Talking to the Dead

by Sylvia Watanabe

By an 0. Henry Award-winning young writer, these interrelated stories paint a moving, many-faceted portrait of a Hawaiian village, where ancient traditions and modern values meet in a magical mix of the marvelous and the real.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1992

About the author

Sylvia Watanabe's short story cycle, Talking to the Dead, was a finalist for the 1993 PEN Faulkner Award. She is the recipient of an NEA fellowship, a Josephine Miles Pen Oakland award in fiction and an Ohio Arts Council grant in nonfiction. Watanabe's fiction and nonfiction have appeared in many anthologies, including the O'Henry Prize and Pushcart Prize collections. During the 90's she co-edited two volumes of Asian American fiction, Home to Stay and Into the Fire, with Carol Bruchac, of the Greenfield Review Press. Home to Stay was the first anthology of Asian American women's fiction to be published in the U.S. In 2007-08, she received an Oberlin College award for excellence in teaching. Her current book-length fiction project is about the survivors of the American nuclear testing in the Pacific.

(from http://new.oberlin.edu/arts-and-scien...)

Reviews

[Elsary]

I didn't realise this was a collection of novels, all loosely related. It was fascinating.

The stories are set in Hawaii, a community with Japanese backgrounds. When I visited Okinawa, both me and my mum were surprised to find it very much like Hawaii - despite the fact that neither of us has ever been to Hawaii. Talking To the Dead strengthened this feeling - that weird, almost seamless mix of the original local culture, Japanese imperialism, and American neocolonialism, where the cracks and pressurepoints aren't visible immediately but as you look more careful, you can't unsee them.

I'm repeating myself, but this was fascinating, and beautiful too.

[Mia♫]

- Really nice find at a local bookstore in Ann Arbor
- Each short story was a snapshot of how different people in one village were all somehow interconnected and the different ways they went about life as traditions remained but the world kept on changing
- Makes me miss my grandma and I have more questions for her now

[Ashley Holland]

This was better than I was expecting. Kinda makes me more interested in learning about Hawaii before it was added to the USA. I like how all the stories are connected by the village everyone lives in. Overall, pretty cute book.

[Caly ☯ Crazy Book Lady]

Some of the stories were better than others but overall it was an interesting book and an easy read

[Mary Preston]

So this is a quick good read. The only problem i had with it is that none of the stories have happy endings but they are still good.

[Jennie]

2019 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge #8 - An #ownvoices book set in Oceania

[Ibtisam 💕]

Reading this book for the second time and I realized what a beautiful book it is. This time around I felt like I was able to make more connections that I did not notice before.

[Connie]

This collection features the interconnectedness of a Maui village before the surge of development. Each story beautifully illustrates small-town life with gossip, the weight of names and familial pride, claustrophobia: “From where we were, we could see into the yards of all the houses around us.”

from “4 Books That Kept Me Alive While Missing Maui: A Reading List” via BOOK RIOT: https://bookriot.com/127204/

[Ke]

For someone who has never been to Hawaii, this book provides an insider's look of the people's lives. I liked most stories, though I wished that they could get into more depth of their characters' psyche.

[Rachel (Sfogs)]

A nice quick read! A collection of short stories following different people in a community,
which connect enough to give a picture of the community from different points of view.

[Donna]

Loved the story about the girl who learned the ways if burial from Auntie Talking to the Dead.

[Alyssa]

It sort of reminded me of Olive Kitteridge with stories from different people in the same community and how they all intertwined