HULA

by Lisa Shea

Fine in fine dust jacket. Hardcover first edition - New Norton,, 1994.. Hardcover first edition -. Fine in fine dust jacket.. First printing. The author's highly praised first book, the story of two young girls during 2 summers in the 60's as their sexuality surfaces, and their parents' marriage strains toward the end. Dustjacket praise from Francine Prose, Kaye Gibbons and others. 155 pp.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, School, Contemporary, Adult, Adult Fiction

155 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

i am choosing to picture the sisters in this book as looking like sally mann's photographs. those eyes... these kids have seen some shit. and it manifests itself in a thousand ways in the details of this book - the foundations are disturbed.



this is a family story, focused upon the dangerous and subtle undertow of the first awareness of sex and death and their commingling in preadolescent girls.



this book resides in the porous space between short stories and novel. there is no individual arc to each story, but neither does it create, at the end of the day, a cohesive novel. this book is a collection of things that happened to two sister characters during their formative years with a father suffering from PTSD, a war-memento metal plate in his head and a penchant for wearing a gorilla mask and hands, a dancer-mother who no longer dances, and is wilting under pressure, and a series of sexually curious and pre-predatory boys metaphorically peering over the fence.

i loved that all of the action took place during two subsequent summers - it is like coming across a jumble of someone else's photographs in a box and there are so many questions about what happened in between the time when the pictures were taken. it's a really excellent way to tell a story in moments.



the only thing preventing this book from a five-star rating was the ending. i liked how shadowy the tone of the rest of the book was - it felt dangerous and subterranean and the end felt flashlit and exposed, if that makes any sense to anyone who hasn't read it.

this isn't the david lynch exploration of the horrors of suburbia - it is more subtle even than that. it takes place in the underpinnings - the secret dirty linens of family history and the mysteries of teen-girl psychology. it isn't all sugar and spice, after all. a lot of it is violence and manipulation and confusion.

overall, a short little book that will stay with you for a while...



come to my blog!

[Kathrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost shelved this little book in horror-thriller. It's not intentionally a thriller, but the voice of the child narrator, analyzing her world with the only tools available to her, constantly toes the precipice of complete devastation. I fear for her and her sister, not being able to see the shadows right behind her until she discovers them herself. But to add to that horror, instead of running from the monster, she turns to embrace it. As readers, we give her more attention than any character in her life, and it's terrifying to see the conclusions she makes from her child-logic. Sexual awakening is horribly entwined with violence, punishment, and inevitable pain. Some scenes are highly disturbing, but perhaps what's most frightening to readers is that she doesn't fear enough. Her experiences of pain, betrayal, and cruelty should terrify her, but seem only to teach her that this pain is what you deserve, and all you can ever expect. There is some hope in redemption at the end, as her mother removes her and her sister to a Waikiki-wanna-be hotel to escape their cruel father, but as the Hawaii theme of paradise is faked, so may be their redemption. It has probably come too late.

[Kristy Lee · Rating 1 out of 5]

After I finished this book, I was like “I don't get it.” This book was all over the place, had no real plot, and underdeveloped characters. Some parts were interesting. The father's character, suffering from Post Traumatic Stress from the war, was worth the read. Otherwise, I was disappointed, and would rather read Cosmo.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a nearly perfect novel. It's beautiful, creepy, compelling. I finished it, and immediately flipped to page 1 and read it again. I also really like small novels.

Disappointed that Shea hasn't ever had a follow-up books published.

[Kasey Jueds · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the strangest books I've ever read... which I mean in the best way possible. Very spare, atmospheric, disturbing, beautiful. It makes me so happy when writers know what to leave out of their work--and Lisa Shea does, exactly: there's so much unsaid in this book, and it's exactly the right things that are left out, left to the imagination. And, along with that, exactly the right things are included: vivid and revelatory details, dialogue that's pointed and real. Plus I love the way the setting--a Virginia backyard in summer, and some of the surrounding countryside--doesn't feel separate, in its loveliness and darkness and menace, from any of the characters or what happens in the story. Not a fun read, because of the subject matter, but one that will stay with me for a long time, I think.

