The Other Side of the Island: A Collection of Short Stories

The ``other side'' of Hawaii in Perry's debut story collection is not the idyllic paradise of television but rather an island state torn between its traditions and its tourists. Unfortunately, like the spectators of the brutal sport of cock fighting, which the author depicts in ``The Main Event'' and ``Fighting Cocks,'' the 15 stories in this lean collection suffer from their brevity and emotional detachment. Women are raped and animals murdered without remark. Characters and stories are defined by single, vaguely motivated actions. When the captain of a tourist fishing skiff is pulled overboard by a horse-size marlin in ``Home on the Blue,'' he ``rides'' the fish as his life flashes before him. His four sons, mentioned nowhere else and of no importance to the story, appear and disappear in a sentence. Such disjunctive blips register throughout the collection, as does Perry's use of cartoonish dialogue: ``Hell with the hands-off rule . . . . That's my skipper out there. I'm getting him back,'' or ``The marlin no eat Captain Rope! Only take him for one ride.'' Even for a dystopia, Perry's Hawaii is not particularly compelling. (Aug.)