Naomi Hirahara:Sommer des großen Bachi von Naomi Hirahara (englisch) Taschenbuch Buch
- Taschenbuch ISBN: 9780440241546
Luckily, our guide is Mas Arai, a complete original, and Hirahara's sure and generous voice brings him vividly to life.". Denise Hamilton, Edgar award nominated author ofLast Lullaby From… Mehr…
Luckily, our guide is Mas Arai, a complete original, and Hirahara's sure and generous voice brings him vividly to life.". Denise Hamilton, Edgar award nominated author ofLast Lullaby From the Trade Paperback edition. The Nile on eBay FREE SHIPPING UK WIDE Summer of the Big Bachi by Naomi Hirahara The Edgar Award-winning author of "Snakeskin Shamisen" introduces 69-year-old gardener and Hiroshima survivor Mas Arai. Now living in Pasadena, Mass life of sin catches up to him. The "bachi"--the spirit of retribution--is knocking on his door, forcing Mas to confront his past. FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New Publisher Description In the foothills of Pasadena, Mas Arai is just another Japanese-American gardener, his lawnmower blades clean and sharp, his truck carefully tuned. But while Mas keeps lawns neatly trimmed, his own life has gone to seed. His wife is dead. And his livelihood is falling into the hands of the men he once hired by the day. For Mas, a life of sin is catching up to him. And now bachi—the spirit of retribution—is knocking on his door.It begins when a stranger comes around, asking questions about a nurseryman who once lived in Hiroshima, a man known as Joji Haneda. By the end of the summer, Joji will be dead and Mas's own life will be in danger. For while Mas was building a life on the edge of the American dream, he has kept powerful secrets: about three friends long ago, about two lives entwined, and about what really happened when the bomb fell on Hiroshima in August 1945.A spellbinding mystery played out from war-torn Japan to the rich tidewaters of L.A.'s multicultural landscape, this stunning debut novel weaves a powerful tale of family, loyalty, and the price of both survival and forgiveness. Back Cover A stunning account of pioneering mountain photography and modern portraiture, with new commisions from leading photographers and alpinists alongside historic treasures from the world's finest collections. Featuring: Doug Scott Marko Prezelj Reinhold Messner Sir Edmund Hillary Steph Davis Tom Hornbein Galen Rowell Conrad Kain Kurt Diemberger Edward Whymper Eric Shipton George Mallory Alex Lowe Tenzing Norgay Catherine Destivelle Riccardo Cassin Peter Habeler Stephan Siegrist Kenton Cool Yvon Chouinard Lynn Hill Pat Morrow Denis Urubko Candide Thovex Maurice Herzog Apa Sherpa Ueli Steck Steve House, and many more… Author Biography Naomi Hirahara is a freelance writer and journalist who served for several years as an editor of The Rafu Shimpo, the largest Japanese American daily newspaper. She is the author of two previous Mas Arai mysteries, Gasa-Gasa Girl and Summer of the Big Bachi, named one of "The Ten Best Mysteries and Thrillers of 2004" by the Chicago Tribune and a Publishers Weekly "Best Books of 2004" pick. Review "[A] seamless and shyly powerful first novel..... Peppered with pungent cultural details, crisp prose and credible, fresh descriptions of the effects of the A-bomb, this perfectly balanced gem deserves a wide readership."—Publishers Weekly, starred review"Naomi Hirahara's story of forgotten men who share an unforgettable past sweeps the reader into a world most of us know little about. Luckily, our guide is Mas Arai, a complete original, and Hirahara's sure and generous voice brings him vividly to life."—S.J. Rozan, Edgar award winning of Winter and Night"Naomi Hirahara is a bright new voice on the mystery scene. Summer of the Big Bachi presents an intriguing puzzle written with a true insider's eye for Japanese American life"—Dale Furutani, Anthony award winning author of Death in Little Tokyo"A novel about social change wrapped inside a mystery, Summer of the Big Bachi toggles deftly between past and present and reveals the hopes and compromises that lurk on the fringes of the American Dream."—Denise Hamilton, Edgar award nominated author of Last Lullaby Review Quote "[A] seamless and shyly powerful first novel..... Peppered with pungent cultural details, crisp prose and credible, fresh descriptions of the effects of the A-bomb, this perfectly balanced gem deserves a wide readership." