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Behold the Many: A Novel
YAMANAKA, Lois-Ann. Behold the Many: A Novel. New York: Picador, 2007. 341p., ISBN 9780312426545 (pa). $14.00.
This haunting novel tells the achingly sad story of Anah, one of three sisters abandoned to an orphanage on Oahu after they contract tuberculosis in 1913. Yamanaka writes in a unique style, seamlessly integrating poetry and prose in a story that both breaks the heart and has one rooting for Anah’s happiness. Her works often reflect harsh conditions of childhood.
The sisters come from a violent mixed-race home, with a Portuguese father, an alcoholic, who beats their Japanese mother and abuses the children. Tragic subjects are not shied away from by Yamanaka, and the novel opens with a horrendous murder only fully revealed in the ending. Once abandoned, Anah takes a motherly role to her sisters, but to no avail. Her sisters Aki and Leah die in the orphanage. In a unique prose style, containing a variety of Hawaiian dialects and moving around through time, the dead continue to follow Anah throughout her life. Beauty and grief, happiness and devastation, illness and resilience, are effortlessly woven together as the novel follows Anah’s cursed life to its conclusion.
The novel has a feminist voice, both in its imagery and in its story. Grandmothers offer advice, lush valleys are compared to a woman’s body, traditional women’s healing techniques are used, with husbands and male characters often serving to only fill the background. Anah struggles through situations most women will relate to, although her experiences are more violent and disturbing. Hawaiian language, culture, and landscapes are presented in a way that even a reader unfamiliar with this unique culture feels as though they are experiencing it firsthand.
Although the ghosts of the past are a constant voice in this novel—and act savagely against the living—the real evil lurks in the events and actions of the living characters. From the abusive father, to the cold cruel German nuns who run the orphanage, to a horrific brutal event that finally relieves Anah of her curse, Yamanaka forces the reader to walk through intense pain and suffering. Yamanaka keeps her dark novel from being overwhelmingly depressing by sprinkling it with beauty and light in unexpected places. By no means is this a light and happy novel, but it is not bleak.
Lois-Ann Yamanaka, a former English, Drama and Speech teacher, is a prominent Hawai‘i author, with several acclaimed novels, Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers (1996), Blu’s Hanging (1997), Heads by Harry (1998), Name Me Nobody (2000), and Father of the Four Passages (2001). She is a graduate of Hilo High School, and was listed among "Those Who Shaped the Isles in this Century: 100 Who Made a Difference," by the Honolulu Star Bulletin. Yamanaka has received the Hawai'i Award for Literature, the American Book Award, the Children's Choice for Literature, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Yamanaka’s love of poetry (she has published several poetic works) shines throughout Behold the Many which has a lyrical quality. Yamanaka has written many works in Hawaiian Creole English (also known as Pidgin) and uses the dialect liberally in this novel.
For a Malihini (newcomer) especially, the book is not easy to read, as it jumps through time and dialects, and is most appropriate for advanced adult readers. The subject matter, including murder, rape, domestic violence, physical and sexual child abuse, racism, and malevolent supernatural forces is not suitable for elementary or middle school children. High school librarians will want to preview the item before purchasing. This book is recommended for public libraries.
This haunting novel tells the achingly sad story of Anah, one of three sisters abandoned to an orphanage on Oahu after they contract tuberculosis in 1913. Yamanaka writes in a unique style, seamlessly integrating poetry and prose in a story that both breaks the heart and has one rooting for Anah’s happiness. Her works often reflect harsh conditions of childhood.
The sisters come from a violent mixed-race home, with a Portuguese father, an alcoholic, who beats their Japanese mother and abuses the children. Tragic subjects are not shied away from by Yamanaka, and the novel opens with a horrendous murder only fully revealed in the ending. Once abandoned, Anah takes a motherly role to her sisters, but to no avail. Her sisters Aki and Leah die in the orphanage. In a unique prose style, containing a variety of Hawaiian dialects and moving around through time, the dead continue to follow Anah throughout her life. Beauty and grief, happiness and devastation, illness and resilience, are effortlessly woven together as the novel follows Anah’s cursed life to its conclusion.
The novel has a feminist voice, both in its imagery and in its story. Grandmothers offer advice, lush valleys are compared to a woman’s body, traditional women’s healing techniques are used, with husbands and male characters often serving to only fill the background. Anah struggles through situations most women will relate to, although her experiences are more violent and disturbing. Hawaiian language, culture, and landscapes are presented in a way that even a reader unfamiliar with this unique culture feels as though they are experiencing it firsthand.
Although the ghosts of the past are a constant voice in this novel—and act savagely against the living—the real evil lurks in the events and actions of the living characters. From the abusive father, to the cold cruel German nuns who run the orphanage, to a horrific brutal event that finally relieves Anah of her curse, Yamanaka forces the reader to walk through intense pain and suffering. Yamanaka keeps her dark novel from being overwhelmingly depressing by sprinkling it with beauty and light in unexpected places. By no means is this a light and happy novel, but it is not bleak.
Lois-Ann Yamanaka, a former English, Drama and Speech teacher, is a prominent Hawai‘i author, with several acclaimed novels, Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers (1996), Blu’s Hanging (1997), Heads by Harry (1998), Name Me Nobody (2000), and Father of the Four Passages (2001). She is a graduate of Hilo High School, and was listed among "Those Who Shaped the Isles in this Century: 100 Who Made a Difference," by the Honolulu Star Bulletin. Yamanaka has received the Hawai'i Award for Literature, the American Book Award, the Children's Choice for Literature, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Yamanaka’s love of poetry (she has published several poetic works) shines throughout Behold the Many which has a lyrical quality. Yamanaka has written many works in Hawaiian Creole English (also known as Pidgin) and uses the dialect liberally in this novel.
For a Malihini (newcomer) especially, the book is not easy to read, as it jumps through time and dialects, and is most appropriate for advanced adult readers. The subject matter, including murder, rape, domestic violence, physical and sexual child abuse, racism, and malevolent supernatural forces is not suitable for elementary or middle school children. High school librarians will want to preview the item before purchasing. This book is recommended for public libraries.
Submitted in May 2008 by Wendi Dotson, LIS Student, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
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