[Linda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ll save you the time of actually reading the book.
* Two sisters
* Two summers
* A deranged / mentally ill father
* A mostly absent mother
* No plot

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 ⭐️. I found the stories fascinating but sad and disturbing. Makes me thankful for my childhood.

[Timothy Weagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once their father turned into a fucking gorilla that’s when I knew I was fully invested in this masterpiece.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spare and poetic. Full of messy adolescent truth. Such a pearl of a novel.

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A disturbed and disturbing father, a listless and distance mother, an older sister who is both tutor and tormentor, and a young girl trying to survive and understand life… it’s a hard story, and not one I would usually seek out or enjoy. But Lisa Shea does something astounding with these glimpses of the dark side of suburbia seen through a child’s fears and myths and half-understandings. Though brief and fragmentary, this novel has some of the most exquisite details and haunting moments I’ve ever encountered.

[Yvonne O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

155 pages about two young girls and their disturbed father. They are tortured by his mental imbalance while their mother struggles to find the courage to leave him despite his illness.

A truly sad story, but one that I am sure is commonly experienced. The poor girls are forced to grow-up before their time because of the abusive father.

[John McIlveen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nostalgic and heart-breaking tale of a defective relationship between two early teen sisters and their emotionally absent parents.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short book told through the eyes of a young girl who is never named. The narrator speaks as a child and her viewpoint is told like a child would perceive things. Her older sister is never named but is the frequent subject of the narrator’s dialogue. These two children are living with their parents in rural Virginia during the 1960s. It starts in summer of 1964. The father suffers from PTSD and has some major issues after coming home from war (Korea? WW2?), and is frequently drunk and abusive, but the abuse is never really told in graphic detail. It’s rather abstractly described when the father “wears a gorilla mask”. Their mother was once a dancer and now spends her time making costumes for a small dance school as well as for her daughters. She is also never named. The only subjects that are ever identified by names are the neighbors that seem to be memorable to this narrator. And the pets. Mitelin is their trusty dog that has had more than a few litters of pups and appears to have been the child narrator’s first exposure to biology and how babies are made. There is also a wild rabbit named Lily who they consider a pet. And there are a few other animals named that also tragically remembered. The older sister is at the age of puberty and this is a frequent topic of the younger sister as seen through the eyes of a child. This is a short book and easily could be read in one or two days but I was distracted by civil unrest in real life so it took a little longer to finish it. I didn’t hate it. I see other reviewers state that they didn’t understand it. If you think like an 8 year old who may possibly be describing abusive situations as seen through a child’s eyes, it might be a little easier to understand. I really wish Goodreads allowed 1/2 stars. I would give this book 3 1/2 stars.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

the book's cover and its blurb describe a tale not exactly rendered on the pages inside... a scant coming-of-age tale that likely resonates more strongly with girls than boys... the writing is well-suited to the characters voices, and there is a palpable sense of something not quite right happening or about to happen, maybe... the violence of males is ever-present, a father that menaces the mother and punishes the girls in multiple ways (nothing graphic or unseemly), boys that tease the girls and also physically harm them in the stupid "but he must like you if he does that!" ways... the sisters have an uneasy balance that teeters on the maturation of the older girl tempered by the youth and social lack in the younger... not really "chilling" or "haunting" and a tad light on the "adolescent fantasy", but maybe the book's gifts are those left up the imagination, much like the girls' playful conquering of their surroundings, doubly utilized to escape their reality and dream up new places to go...

