| Title | : | He Mele A Hilo (A Hilo Song) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781489520418 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 310 |
| Publication | : | First published May 5, 2014 |
On one beautiful island, we discover that loving other people in spite of their flaws might just begin with being true to our own selves.
He Mele A Hilo (A Hilo Song) Reviews
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No one ever paid much attention to mac salad—it was just a side dish. But without mac salad, plate lunch wouldn’t be plate lunch. No ways. Something would be missing—no matter how good the tempura was, or the katsu, or even the chicken.
He Mele A Hilo is a book I’m sure I never would have read, or likely even heard of, if I hadn’t been given a copy by my son’s fiancée. It is written in an apparently authentic dialect called Hawaiian Pidgin English. There’s a glossary in the back of the book, but it doesn’t take very long to get used to the occasional unfamiliar word, which can also usually be figured out from context.
Something has to be there, between the main kau kau, to make everything one true meal…
Jonny-Boy took another bite of the salad, then some chicken. Then some more salad. Then a bite of tempura. He smiled. Was ono.
...
“Just be yourself, Nona,” said the old lady in red. “That’s all you ever had to be.”
The story has an ensemble cast of about seven main characters, each of whom is hurting in one way or another due to illness, being unable to move on after the loss of a spouse, feeling out of place or lost, or unresolved issues from the sins of one’s parents. But as the characters start to interact with one another, largely due to an upcoming hula show, they begin to help each other see a way out of their troubles.
He Mele A Hilo has a fair amount of magical realism and—either because of thar magic or despite it—feels like a deeply Hawaiian story. It’s all about being in touch with your surroundings, the people and the environment. Living in the moment, and doing what feels right. Appreciating how everyone and everything has a role, or a place, that will help them become their best self. I’m glad I gave it a try, because it’s a charming, uplifting story. Recommended when you’re looking for something different, and/or a book that will make you feel a little bit better about the world. -
Wonderful. Genuinely felt she made my grumpy old withered black heart bigger by the end. A real warm joy of a read that I recommend to one and all. She manages the very tricky task of writing about things like love, tradition, finding of the self and forgiveness of the self, without being sappy or trite or chocolate-box sweet. Plus, I am sure I felt something of the warmth of Hawai’i slipping through this frosty English February as I read, which is about as close to magic as I get...
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He Mele A Hilo: A Hilo Song by Ryka Aoki is a story populated with the most wonderfully diverse characters and voices. I was surprised that I did not need to take notes to keep all the characters straight, which has been necessary for so many of my other reads lately. What a breath of fresh air! It is a story of belonging, family, food, identity, spirituality, and hula all woven together with rain, ocean, lava and land. It is exactly the kind of beautiful soul escape I needed and perhaps many could use right now.
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I loved that it was written in Hawaiian Pidgin English with a glossary at the back. Before starting I read through the glossary but I caught on quickly and didn't refer to it often while reading. One thing that I didn't know about was all the terms referring to ethnicity in Pidgin. I think most people know 'haole' as the term for white folks, especially from the mainland, but there are many others. From what I gathered in further reading some could be seen as deragatory depending on tone and intent which in this book was not the case. They seemed to be more terms of endearment and identity than anything negative.
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Ryka Aoki has a talent for writing in the same way some of her characters do with hula, music, cooking chicken, fishing, and more. It is innate, it brings you to tears, and makes your face hurt because you don't even realize you have been smiling so hard while reading. I do not remember where I heard about this book, around this time last year, but I remember searching for Hawaiian Own Voice authors and this sounded exactly like what I was looking for. I would absolutely recommend to everyone! -
An incredible first novel from Ryka Aoki full of myth, food, music and heart. He Mele A Hilo follows an endlessly endearing ensemble of characters (who speak and are described in the local language of Pidgin) - their stories entwine and unravel at a relaxed pace that fits perfectly with the themes Aoki's working with. The narrative slowly peels back the edges of our world to reveal a magic that is at once mysterious and divine and as ordinary and knowable as spam. I usually find myself slogging through adult literary fiction, but this was a real pleasure to read.
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I cried through the last fifty pages of this book. Perhaps the closest I've ever come to tears of joy while reading.
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I'm from Hawaii and my dad grew up in Hilo: Hilo is the only place we'd go on vacation when I was a young kid, and I have so many fond memories of it. This book was so comfortable and warm, and I'm excited to read more that Ryka Aoki has written.
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pretty much cried straight through this one and don't think it was only cuz i'm gonna bleed soon. there's without a doubt an immensity of depth i'm missing partially through language (it's written in hawaiian pidgin english) & partially through my lack of knowledge about the gods of those islands and their stories. what i received from this book were pictures of some rare & sweet kinds of romance & partnership, some subtle & complex kinds of growth in community, and also a relationship to innate talent that i deeply appreciated but that also raised such immense longing in me (thus the crying), specifically relationships to dance and music.
