Hawaii is a world apart, not quite another country but far more than just another American state. The little town of Volcano, 4,000 feet above sea level on the Big Island, between Kilauea and Mauna Loa, is one of the Hawaiian islands' hidden treasures, a place of cool air, dense green forests, and night skies lit up by the glow from Kilauea's lava flows.
It's also the birthplace of poet Garrett Hongo, whose return to his origins is the springboard for Volcano, a work of lyrical prose by a master of language, and a wonderful introduction to the subtlety and complexity of life in Hawaii.
