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No Place Like Home
The East Hawai'i Community Players need a smash hit to save Hilo's historic Palace Theater from the ravages of time, tropical weather, the ailing economy, a menacing network of drug dealers-and themselves from all manner of folly and heartbreak. The Wizard of Oz will be a sure thing. Or will it? Susan Wackerbarth tells this wry, playful story through an unlikely constellation of haole misfits, both "grown" and "flown," trying to find their way on the Big Island. Quirky, bittersweet, and suspenseful, this novel explores each person's longing for a home of the heart, and climaxes in an opening night no one will forget.
428 pages, Paperback
Published August 10, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 21, 2021
So, the other day I walked in to my favorite bookstore, Basically Books, which is now at 334 Kilauea, more or less across from Ben Franklin, near the heart of old Downtown Hilo.
I had dropped in to leave them some copies of He Pōhaku Makamae, the first in The Adventures of Kamaka Holmes series. (Shhhh, don't tell anyone, I write it under the pseudonym "Fevronia Watkins"). I have been a fan of Basically Books since childhood. The store is an outgrowth of Petroglyph Press, which is almost as old as I am. The founders, the Reed family, were friends with my grandparents, and so I grew up with their excellent collection of books on Hawaiʻi gracing our coffee tables and in our library. Son Dave Reed and his bride Christine accepted the kuleana to keep it going, and now their daughter is stepping in. It is rare to see a business survive three generations, and I am proud to be the third generation in our own ʻohana to do business with them.
After taking care of business, I said to Christine, "I have just completed reading what is probably the worst book set Hilo that I ever have read. I need something delightful to take the pain away." Christine lead me to a nice thick book with a cover in restful blues and greens, and said, "Well, you might try this. It's charming light reading, funny, and is just a nice fun romp." Well, at least she said something I interpreted in that light. I bought the book, took it home, laid it on the arm of the sofa, and got distracted by other things.
A few days later I was having difficulty sleeping, so I picked up the book. I read it in about three days, hardly putting it down. I carried it with me to read while stirring gravy, while eating, while waiting in lines, and I laid it on the floor to read while I did my downward dogs and child poses.
I KNOW the people in this book. Not that it is biographical, not by any means, but the personality types are just who you find in our beloved Palace Theater and sitting in the coffee shops downtown. It is oh, oh, oh so tempting to try and match specific characters to the denizens of our real-life Hilo. But please don't. One would not want to react to a real person based on the character, and the characters are so very Hilo (and Puna) that it would be easy to do.
The story follows the cast of a community theater production of The Wizard of Oz as they gather, rehearse, and finally open the play. A classic whodunnit, the arc rises and falls as it should, but it was the array of characters that kept me reading. I was constantly eager to see how each one would react to the situations they kept walking into—some eyes wide open, and others carelessly stumbling. I was amazed and impressed at how many characters Wackerbarth kept "onstage" so to speak. Sometimes it was a little challenging to keep straight who was whom, but it was manageable.
The Hilo and Puna that the characters move through is certainly recognizable as those portions of the island on which I grew up and continue to live. Those who have read other reviews of mine know that I am a stickler for accuracy. No Place Like Home paints one of the most accurate images of Hilo and Puna I have seen in fiction. Some places in this alternate/literary universe have alternate names to those in our temporal world. That is fair, it is a work of fiction, not a history. But like all my favorite fiction, the universe operates within defined laws, and obeys them. There is no "University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo" or "UHH" There is a "Hilo U." But it is accurate to the time and place where one would expect a "Hilo U" in this university town of ours.
