Books & Boba discussion

Apologies for posting this thread late. Our May 2019 book club pick is This is Paradise: Stories by Kristiana Kahakauwila. We normally describe our podcast as one that features books by Asian and Asian American writers, but we thought it would be a nice change of pace to read a book by an author of Pacific Islander descent, especially since Pacific Islander authors are rarely included in AAPI reading lists.

We do realize that the book may be difficult to acquire at local libraries and bookstores. I was lucky enough to borrow my copy from one of my libraries. The easiest way to purchase it would be through Kindle.

This is also our first time reading a short story collection, so I'm interested in how we're going to discuss it on the show. I would love to hear what other people think of the stories here in this forum. Which stories impacted you the most, which ones did you find most impressive?

So I read and finished this book earlier this month. You can read my full review of it here. To put it short, I appreciate the authenticity and nuance contained in each of the stories, with Hawaii as the consistent setting throughout them all. It gives new depth to a location that's often overly glamorized as a tourist attraction.

Like most short story collections (in my experience), the strongest stories here were the first one and the last one. I really loved the titular story with its interesting first-person plural narrative.

The last one, “The Old Paniolo Way,” was completely unexpected and I’m inspired to pick up books like Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West.

"This is Paradise" is definitely one of my favorites in this collection. As someone who has never visited Hawaii, it's interesting to see the contrast between Waikiki's glamorous tourist attraction and the everyday life of the inhabitants there.

I also appreciated how the collection explored what it meant to be a local as apposed to a native. How do relationships in a family change when one moves to the mainland, or even a different island? What does it mean to belong in a place where you do not share the same race, culture, or memories as the inhabitants there?

I really liked how "Wanle" and "The Old Paniolo Way" subverted gender norms. You have Wanle who is not bothered by the violence in cockfighting, which is mainly dominated by men. And there's Albert who works as a hospice nurse. I was surprised by how quickly I got attached to characters in a such a short amount of time.

Some quotes that struck me:

"We look at each other, and we feel the heat rising in our faces. Our families are barely affording a life here, the land is being eaten away by developers, the old sugar companies still control water rights. Not only does paradise no longer belong to us, but we have to watch foreigners destroy it."

"He wanted to say he wasn't from Minnesota. He was from Hawai'i. Yet, that didn't seem quite right. He was local, he knew that much. He was local and she wasn't. But did that matter? Was local being from a place, or just of it?"

With your degree in English, your aunties expect you to deliver the most grammatically correct homage to your grandmother. Take this responsibility seriously. Your copyediting skills are all you have to offer your family.