Mas Arai leaves his home in warm California to travel across the country to the chill and strangeness of New York City, responding to his daughter Mari's call for help. A gardener by trade, Mas doesn't take well to the huge, cold city that has barely any green space for gardens.
Mas has no idea what to expect once he reaches his daughter's home. Since she was a child, she was gasa-gasa -- always moving around, never sitting still. Not until he arrives does he learn that Mari and her husband, Lloyd (also a gardener), need his help with a huge garden that Lloyd is in charge of. There has been extensive vandalism -- but the problems escalate when Mas arrives at the garden to find a dead body there. In addition, Mas finds out that his newborn grandson, whom he has never met, is so sick with jaundice that he may need blood transfusions.
Ms. Hirahara has created an excellent look into the Japanese culture with this second mystery in her series. (The first was SUMMER OF THE BIG BACHI and also featured Mas.) Mas is an attractive character with much depth. It is fascinating to be in his head and see what he is thinking, because he says very little. Like most parent/child relationships, Mari and Mas have to struggle to communicate, but it's always clear that they love each other.
I really enjoyed this book, partly for its mystery elements, but mostly for the characters and their relationship to each other.
From the time she was a child, Mas Araiβs daughter, Mari,
was completely gasa-gasaβnever sitting still, always on the
go, getting into everything. And Mas, busy tending lawns,
gambling, and struggling to put his Hiroshima past behind
him, never had much time for the family he was trying to
support. For years now, his resentful daughter has lived a
continent away in New York City, and had a life he knew
little about. But an anxious phone call from Mari asking
for his help plunges the usually obstinate Mas into a
series of startling situations from maneuvering in an
unfamiliar city to making nice with his tall, blond son-in-
law, Lloyd, to taking care of a sickly childβ¦to finding a
dead body in the rubble of a former koi pond.
The victim was Kazzy Ouchi, a half-Japanese millionaire who
also happened to be Mari and Lloydβs boss. Stumbling onto
the scene, Mas sees more amiss than the detectives do, but
his instinct is to keep his mouth shut. Only when the case
threatens his daughter and her family does Mas take action:
patiently, stubbornly tugging at the end of a tangled,
dangerous mystery. And as he does, he begins to lay bare a
tragic secret on the dark side of an American dream.β¦
Both a riveting mystery and a powerful story of passionate
relationships across a cultural divide, Gasa-Gasa Girl is a
tale told with heart and wisdom: an unforgettable portrait
of fathers, daughters, and other strangers.
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