Review: The Color of Air (by Gail Tsukiyama)

My Rating:  5 stars

Gail Tsukiyama is an author I’ve been wanting to read for awhile.  I’ve had a copy of her most famous work, Women of the Silk, on my bookshelf for years, but unfortunately haven’t had the chance to read it yet.  Well, that might change now after reading her newest work The Color of Air, which I enjoyed to the point that I want to go back and explore her backlist while waiting impatiently for her next work.   

I love the way Tsukiyama writes — in a style that is quiet and gentle, yet the story still packs a punch.  With this book, Tsukiyama takes her time with the narrative — slowly, chapter by chapter, we learn about the Japanese-American family at the center of the narrative, but more than that, we also learn the stories of those around them, all members of the close-knit community in the town of Hilo, Hawaii.   Set against the historical context of the Mauna Loa volcano’s eruption in 1935, this event was woven beautifully into the story, with its juxtaposition against the return of the town’s beloved young doctor Daniel Abe and the secrets that slowly come to light, both within the family and in the community.  A sense of anticipation permeates the story — both in terms of the aftermath of the eruption (the question of the lava flow’s direction and what will happen to those in its path) as well as the revelation of long-held secrets within the family and the community —and we are left to wonder, as the story progresses, what the path forward will be for all the characters.   From a historical perspective, Tsukiyama also weaves into her narrative the lesser known history of Asian indentured servitude on Hawaii’s sugar plantations.  Uncle Koji’s story of how his family arrived in Hawaii from Japan as contracted immigrant workers on the plantations -- a stint that was only supposed to last 3 years but turned into a lifetime.  Related to this, there is also Razor’s story and what happened to him as one of the workers on the plantations, snippets of which are shared through Koji’s memories of his best friend, but also through Razor’s own “voice” at the end of some of the sections.   The way that the past and present blended together so seamlessly, this worked well from a narrative structure perspective.

Speaking of the characters, this was one of those rare instances where I loved the entire cast of characters, whether major or minor.  Each character was unforgettable and grew fonder to me with the progression of the story from one chapter to another and all the way through to the end.  Daniel, Koji, Samuel, Wilson and Mano, all were great characters, but the ones that left the biggest impression on me were the women in the story – Mariko, Nori, Mama Natua, Maile, Leia, the Hilo Aunties.  I was moved by the strong bond that they all shared – an unbreakable bond that continued to endure not only through all of life’s ups and downs, but also was strong enough to even transcend death.  One of the unique aspects of Tsukiyama’s storytelling is her ability to portray all her characters with such tenderness and compassion.  These are characters who endure a lot, plus there are the complicated family dynamics, the conflicts, the drama that inevitably follows, yet the underlying message of hope and resilience is so strong.   At its core, this is also an immigrant story, but one that is lovingly told as well as rooted in hope from the getgo. 

I enjoyed everything about this book, from the characters, the story, and of course, the incredibly atmospheric writing.  The lush descriptions of the island’s landscape, as well as its history and people, gave such a tremendous sense of time and place – to the point that the setting came alive almost as though it were a character itself.  Loved this one and definitely recommend it!

Received ARC from HarperCollins (HarperVia) via NetGalley.