The Color of Air audiobook

4+ stars In December of 1935 the Mauna Loa volcano on the big island of Hawaii was erupting, flowing toward Hilo . On December 27th, in hopes of diverting the flow, the US Army dropped bombs in its path. Hilo was not hit with the flow, so maybe it worked or as Mama Natua, a wonderful character in this novel says “Pele, you old sly one, you finally stopped, eh, showed them fools who’s boss, yeah.” This is a work of historical fiction that highlights this event which actually happened. While, for a good part of the novel, this near disaster looms large, what drew me in was the story of a cast of characters, a close knit group, with a shared history, caring about each other over the years, sharing secrets, protecting each other, some bearing burdens of their past. They are part of a Japanese community whose families came to Hilo seeking a livelihood on the sugar cane and pineapple plantations, to fish the waters. Gail Tsukiyama lovingly depicts the sense of community of lifelong friends. Koji drives the sugar cane train retired years ago from cutting cane still grieves Mariko, the love of his life and is struggling with a secret he has kept from Mariko’s son, Daniel. Daniel bears a burden as well, and has just returned home after a personal struggle while he was a physician in Chicago. There are other characters to love, Nori, Mariko’s best friend, the aunties who play hearts. We are taken back in years by the “ghost voices” of Mariko and Razor, Koji’s best friend. Their first person narratives read almost like journal entries and provide some clarity to the secrets and regrets held by the others, providing hope to the reader that the burdens of these characters will be lightened. This is a beautifully written story reflecting history, full of love, the meaning of friendship and community. I was reminded of past trips to Hawaii, perhaps the most gorgeous place I have ever visited. I received a copy of this book from HarperVia through Edelweiss.

A stunning historical fiction!!Gail Tsukiyama writes gorgeously.... interweaving stories about a Japanese American community, set against the backdrop of Hawaii’s sugar plantations...with wonderful characters, and history that is bathed with savoring, blustery, and tactile atmospheric experiences. From start to finish I was consistently a curious reader - turning pages quickly wanting to know how secretive ties came together. Present day setting: 1935...Koji Sanada, now fifty, was ten years old, when his family arrived in Hilo, Hawaii in 1895,...( the big island), along with other immigrant workers who had flocked to jobs on the island’s sugar and pineapple plantations.They came from Osaka, Japan. Puli Plantation, was an island of five volcanoes, hot sun, wind, rain, tremors, and quakes.It was here that Koji met Mariko Abe. Mariko had known ‘everything’ mangoes... in the same way that Koji knew sugarcane. Koji’s sugarcane ‘fast/fastest’ cutting skills had become mythical over the years. But he retired from cutting cane sixteen years ago. Today he ran the sugar train. Mariko and Daniel were like Koji’s family - and when everyone mourned Mariko’s death - it was Koji who felt her loss the loudest in his silence. Daniel Abe, was 18 yrs old, when he went to the mainland to study medicine in Chicago......one of the first Japanese ever accepted. He was returning home to the island as a full-fledged medical doctor. Mariko would’ve been so proud of him. From Danielle’s perspective it had taken one wrong diagnosis and a costly mistake to bring him back home again. The aunties and community were excited planning a celebration gathering -which was going to be held at the Okawa Fish Market. Nori Okawa was in Mariko’s house ( Daniel’s house now), getting things ready for Daniel‘s arrival.Nori had two sons of her own- Wilson and Mano who followed their father in the fishing business. Nori always thought of Daniel as her third son... even more so after Mariko passes away from Cancer. Nori and Mariko had been close since they were little girls. Koji ( uncle Koji to Daniel), hadn’t been back at the house since Mariko died two years ago. Koji had vowedyears ago to take care of Mariko and Daniel after, Franklin, (husband/father), left. The faded weather-beaten green bungalow now belonged to Daniel, passed down from his mother-passed down to her by her mother. It had originally been built by Mariko’s grandfather when he first immigrated from Japan. Many memories lived on in that house. Koji had been wrestling with a secrets for many years... one of those secrets was something that he knew he needed to tell Daniel. It was time. He knew he couldn’t protect him forever. As Daniel’s boat was just arriving, the volcano, Mauna Loa, was just beginning to rumble. Life on the island could change in a heartbeat… both. literally and figuratively. As Mauna Loa, was brewing, threatening lives...we follow Daniel, Koji, Mariko, and Maile , ( once Daniel’s girlfriend when they were in high school), and others in this close-knit community....through the past, and present days...unfolding are secrets, betrayal, traditions, friendships, joys, sorrows, complexities of the heart, memories, forgiveness, and healing. I found it very enchanting enjoying the purity of children playing games they learned from local fishermen.From the aunties, locals, the fish market, a treasured beloved mango tree, the foods, men lingering on the streets, surprises, and personal stories....we are literally transcended to another place and time....with characters we come to know and love. “The Color of Air”, with its beautiful prose..... and the vastness of the world that Gail createdis a book to treasure.

