Blu’s Hanging

The much anticipated reprint of Yamanaka''s "giddy, bawdy, and genuinely moving" (Kirkus Reviews) novel about a young girl’s fierce love for her family on the Hawaiian island of Moloka‘i

In the wake of their mother’s death, the three Ogata children grow up fast. As their Poppy withdraws into a grief-stricken stupor, eldest daughter Ivah is left taking care of her siblings: Maisie, her timid sister who hasn’t said a word since their loss; and Blu, her reckless brother whose childhood romance risks exposing him to new dangers. All that''s holding the Ogatas together is 12-year-old Ivah''s single-minded determination, but she must ultimately decide whether the future she wants for herself is on Moloka‘i or beyond its shores. Through the rich, multivocal pidgin of Hawai‘i, Lois-Ann Yamanaka offers an unvarnished look at a life where music, poverty and love share the same home. Originally published in 1997 and now back in print, Blu’s Hanging shines with humor and expressiveness even as it shows the brutal toll of an adolescence haunted by loss. This new edition includes an interview with Yamanaka about her career and the controversies surrounding this novel, along with a contextualizing afterword by Asian American scholar Erin Khuê Ninh.
Born in Hawai‘i and raised in Moloka‘i, Honolulu-based author Lois-Ann Yamanaka (born 1961) has won a Lannan Literary Award, an Asian American Literary Award and an American Book Award.