aki, and Leah are sent away from their family for treatment at St. Joseph's, an orphanage in Hawai'i's Kalihi Valley. Of the three, two will die there, and only Anah, the eldest, will survive. But the ghosts of the dead sisters will haunt Anah as she prepares to begin married life away from the orphanage. Desperate for the love of their sister, but jealous of her ability to live in the physical world, they are determined to thwart Anah's happiness. As Anah struggles to appease the dead, it becomes apparent that only through one of her own daughters can redemption be attained.
Poignant, lyrical, and utterly compelling, Behold the Many is a stunning novel that glows with longing and life.

Behold the Many is the eerily beautiful story of three young sisters, Anah, Aki, and Leah. In 1913, they are sent away from their family for treatment for tuberculosis to an orphanage in Hawaii’s Kalihi Valley. Of the three, two will die there, in spite of the nuns’ best efforts to save them, and only Anah, the eldest, will grow to adulthood. But the ghosts of the dead children are afraid to leave the grounds of St. Joseph’s, which is the only place they have known as home, and as Anah prepares to begin married life away from the orphanage, these ghost children grow angry. Desperate for the love of this girl who has communicated with them since her childhood, jealous of her ability to live in the physical world, and terrified of losing her, the ghosts are determined to thwart Anah’s happiness. One of them places a curse on her that will reverberate through her future and that of her new family. As Anah struggles to appease the dead and to quiet her own guilt for living, it becomes apparent that only through one of her own daughters can redemption be attained. Poignant, lyrical, and utterly compelling, Behold the Many is a stunning new novel from the critically acclaimed author Lois-Ann Yamanaka.

Farrar. Straus and Giroux

Blu's Hanging is the bittersweet story of a group of ragtag orphans reeling from the death of their mother, trying to stay together in the face of almost insurmountable odds. At once savagely funny and deeply moving, lyrical and wise, this novel confirms Yamanaka's reputation as one of the most vibrant new voices of her generation.

Blu's Hanging

Abold new novel about the redemptive power of love Hailed by Jamie James in The Atlantic Monthly as "one of the most original voices on the literary scene," Lois-Ann Yamanaka is back with a novel about family and forgiveness. Set in Hawaii and Las Vegas, Father of the Four Passages tells the story of Sonia Kurisu, a street-wise young mother, who struggles to raise her child, Sonny Boy, as she seeks to come to terms with the three children she aborted. In sequences alternating between the past and the present, we learn of Sonia's childhood-her abandonment by her father and her mother; her contentious relationship with her sister, Celeste; her string of bad lovers; her problems with drugs and alcohol-and of her wish to reconcile with her father and make something of her life by being a good parent to her son, who has begun to show signs of developmental problems. A haunting novel about fathers, forgiveness, spirituality, and solace, Father of the Four Passages is Yamanaka's most ambitious work to date.

Literary

With a set of more flamboyant siblings, and caught in the center of every family conflict, quiet middle child Toni Yagyuu must choose between college life and the strangely fascinating taxidermy business run by her parents

Heads by Harry

Soho Pr Inc

Growing up in Hilo, Hawaii, in a family caught in the cultural gap between East and West, young Lovey Nariyoshi creates her own identity amid a world of pop culture and media that ignores the realities of the Japanese-American character. A first novel. Tour.

Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers

Farrar. Straus & Giroux

On the Hawaiian island of Molokai, life goes on for the three young Ogata children after the death of their mother and subsequent emotional withdrawal of their grief and guilt-stricken "Poppy." The eldest at 13, Ivah is now responsible for the safety and well-being of tiny Maisie, vulnerable and mute since their mother's passing; and for Blu, her uncontainable brother whose desperate need for love has made him vulnerable to the most insidious of relationships.On the Hawaiian island of Molokai, life goes on for the three young Ogata children after the death of their mother and subsequent emotional withdrawal of their grief and guilt-stricken "Poppy." The eldest at 13, Ivah is now responsible for the safety and well-being of tiny Maisie, vulnerable and mute since their mother's passing; and for Blu, her uncontainable brother whose desperate need for love has made him vulnerable to the most insidious of relationships.

HarpPeren

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Yamanaka, Lois-Ann. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Yamanaka, Lois-Ann

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Yamanaka, Lois-Ann. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers (Harvest Book)

Father of the Four Passages: A Novel

Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers: A Novel

Behold the Many: A Novel

Behold the Many: A Novel

Blu's Hanging

Father of the Four Passages: A Novel

Heads by Harry

Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers

Blu's Hanging