Summer of the Big Bachi and Oil on Water
#19: Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara
Strictly speaking, this is a mystery novel. However, it's also about a good deal more than that. Hirahara does a good job balancing the mystery plot with the larger themes. Sometimes the book tips toward the thematic elements, but that works better than the other way around. I'd rather have the mystery fall to the wayside for a bit, then feel like the plot is crushing what Hirahara is trying to say.
What are the larger themes that I'm going on about? Largely silence and the cost of secrets, which are excellent material for a mystery. But it's also about trauma and history. Summer of the Big Bachi takes place within the elderly Japanese American community, and largely deals with the long aftereffects (both physical and emotional) of the bombing of Hiroshima.
The pacing's a bit slow at times, but I think Hirahara had gotten the hang of it by the end.
There are several other stories starring the same character, Mas Arai, and I think I'll check them out.
#20: Oil on Water by Helon Habila
An unflinching look at the oil trade in Nigeria, and the ramifications thereof. Oil on Water spares no one.
Two Nigerian reporters are on the trail of kidnapped woman, the wife a British oil executive. What was supposed to be a routine ransom spins wildly out of control.
This is undoubtedly a cynical book. (Though given the subject matter one could simple call it realistic.) However, it's not unbearably pessimistic. There are good people, though bad things tend to happen to them. This is not a book that is intent on providing simple answers.
I had some minor problems with the writing. The time line jumps around, and it was sometimes jarring. I'm not sure if other people would have trouble keeping track like I did.
Oil on Water offers a searing is slightly brief view into a world I know very little of.
Strictly speaking, this is a mystery novel. However, it's also about a good deal more than that. Hirahara does a good job balancing the mystery plot with the larger themes. Sometimes the book tips toward the thematic elements, but that works better than the other way around. I'd rather have the mystery fall to the wayside for a bit, then feel like the plot is crushing what Hirahara is trying to say.
What are the larger themes that I'm going on about? Largely silence and the cost of secrets, which are excellent material for a mystery. But it's also about trauma and history. Summer of the Big Bachi takes place within the elderly Japanese American community, and largely deals with the long aftereffects (both physical and emotional) of the bombing of Hiroshima.
The pacing's a bit slow at times, but I think Hirahara had gotten the hang of it by the end.
There are several other stories starring the same character, Mas Arai, and I think I'll check them out.
#20: Oil on Water by Helon Habila
An unflinching look at the oil trade in Nigeria, and the ramifications thereof. Oil on Water spares no one.
Two Nigerian reporters are on the trail of kidnapped woman, the wife a British oil executive. What was supposed to be a routine ransom spins wildly out of control.
This is undoubtedly a cynical book. (Though given the subject matter one could simple call it realistic.) However, it's not unbearably pessimistic. There are good people, though bad things tend to happen to them. This is not a book that is intent on providing simple answers.
I had some minor problems with the writing. The time line jumps around, and it was sometimes jarring. I'm not sure if other people would have trouble keeping track like I did.
Oil on Water offers a searing is slightly brief view into a world I know very little of.