Full disclosure: Gail Tsukiyama is a dear friend. This is a lovely book, filled with the kind of tenderness for which Gail's books are known. In the novel, she takes us to Hilo, Hawai'i at two periods of time: 1918 and 1935. Her historical details are terrific and her sense of place is quite amazing in that she doesn't live there. She fills her locations with evocative sensory details that not only pull the reader back in time but also allow the reader to experience the settings every bit as if the reader were there. The book pays homage to a period of time during which people lived lives made difficult by poverty, isolation, and a form of racism that kept individuals tied to backbreaking work in the sugar plantations. Choices were limited in every area of life: education, marriage, profession, health. But the people in the novel endure, because what binds them to the place--Hilo, Hawai'i--also binds them to each other. The book is about loyalty, family, culture, and myth. It will be published in the summer 2020 and I highly recommend it.

Gail Tsukiyama has always been a favorite author of mine so when I saw that she had written a new book I was so excited. The Color of Air was written beautifully and was exactly what I would have expected from her. She has a way with her descriptions that bring the settings in her books to life. Her character development was equally as brilliant I loved that The Color of Air transported me back to a time and place that felt familiar yet not at all. There was a duel time frame. Most of the book took place in a quiet Hawaiian town in the 1930’s. The memories or “ghost stories” that some of the characters in The Color of Air shared about people that had passed were from the early 1900’s. Many of the main characters knew each other growing up and continued to be friends into adulthood. The inhabitants of the town of Hilo were now second or third generation. Most of the original settlers had come from Japan but there were also Chinese, Filipino and Portuguese families. Sugar cane plantations and fishing were the main industries. Hilo was the kind of town where everyone knew one another and looked out for each other. As the story began, the entire community of Hilo town was anticipating Daniel’s return. Daniel was Mariko’s only son. Mariko had died from cancer two years prior. Daniel had left Hilo when he was eighteen years old in order to get his education on the mainland. Now he was returning as a doctor. Everyone was proud of him. He was the first Hilo born boy to become a doctor and he had been one of the first Japanese to be admitted to his medical school. There would be a welcome home party for Daniel at the Okawa Fish Market. It was owned and run by Nori Okawa, one of Daniel’s mother’s (Mariko) oldest and dearest friends and her husband Uncle Samuel. Koji Sanada would also be there. Growing up, Koji was like a father to Daniel. Daniel’s biological father left him and his mother when Daniel was. very young. Uncle Koji, as Daniel called him, was always there for him and Mariko. Wilson and Mano, Nori and Samuel’s sons would meet Daniel at the dock and bring him to the welcome party. The three boys practically grew up together. Hilo town was located on an island created by volcanoes. Mauna Loa or Pele had picked this time to become active. Great huffs of smoke could been seen emerging from her “ only to be chased by a spewing red-hot curtain of lava that blew from fissures hundreds of feet into the air” and she was causing the ground to shake. The people of Hilo town knew that the only thing they could do at this point was worry and wait to see what Mauna Loa would choose to do. As Daniel’s boat approached the dock, he also watched the rising smoke and “bright blood orange curtain of lava that shot upward toward the darkening sky”. Daniel had been born in 1907 when there had been another eruption from Mauna Loa but he was unprepared to witness it tonight as he was returning to Hilo. Daniel was returning to Hilo but harbored a secret that was eating away at him. The other person who had returned to Hilo at the same time as Daniel was Maile, his high school girlfriend. She, too, was harboring a secret. Koji and Nori had their own secrets as well. Over the course of the story, all the secrets would be revealed.The Color of Air by Gail Tsukiyama was a heartfelt book about family, love, secrets, trust, grief, shame, romance and a sense of community. It was well written and gave each character in the story an air of familiarity, like you really knew them. I liked the feelings of anticipation I felt waiting for each secret to be revealed and how satisfied I felt when they were revealed and shared. The ending left me hoping that perhaps Gail Tsukiyama would write a sequel to The Color of Air. The Color of Air will be published in July of 2020. I highly recommend this book.I received a complimentary copy of The Color of Air by Gail Tsukiyama from Harper Collins Publishers, Gail Tsukiyama and Netgalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Another exquisite read by Gail Tsukiyama. She always delivers a beautiful story - evocative and loaded with sensory detail but without being fussy. Highly recommend.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book-- it turned out to be a beautiful heart-felt story. The characters were well developed and I felt like I knew each of them. The story portrays several relationships in a small Hawaiian village of Hilo. A volcano is rumbling and threatening the town and seems to set the pace of the story. The characters in the story are all tied together by their history, families, sugar and pineapple plantations, and the volcano they refer to as Pele. The story begins with Koji and Nori preparing the home of their deceased friend Mariko for the return of her only son, David. David returns to Hilo with secrets of his own and learns that everyone has secrets that burden them. A little guidance from a beloved elder woman in the village helps her friends discover that secrets shared can help heal the hurt.

