January 1, 1996
Meticulously crafted and heartfelt, this first novel about the bonds of brotherhood among the sons of a Japanese laborer on a sugar plantation in Maui during the 1950s is raw, precise and indelible. "My family lived in Japanese camp, Row three," says the narrator, Spencer Fujii, "and so, like the sugar cane that surrounded me, I grew to maturity in a row." The adult, narrating Spencer is the last of three sons left to comfort and distract his mother as she succumbs to cancer. His older brother, Taizo, died in a childhood accident. His younger brother, William, was given to the boys' uncle by their father--who felt his duties as an oldest brother to his childless sibling superceded those of husband and father. Iida's prose alternates smoothly between Spencer's polished narration and the rough pidgin English spoken by the island's Japanese-Hawaiians. This juxtaposition of local dialect and eloquent narration works powerfully as Spencer tells of his stern, unyielding father; the pleasurable rhythms of the sugar cane and family life; his escape from Maui by joining the army; and his marriage to a white woman, in defiance of his parents. With children of his own, Spencer now returns to Maui to make peace with his mother, with himself and with his "cousin" William--with whom he shares a secretive burden of guilt over Taizo's death. This is a polished debut, in which Iida writes assuredly of the complexities of guilt and familial love.

March 1, 1996
Iida's first novel is a delicate yet powerful work chronicling the ways in which birth order, traditional expectations, and custom affects three Hawaiian boys, children of first-generation Japanese American sugarcane plantation workers. The story is told from the viewpoint of Spencer Fujii, the "middle son," who has returned to the island of his birth to cope with his dying mother and finally to face the facts of his elder brother Taizo's childhood death, whose circumstances Spencer's father went to his grave without hearing. Spencer's younger brother William was raised as his cousin, for his father-Fujii, an eldest son-felt so duty-bound to his younger, childless brother that he gave him his youngest child to raise. Now Spencer and William are haunted by a secret childhood pact and their roles in Taizo's sacrifice. As the tale progresses, we are drawn both into the stark beauty of the boys' childhood days on the island and the pain of a family's loss: "A picture of my brother Taizo also sits on this altar. Over the years I have learned to sense the boundaries of his picture, managing to look on all sides of the frame without seeing... some eyes, I have learned, are not for looking into." Highly recommended for all collections of serious fiction.-Marcie S. Zwaik, "Library Journal

January 1, 1997
YA-They were three young boys growing up on a sugar plantation in Hawaii in the 1950s, as close as brothers, for indeed they were. The youngest, however, had been given as an infant by his father to his childless brother, in keeping with Japanese tradition, and is never spoken of as a sibling by Spencer and his older brother, Tsaio. The three youngsters share a happy, carefree childhood with Tsaio responsible for the younger boys. When he drowns accidentally, Spencer and William share a secret so burdensome that the two agree never to speak of it. The tragedy leads to an emotional distance between them and, for Spencer, a great need to leave the island and its haunting memories. He enlists in the army, serves in the Vietnam War, becomes a newspaper photographer, and marries a Caucasian over the objections of both families. It isn't until his mother's final illness that Spencer, returning home to comfort her, confronts his childhood memories, and makes peace with his "cousin." Readers may need a few pages to become accustomed to the pidgin language, but it soon becomes evident that this spare, deeply moving dialogue adds to the immediacy and power of the story and contributes to the suspense. For readers do not know the heartrending details of Tsaio's death until the final chapters. The universality of coming of age, deep friendship, and family devotion raise this deceptively simple story to heights far beyond the requirements of an assignment.-Jackie Gropman, Kings Park Library, Burke, VA

March 1, 1996
Iida's first novel is a delicate yet powerful work chronicling the ways in which birth order, traditional expectations, and custom affects three Hawaiian boys, children of first-generation Japanese American sugarcane plantation workers. The story is told from the viewpoint of Spencer Fujii, the "middle son," who has returned to the island of his birth to cope with his dying mother and finally to face the facts of his elder brother Taizo's childhood death, whose circumstances Spencer's father went to his grave without hearing. Spencer's younger brother William was raised as his cousin, for his father-Fujii, an eldest son-felt so duty-bound to his younger, childless brother that he gave him his youngest child to raise. Now Spencer and William are haunted by a secret childhood pact and their roles in Taizo's sacrifice. As the tale progresses, we are drawn both into the stark beauty of the boys' childhood days on the island and the pain of a family's loss: "A picture of my brother Taizo also sits on this altar. Over the years I have learned to sense the boundaries of his picture, managing to look on all sides of the frame without seeing... some eyes, I have learned, are not for looking into." Highly recommended for all collections of serious fiction.-Marcie S. Zwaik, "Library Journal"

Copyright 1996 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.