[krdito · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when it first came out 20+ years ago and found it to be beautifully written, insightful, troubling, and sensitive. I just re-read it this weekend and found this coming-of-age story to be as wonderful as I remembered it to be. Told from the perspective of one un-named sister, age 10, of her observations over 2 summers with her older, also un-named, sister who is about 12 or 13. Hiding in the bushes and trees of their childhood home, these girls observe and try to understand the behavior of their violent father, beautiful mother, family pets, and neighbors. Sad overall, but spot-on for the perspective of 2 young girls in the 1960's, on the brink of adolescence, trying to understand a world over which they have little control. So sorry Lisa Shea has not written anything else since this book : (

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written in very poetic pose, this very realistic book let me down a little. Especially with the ending, which felt a little unrealistic based on what we saw from earlier in the book. Not as much plot as it is a lot of moments from the girls two summers, it was interesting seeing how war can affect lots of people who weren't even in the war and after it has ended. I would say for those aspects, and it's length, it's worth a least a look into.

**Edit**
More like 3 1/2- almost 4 now. I have changed my mind some since discussing this in AP English with everyone that's it's worth a little bit higher rating.

[Lacy · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 stars

I don't know. I think I've just read too many child abuse stories this year. Too many stories with crappy parents and damaged kids. But this one felt pointless and directionless. It read like a short story (which I'll admit, I'm pretty biased against). It reminded me of 'All the Ugly and Wonderful Things' minus the parts of that book that made me think and tore my heart out. So if you're interested in this I would suggest that instead.

I'm ready to read something happy now.

[Menno Beek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this at a thrift shop, because I like short powerful books and this looked like one, and it is, a short book about two sisters with a violent stepfather and a smoking mother, and at the same time, one is left with the feeling that it could have been even stronger: something very significant seems almost to be happening with the girls, and my strong impression that it ends with seeming (Let be be finale of seem, said Wallace Stevens) and not with happening.

[Danielle Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

There’s seemed to be no real plot. The book was all over the place - jumped from one thing to the next without transition. By the end of the book I’m still confused and don’t really understand. Many parts of the book were very odd and some graphic details I could of don’t without. However, it was an easy read and hard to put down because I so much wanted to understand and hoped the next chapter would bring it together. But it never did.

[Neena · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was entertaining, the setting was hauntingly realistic. It captures the experiences of the family beautifully. Would love to read more, it ended rather abruptly for me. What's next for these girls?

[Inoli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to have to get another look at this. I remember liking it well enough but it didn't stick in my memory at all. I'm giving it 3 stars but that's not reliable. I think there's a good chance of that going a little higher if I get it back from the library and review it for my poor memory.

[Laura Watt · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful book, reminded me very much of my own pre-teen years, fighting with my sister constantly yet always looking out for each other, in that strange way that kids can switch from one polar opposite to the other in seconds. Shea writes convincingly in the voice of a girl this age. (7/97)

[Z. Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Doesn’t quite stick the landing but really interesting POV of a family nightmare through the half-comprehending, half-tragically normalized, and typically distractable eyes of a child, who is also preoccupied with her and her sister’s own coming of age.

[Neal Fandek · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars)

Propulsive, kinetic. The prose drags you into the sisters’ dream/nightmare world, and you are immersed in it. The mother is one dimensional, the father is rather a cliché, but the sisters’ dialogue rings absolutely true. I just wonder, are little girls this obsessed with sex?

[Jodell · Rating 1 out of 5]

WARNING TRIGGER"S
domestic violence
animal abuse

The only thing I can say about this book is this:

I have been to Hawaii to and it's not the Hawaii
you're thinking about. It's not what it is cut out to be.
But I went.

Never goin back again.

[Gigi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice quick read. Liked the writing style, but I think the author could've added a little more to the story.

[Ren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Purchased for 50 cents at the library book sale. It's a quick read and I guess it was worth the price but can't say I liked it much...

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stark portrayal of two sisters growing up in the 60's with a distant mother and war-damaged father. Excellent read.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

takeaway- men are the problem. this book was haunting.

[lulu · Rating 1 out of 5]

how many times will we write about fucked up childhoods, sexual trauma and daddy issues before it becomes trite 😐