Told in two timeframes, this lovely family saga is a great example of graceful writing by Gail Tsukiyama. Focusing on the immigrant population of Hilo, Hawaii, brought in to work the sugar plantations, she weaves a tapestry woven by disparate characters against the 1935 eruption of Mauna Loa, ending each section with "ghost voices" that go back decades to narrate the backstories that led to current events. Tsukiyama is a wonderful storyteller, who in a recent Zoom exchange addresses her Chinese/Japanese heritage, as she writes from both cultural points of view. She revealed she'd read once that Japanese had more in common with English, and the Chinese, Italians. Here she addresses the diverse population of Hawaii, most particularly the Japanese community, and does so beautifully.

A gorgeous sweeping historical fiction intertwined with a family saga that had simply beautiful prose.Following a disgraced doctor who flees Chicago to his native Hawaii just as the local volcano starts to erupt; we follow him and his family through time as we unravel long buried secrets.The characters, prose and narrators were brilliant. This was a simple story but an exquisite one

THE COLOR OF AIR portrays the Japanese-American community set against the background of sugar plantation in Hilo, Hawaii 1930's. Daniel was born in Hawaii and he was finally returning home after becoming doctor in Chicago. Koji and his family immigrated from Japan and he ended up working with sugar cane. He has always loved Mariko, Daniel's mother, who was married to his friend Franklin.Stunningly written, the story transported me to the lush village of Hilo - through evocative descriptions, I was mesmerized by the festival, food, culture and geology but most importantly the community. This small town was filled with people who were a big family in which every component, including Maura Loa (Pele) volcano, made this place beautiful. The captivating characters were crafted in depth and I couldn't help but care for each one of them. Tsukiyama interweaves the stories of Daniel, Koji and Mariko through multiple narrators and alternating timeline - Daniel's inner struggles and the big contrast in his life between the quiet island and rushed Chicago were accurately explored ; I particularly loved Koji's deep emotions that elevated his character as a pure yet realistic soul, also his perseverance was truly inspiring; in addition, I was fully invested in Mariko's memories which were present in every page.I was moved by the friendships and found the sisterhood between the Hilo aunties a strong bond that added another layer of preciousness to the plot. The author did a fabulous job at examining themes of work exploitation, sorrow, betrayal, love, family secrets and healing. The writing was lyrical in a way that made me feel like I was in Hilo - the air of familiarity provided an intimate reading experience.I didn't want this book to end and I am excited to read what Tsukiyama writes next.[ I received a complimentary copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review ]

I always like reading about a world I know nothing about. The sugar cane plantations and the Japanese, Chinese and Portuguese immigrants that worked them before WW2 is just that. I loved that the story centered around men and women who were lifelong friends with a shared history and secrets. The story takes place on the big island, Hawaii in the little town of Hilo and the Puli plantation up the mountain. The story is about three friends and is told back and forth between their teens and early 20s and later in their lives...probably late 50s. The backdrop is the eruption of the Mauna Loa volcano and its possible flow toward Hilo. Its a good read and Ms. Tsukiyama tells a good story.