If You Live in a Small House

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.