The only point with which I take issue is that hapa does not mean "part Asian." Originally, hapa (the Hawaiian transliteration of the English word "half" when applied to people) meant a person of half Hawaiian and half other (usually haole) descent. Usually, when applied to other descent lines, they will be specified. For example, hapa-Kepani, "half-Japanese," hapa-Pākē, "half-Chinese," etc. I am hapa because I am part Hawaiian. I am also part Chinese, but that is not why I am hapa. If I were not part Hawaiian, I would be haole-Pākē. But other than that, I found the details to be well-researched and accurate—obviously written by someone who has lived here and observed our local quirks with a keen eye for detail. Yeah, I love that she knows about the singing bridge. Insert a heart emoji here.
The descriptions of the idiosyncratic characters are vivid, from the ex who goes through girlfriends like potato chips to the Facebooking teen who is frustrated with her New Age mom to the Viet Nam vet in Puna. Even the conspiracy-laden radio show so popular in these parts gets air time in the delineation of their personalities. If tempted to dismiss these characters as stereotypes, well, I've known each of them and am FB friends with a few!
There is one thing that is not strictly true, but it works in this story, so Historian Me is saying, "How creative!" It's not a mistake, it is a careful construction. And there are urban legends which make it "feel" real. I'm going to put a bunch of stars and a spoiler alert below. I recommend that you DO NOT read the spoiler until after you read the book. Then come back and see what it was.
Enjoy this delightful tale. It is a refreshing read—a literary margarita on a hot day—fun, sweet, fragrant, and a lovely way to relax.
****************
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!
****************
****************
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!
****************
****************
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!
****************
There are no underground tunnels linking the buildings throughout the business district of Hilo, and you cannot pop in and out of manholes in the sidewalks to go from place to place. No one drowned in the basement of the Palace Theater during a tsunami. Though there are certainly urban legends making such claims! Keep an eye out for an upcoming article on this. I'll put a link here when I write it. I did think that it was a cool thing to put in the story.
There are a lot of ghost stories connected with the Palace Theater. The ghosts are either helpful or benign.
I had dropped in to leave them some copies of He Pōhaku Makamae, the first in The Adventures of Kamaka Holmes series. (Shhhh, don't tell anyone, I write it under the pseudonym "Fevronia Watkins"). I have been a fan of Basically Books since childhood. The store is an outgrowth of Petroglyph Press, which is almost as old as I am. The founders, the Reed family, were friends with my grandparents, and so I grew up with their excellent collection of books on Hawaiʻi gracing our coffee tables and in our library. Son Dave Reed and his bride Christine accepted the kuleana to keep it going, and now their daughter is stepping in. It is rare to see a business survive three generations, and I am proud to be the third generation in our own ʻohana to do business with them.
After taking care of business, I said to Christine, "I have just completed reading what is probably the worst book set Hilo that I ever have read. I need something delightful to take the pain away." Christine lead me to a nice thick book with a cover in restful blues and greens, and said, "Well, you might try this. It's charming light reading, funny, and is just a nice fun romp." Well, at least she said something I interpreted in that light. I bought the book, took it home, laid it on the arm of the sofa, and got distracted by other things.
A few days later I was having difficulty sleeping, so I picked up the book. I read it in about three days, hardly putting it down. I carried it with me to read while stirring gravy, while eating, while waiting in lines, and I laid it on the floor to read while I did my downward dogs and child poses.
I KNOW the people in this book. Not that it is biographical, not by any means, but the personality types are just who you find in our beloved Palace Theater and sitting in the coffee shops downtown. It is oh, oh, oh so tempting to try and match specific characters to the denizens of our real-life Hilo. But please don't. One would not want to react to a real person based on the character, and the characters are so very Hilo (and Puna) that it would be easy to do.
The story follows the cast of a community theater production of The Wizard of Oz as they gather, rehearse, and finally open the play. A classic whodunnit, the arc rises and falls as it should, but it was the array of characters that kept me reading. I was constantly eager to see how each one would react to the situations they kept walking into—some eyes wide open, and others carelessly stumbling. I was amazed and impressed at how many characters Wackerbarth kept "onstage" so to speak. Sometimes it was a little challenging to keep straight who was whom, but it was manageable.
