Title: If You Live in a Small HouseAuthor: Sandra Park
Publisher: Mutual Publishing
ISBN, PUB Date: 978-1566479271, August 17, 2010
Reviewed by: Dee Casado
It’s the early 1950s in Hawai’i. A multi-generation Korean-American family crams into a house in the Coconut Grove suburb of windward O’ahu, across the mountains from Honolulu. With too many in too small a space, dreams either shrink-to-fit or seek escape—father recalls his wartime romance, sister-in-law Gloria yearns for a husband, son Ezra sows the seeds of homesickness even as he plots to leave home. Sandra Park’s novella captures the pent-up desires of family and an endless fascination with strangers. House, island, world—it’s a story that sings like a radio tune, familiar to anyone struck by longing and homesickness.
I struggled with this book and did not finish it. In leiu of of a complete book review, the following is a list of reasons why I was unable to finish it:
• The use of language failed to pull me into the story.
• I felt as if the author was rambling along aimlessly with no real direction in mind. It seemed like words were just tossed on the paper without a meaning.
• I thought the characters were flat and uninviting.
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