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "Naomi Hirahara's story of forgotten men who share an unforgettable past sweeps the reader into a world most of us know little about. Luckily, our guide is Mas Arai, a complete original, and Hirahara's sure and generous voice brings him vividly to life." S.J. Rozan, Edgar award winning ofWinter and Night "Naomi Hirahara is a bright new voice on the mystery scene.Summer of the Big Bachipresents an intriguing puzzle written with a true insider's eye for Japanese American life" Dale Furutani, Anthony award winning author ofDeath in Little Tokyo "A novel about social change wrapped inside a mystery,Summer of the Big Bachitoggles deftly between past and present and reveals the hopes and compromises that lurk on the fringes of the American Dream." Denise Hamilton, Edgar award nominated author ofLast Lullaby From the Trade Paperback edition. Excerpt from Book Chapter One June 1999 Tanaka''s Lawnmower Shop was where it all started, at least this time around. Buried in a town called Altadena at the base of the purple San Gabriel Mountains, it was the closest thing to home for Mas Arai. When Mas was younger and his hair jet-black, he spent most of his nights after his gardening route in the shop''s back room. They cleared the worktables of screws, pliers, and invoices and got out a case of plastic poker chips in red, yellow, blue, and green. Wishbone Tanaka would plunk down a new pack of playing cards, a sticker still keeping the virgin lid in place. Someone would toss in a bag of red-dyed pistachios; after a night of cards, everyone''s fingertips would be pink and salty. Even after he got married and his daughter, Mari, was born, Mas continued these late-night outings. Most of the guys were still single, or had wives who didn''t care, but Chizuko called every night. When Mari was old enough to say "Dad-dy," she was the one who was on the other side of the line. Then Chizuko was pregnant again, and Mas thought twice about gambling at Tanaka''s. "One day it''s all going to catch up with you," Chizuko shrieked. "You going to get big bachi." One late weekend night the bachi did come. Mari kept calling and calling. Mas refused to take the phone, because he didn''t want his successful run to be ruined. "I got me six hundred dolla," he announced, stumbling into the bedroom that night. "I don''t feel so good, Masao-san," Chizuko moaned. Mas flipped on the light. Chizuko''s permed hair was damp against her forehead. He turned over the flowered bedspread and cotton sheets to reveal Chizuko''s plump belly extending over her tight panties. Next to her was a spot of blood, fresh and dark. "I called you, Daddy." Mari, dressed in a flannel nightgown, stood in the doorway. "I kept calling and calling." After Chizuko''s miscarriage, Mas stopped playing cards. Chizuko kept her nagging, but it took on another tone. The words were the same, but all their power was gone. It continued like this for twenty more years, two decades filled with one bachi after another. In the end, he was the only one left in their three-bedroom house at the bottom of the San Gabriels, the purple peaks now barely visible due to the smog. Even their mutt dog was gone. But it seemed to always work out this way for Mas. He was the ultimate survivor, whether he liked it or not. It was a distinction that Mas hated and lately had begun to test. He resumed hanging out at Tanaka''s, first just once a month, then once a week. Within a year, his Ford truck was on automatic. After Mas finished his gardening route at noon, he headed for Fair Oaks Boulevard, which pushed up into tiny streets like the thin veins that traced his brown fingers. While the main town, Pasadena, was full of wide boulevards and fancy streetlights, Altadena, to the north, was scrawny like a chicken that didn''t get enough feed. It had a slight wildness to it--hardly any sidewalks--as if the town weren''t even worth taming. Mas liked it that way. Tanaka''s Lawnmower Shop was a small shack between an abandoned gas station and a discount grocery store that used to be a chain called Market Basket. In any other city around Los Angeles, Tanaka''s would be long gone. The advent of huge home building supply stores meant survival of the fittest. And Tanaka''s was anything but fit. It was the beginning of summer and hotter than hell. Wishbone''s air-conditioning had broken down, and the door to the shop was wide open. A few flies circled the heads of the men whose graying hair was slicked back with Three Flowers oil. Wishbone was behind the counter, like usual. Wishbone''s real name, given by his immigrant parents from Kumamoto Prefecture, was Wallace. Strangers who met Wishbone for the first time thought that his nickname meant that he was lucky. But it had nothing to do with luck. When he was a skinny teenager, his legs were terribly pigeon-toed, resulting in the nickname from his East L.A. classmates. At age sixty-seven, the name still stuck. He and three others were talking about the gardeners'' association meeting the night before. "Hardly anyone there, ne," said one of the guys, a gardener in San Gabriel. "A lot of fines to be paid." "Took just about thirty minutes, datsu all. Was even home for the horse race broadcast," said Stinky Yoshimoto, also a gardener who lived in Pasadena. Mas, at first, didn''t notice t, Random House USA INC International Concepts<