The Hilo and Puna that the characters move through is certainly recognizable as those portions of the island on which I grew up and continue to live. Those who have read other reviews of mine know that I am a stickler for accuracy. No Place Like Home paints one of the most accurate images of Hilo and Puna I have seen in fiction. Some places in this alternate/literary universe have alternate names to those in our temporal world. That is fair, it is a work of fiction, not a history. But like all my favorite fiction, the universe operates within defined laws, and obeys them. There is no "University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo" or "UHH" There is a "Hilo U." But it is accurate to the time and place where one would expect a "Hilo U" in this university town of ours.
The only point with which I take issue is that hapa does not mean "part Asian." Originally, hapa (the Hawaiian transliteration of the English word "half" when applied to people) meant a person of half Hawaiian and half other (usually haole) descent. Usually, when applied to other descent lines, they will be specified. For example, hapa-Kepani, "half-Japanese," hapa-Pākē, "half-Chinese," etc. I am hapa because I am part Hawaiian. I am also part Chinese, but that is not why I am hapa. If I were not part Hawaiian, I would be haole-Pākē. But other than that, I found the details to be well-researched and accurate—obviously written by someone who has lived here and observed our local quirks with a keen eye for detail. Yeah, I love that she knows about the singing bridge. Insert a heart emoji here.
The descriptions of the idiosyncratic characters are vivid, from the ex who goes through girlfriends like potato chips to the Facebooking teen who is frustrated with her New Age mom to the Viet Nam vet in Puna. Even the conspiracy-laden radio show so popular in these parts gets air time in the delineation of their personalities. If tempted to dismiss these characters as stereotypes, well, I've known each of them and am FB friends with a few!
There is one thing that is not strictly true, but it works in this story, so Historian Me is saying, "How creative!" It's not a mistake, it is a careful construction. And there are urban legends which make it "feel" real. I'm going to put a bunch of stars and a spoiler alert below. I recommend that you DO NOT read the spoiler until after you read the book. Then come back and see what it was.
Enjoy this delightful tale. It is a refreshing read—a literary margarita on a hot day—fun, sweet, fragrant, and a lovely way to relax.
****************
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!
****************
****************
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!
****************
****************
!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!
****************
There are no underground tunnels linking the buildings throughout the business district of Hilo, and you cannot pop in and out of manholes in the sidewalks to go from place to place. No one drowned in the basement of the Palace Theater during a tsunami. Though there are certainly urban legends making such claims! Keep an eye out for an upcoming article on this. I'll put a link here when I write it. I did think that it was a cool thing to put in the story.
There are a lot of ghost stories connected with the Palace Theater. The ghosts are either helpful or benign.
April 25, 2021
A delightful novel about life in Hilo, especially among transplants who have made the town their home. Also a great insight into community theatre and the drama behind the scenes as well as on stage. The community is trying to save the worn but beloved Palace Theatre, and this performance of the The Wizard of Oz is part of the rescue plan. Wackerbarth handles the intersections of lives, loves, and motives deftly as she weaves together the story of the community of players, beset by a mysterious prankster, whose actions become more and more threatening, culminating in an opening night where the drama is not just on the stage.
March 1, 2021
Life and Love in Hilo Town
The author took me on a lighthearted journey into the intricacies of life in Hilo Town. I followed the trials and tribulations of a quirky cast of transplants intent on saving the decrepit Palace Theatre. Looking for love, security, and a place to belong, their individual stories culminate in an intense and eventful opening night. Characters have depth and the details of life in Hilo are well drawn. Definitely an interesting read!
The author took me on a lighthearted journey into the intricacies of life in Hilo Town. I followed the trials and tribulations of a quirky cast of transplants intent on saving the decrepit Palace Theatre. Looking for love, security, and a place to belong, their individual stories culminate in an intense and eventful opening night. Characters have depth and the details of life in Hilo are well drawn. Definitely an interesting read!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews