Mari Arai was always known to her parents as being gaza-gasa, an into everything kind of girl, just the opposite of laid back. Mas Arai, her dad tells her she takes after her mother. Mari retorts that her mother claimed it was a trait taken from her father. This may be the closer to the truth. Mas Arai had dreams of becoming an engineer but he life took another path after he was fortunate enough to survive the Hiroshima bomb.Mas ended up becoming a gardener in the LA area and spent many decades at this craft. Retirement is a word that he knows will never apply to him. He spent many years living very quietly until he was involved in a case chronicled in THE SUMMER OF THE BIG BACHI the first in this series by Naomi Hirahara. Now he is traveling to New York because his daughter has issued a cry for help.He is just getting his feet accustomed to concrete sidewalks when he discovers the dead body of his son-in law LLoyd's boss in a Koi pond with mysterious markings. This victim was Kazzy Ouchi a magnate in the silk garment industry was the son of a humble gardener at a big New York City estate. Mas becomes enmeshed in the complex affair because one of his strengths is that he is not a quitter. Mari and Lloyd are in the middle of this scenario and Mas investigates so he can extricate them. This is a lovely book with interesting fascinating characters who have a background as a part of American history. The author touches gently on all the different generations of Japanese-Americans and how East coast and West coast lives of the citizens differ.
Naomi Hirahara has created a great character in Mas Arai and the friends, cronies, and family who populate his life in the stories Hirahara tells. Having spent some time in Japan, I especially enjoy reading these books. You get a deep look into this very interesting Japanese gardener living in the Los Angeles area who is also a reluctant detective, as well as drawn back to the way Japanese Americans were treated during the war. I like to visit Little Tokyo here in CA, where Mas also shows up sometimes. I am reading all the Mas Books. Fortunately, Hirahara just wrote a new one, which is waiting on my shelf.
Do You like book Gasa-Gasa Girl (2005)?
A great follow-on to Summer of the Big Bachi. The best part of the book is the excellently written viewpoint that lets the reader see the world through the eyes of a gardener. Mas is just as convincing as before, and Hirahara once again does a very good job of letting the mystery drive the book without upstaging the people and relationships that the story is really about. Surrounded by expert understatement, the central clue about the murder is disappointingly over-obvious. But since "whodunnit" isn't the main point it isn't too much of a let-down, and there were plenty of other pieces to try to put in place. Gasa-Gasa Girl also falls a bit short in that the historical research Hirahara delivers feels layered onto the plot, rather than woven into it as was the case in Big Bachi. That is a small point, though, and a only a slim margin keeps this book shy of five stars.
—Chris
