A Little Too Much is Enough - Kathleen Tyau

Set in post-WWII Honolulu, each chapter of this book follows the life of Mahi and her extended Hawaiian/Chinese family. The chapters could each be read as stand alone vignettes, and at times even reading them in sequence it is difficult to determine which character is speaking, what stage of life they are speaking about, and how each of the characters is related to one another. But, one thing Tyau definitely does is capture the spirit of Hawaii - what it is like growing up on the islands, surrounded by loving (and often crazy) family, and thinking about food all the time. I enjoyed this book, and my mother, who spent much more time living in Hawaii than I, absolutely loved it. I think for readers who are not too familiar with Hawaiian traditions and slang, this might be a difficult book to access, but for the rest of us, it is a definite treat. It made me miss my grandparents and afternoons filled with all the delicious mango I could eat.