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"He Mele A Hilo" is a story about love, faith, friendship, and identity. Written in Hawaiian pidgen English, the narrator weaves several individual tales together to create one large story. Some transitions between voices will feel choppy to those unused to folktales and traditional story telling. All in all, the cadence and language feel warm. Ryka Aoki has done a wonderful job immersing the reader in Hawaiian culture, and bringing to life the lives of Harry, Nona, Noelani, Kam, and Steve, to name a few.
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One of the best books I've read in awhile!
A story about culture, music, food, community, dance, spirituality, and finding the song that lives inside each of us.
A book that makes the soul feel both energized and at home.
Content Note: suicidal ideation -
This is a genius book and one that I want everyone to read.
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A clarion call to love thyself and others and all the mistakes and flaws that come along in the package, He Mele A Hilo is a fun, relaxing read about personal growth and identity with a colourful backdrop of Hawaii, its landscape and culture, food, dancing, music, and even language (teaching you Hawaiian local slang throughout the book). Aoki creates rich vignettes of characters and links them together in her microcosm of the world, and as we uncover more and more about each character through their childhood stories or their interactions with each other, we seem to grow with them as well. Chapters are not titled, but different sections in each chapter have cute descriptive names such as 'The Tale of the Evil Plate Lunch,' 'The Tale of the Crazy Omelet,' and 'Strange Kine Funny Tings' which divvies up the novel into manageable bite-sized chunks.
If you would love a book about Hawaii, the drive behind expression through the arts, and/or getaways that will heal you spiritually even physically, would recommend. -
I absolutely LOVE this novel. Since I'm at work, and have already spent the first hour here finishing the book, I'll keep this quick. This book is full of characters who have deep histories with each other, with their families and communities and with the islands. You'll love this book if you're into seeing the world as full of ancient magic and believe that our past is always part of our present. I could hear all the voices as I read though I did have to make liberal use of the hawaiian pidgin glossary int he back. If you love food, dance, music or human relationships then you might enjoy this book. Please read this book!
okay go read this review:
You are more than your trans self by Emma Caterine. -
I thought this was a hidden gem of a book - I'm glad I managed to get it on ILL, as not that many libraries have it. I like how it felt kind of like a goofy soap opera but then had a lot of emotional complexity to it, at least for the first 3/4 of the book. Then it got kind of heavy handed and repetitive with its lessons of everyone learning to accept themselves and focus on what brings them joy and not what other people think of them. But still, I liked the variety of internal dilemmas the characters had (especially the main characters Harry, Nona, and Kam) and the way the author showed even people who seemed confident had their insecurities or foibles. Also, the writing in Hawai'ian pidgin was neat - not too hard to read, and it brought a distinct sense of place to the novel.
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Ryka's He Mele A Hilo is a delicious read. Set in Hawaii, this lush, comforting story explores ideas of identity, propriety and belonging. Following and joining the threads of her characters' searches for authenticity, Ryka gives us a view of Hawaii from many sets of eyes. Conversational in tone and pace, this book is an example of storytelling done by someone who excels at connecting to their audience and delivering characters who are believably whole human beings, worthy of our love and attention.
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I really loved this. It's one of those books where you smile fondly later when something reminds you of one of the characters like you would about someone you know in real life.
I read this as part of the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge (for the own voices Oceania prompt) and also because I was traveling to Hawaii and wanted to read something by someone who was from there. I finished it on the plane and I think I referenced it more than any guidebook we took with us.
I would read a whole series with these people. -
It is a wonderfully written novel, flowing and structured at the same time, the characters are individuals and archetypes, and Hawaii and its spirit is most definitely the heart of the story. I haven't been touched like this by a book in a very long time.
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He Mele a Hilo (A Hilo Song) is a delicious novel, filled with vibrant portraits of its characters. Not to be missed.
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Wonderful, magic portrait of a small community in Hilo, Hawaii. Aoki's characters are richly conceived. I'm excited to check out other titles from Topside Press.
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He Mele a Hilo is a story of a mish mash of native and Mainlander characters living in the Hilo Town on Hawai'i island. Mainly, we see each characters' individual journeys to "finding themselves" and confident in who they are. The cast of characters are endearing and charming. I can identify with most of them. Yet, the structure of the book--heavy dialogue and quick transitions from one characters' story to another--prevented me from actually knowing each characters' history. I didn't really know a lot about how the characters came to be--like why Kam is distant from his LA Jewish family or Harry's relationship with his wife or why Nona feels so insecure about her looks. The stories were disconnected and lacked historical development.
