{"product_id":"language-of-the-geckos-and-other-stories-9780295985275","title":"Language of the Geckos and Other Stories","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eGary Pak has emerged as one of the most important Asian Hawaiian writers of our time. In this new collection, Pak expertly crafts a memorable cast of Hawai''i''s Korean Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, and Native Hawaiians, amplifying our cross-cultural understanding of Hawaiian life today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe nine short stories in \u003ci\u003eLanguage of the Geckos and Other Stories\u003c\/i\u003e paint an array of locals caught up in failed dreams of financial success and romantic fulfillment. Many of these stories deal with issues particular to Native Hawaiian perspectives, while others take slice-of-life glimpses at characters alienated in the land of their birth. Pak''s sure narrative voice shifts deftly between his actors, shading the nuanced voices and interior lives of housewives, mechanics, cabdrivers, aging hippies, and desperate bargirls. Most of these characters speak in the lingua franca of the islands, a highly developed Creole that is commonly called Pidgin English. Also strong\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Pak’s vivid, sometimes shocking imagery and his emotionally complex characters drive home the underlying themes of the nine stories in this slim volume—unfulfilled dreams, failed, lives, and the loss of hope . . . forcing readers to confront a very different Hawai'i—paradise only to some.\"\u003c\/p\u003e * Booklist *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Pak’s accessible prose and compassion for his characters vivify the dilemmas of people hobbled by limited means or racial hierarchies.\"\u003c\/p\u003e * Publishers Weekly *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Magical realism, Hawaiian-style.\"\u003c\/p\u003e * Los Angeles Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eLiving with Spirits, Writing as Activism: A Preface\u003cbr\u003e A House of Mirrors\u003cbr\u003e Language of the Geckos\u003cbr\u003e Rebirth\u003cbr\u003e Hae Soon's Song\u003cbr\u003e An Angel for Guy Matsuzaki\u003cbr\u003e The Guest\u003cbr\u003e My Friend Kammy\u003cbr\u003e Ishamel Reed or Me\u003cbr\u003e A Memory for Martin\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Washington Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49400913625431,"sku":"9780295985275","price":21.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780295985275.jpg?v=1730471931","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/language-of-the-geckos-and-other-stories-9780295985275","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}