Aoki definitely captures the spirit of Hilo Town, sleepy yet thriving in tradition. I appreciate that Aoki wrote the book in pidgin. By doing so, she normalized Hawaiian pidgin as part of the American vernacular and that great American literature can be written in non-standard American English. Aoki also played on the theme of magical realism incorporating visits from Madame Pele herself and other Hawaiian goddesses throughout the book and with various characters (although Madame Pele does reportedly visit folks in Hawaii in real life).
Unfortunately, the editors did not do a great job proofreading the book; I caught a few errors where they didn't delete extra punctuations or words. I was disappointed that they did not take care that Aoki deserved. -
Oh my goodness, I love this book so much! I just read her newest title, "Light From Uncommon Stars", and I thoroughly enjoyed it and wanted to read more by this author so I found her previous novel, He Mele A Hilo, and now I am truly a devoted fan! ;0)
This is such a fun, heartwarming, beautiful story- full of magic, and told in an authentic voice, truly- there's a Hilo Glossary to refer to in the back of the book, which I did, many times.
I cannot sing enough praise for this book- just read it! -
Read Round the World 2022: an Island
Popsugar 2022: a book featuring two languages
Genreland 2022: To Lift Your Spirits
I read this book on the strength of the author's better known book "The Light from Uncommon Stars". After two books I can say that this author is good comfort reading for me. She isn't afraid of some darkness but ultimately has a hopeful outlook and believes in community. She loves music, food, and sinking into a place's culture. She has a lot of Hawai'ian Pidgin words in the book with a funny glossary at the back.
This book is more about characters than plot. It explores the lives of several people living in or near Hilo, the windward side of the Big Island. This is the green, rainy side of the island, maybe not quite as touristy as the dry side. We are invited into the lives of several members of an amateur hula troupe, a haole (non-native)guitarist who's moved to Hawai'i looking for something (he's not sure what), a tech mogul who might really be God(who still could use a vacation), a restaurant owner infamous for her family's filching of recipes who really, really wants this one chicken recipe so joins the hula troupe to make a play for it, and more.
The title translates as "A Song for Hilo". There's a lot about music in this book, dance too. There's a bit of a meditation on how creativity works, and how learning a place is important if you want to help anyone or anything because there are complex systems always in play. There is a LOT about good food. I really wanted to try that chicken! I looked up ling hing, musubi, malasadas, and was about ready to fly to Hawai'i immediately to find all of that and wash it down with a giant guava juice.
This book should definitely make your list of comfort reads. -
This book was wonderful! It was so funny and light and just a joy to read. I loved all of the references and pidgen. The whole book just had me smiling and laughing while I read it. The food descriptions were so spot on! The hula was so amazing to read about. This book made me feel so warm and happy. I also loved the appearances of the goddess Pele and the magic that was so seamlessly woven into this story.
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This didn't really click for me. There were a ton of characters, and the POV jumps were very choppy and short, which made it hard for me to really settle in. I loved the setting and the way Aoki wrote about the community -- it felt very much like a book about a place. But the emotions of the characters seemed secondary, and I had trouble connecting.
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I never wanted this book to end. Every page was a taste of Hawaii - the atmosphere, the attitudes, the foods, the music, the community, the speech patterns. It's one of those books I put off finishing for a while because I just wanted to continue to live inside of it a little longer, and sure enough, the ending made me cry. An absolute joy from start to finish.
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I really loved this, the copy edit is a bit rough around the edges but sometimes that’s how things go. The actual character and plot writing I liked a lot personally, you get sort of gently carried along with the story and the different characters.
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The right book at the right time. This was a total gift from the universe and Ryka Aoki. Hawaii comes to life in these pages: sights, sounds, smells, tastes. The musicality and spirituality and art of the islands. It’s all there.
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While I enjoyed Light from Uncommon Stars enough to track down this earlier novel, it turns out this is the book that I needed to read. Without giving too much away, I’ll say that Hilo is as much a character as a setting in this story, which I love. Other characters inhabit the place and language (by turns poetic and/or in dialect) that bring them to life. The story is a bit like The City We Became crossed with American Gods, and yet uniquely itself. The characters save and heal each other with such seemingly simple gifts as their personal understandings of fishing, hula, or plate lunch. They also offer several, often humorous, insights related to the question, “What is Hawaiian?”
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This is a fantastic character study that had me reminiscing about Hawaii.
Compared to The Light From Uncommon Stars, this book runs without a plot and it may be better for it. There are a lot of common themes between the two novels. They both celebrate food, art, locale, and self discovery. They both have characters that leap off the page. The story here builds slowly like the ride rolling in and crescendos into a satisfying conclusion. The Light From Uncommon Stars Grand is engaging right from the beginning and the plot is strong right to the climax but the ending left me a bit disappointed.
