Talking Points: House of Skin

1. House of Skin

 “In one of the periods of their marriage when Uncle Hiro was gone, Aunt Rachel kept a shark in her swimming pool.” (Page 1)

Why would she keep a shark in her swimming pool?

And where did she get a shark to be able to put in her swimming pool?

“Rachel was twenty when I was born, and when I was two years old she kidnapped me and hid with me in the canfields until grandfather’s workers found us. By then she knew she would never have children of her own. Years later she told me why. “I didn’t want them inked up like gangsters.”” (Page 3)

The father, who is in the yakuza, probably wanted his children to also be in the yakuza and that requires full tattoos.

“Hiro’s business, as Rachel described it, was the ‘water trade,’ which encompassed it all liquor, prostitution, drugs, up and down the Asian coast from Malaysia to Hong Kong and Tokyo. By then he had set her up in a big lavish house in Kahala, the Beverly Hills of Honolulu, and through the years she became something of a salonierre.” (Page 7)

It sounds like he was involved in a lot of illegal activity.

What is a salonierre?

2. The Lipstick Tree

““They are hunting puk puks” she whispered, guiding her cousin toward the banks of the river where torches danced.” (Page 15)

What are puk puks?

“Touching her during childbirth would pollute their minds and hands, preventing them from looking at, or cooking for, their husbands.” (Page 16)

Why would looking at someone during childbirth pollute their minds?

“And her grandmother had once hypnotized a python, dragging it home like an immensely thick garden hose.” (Page 22)

I would want to see how something like this happens.

Why was Ernest allowed to beat her just because she smelled like deodorant?

3. Dragon Seed

Death does usually have the effect of bringing family together.

“For years I had spied, watching Jin puff her pipe, inside, a dark exhausted little mummy of opium. As Lupus grew worse, she laid the pipe down, started putting drops of laudanum in her tea. (Page 33)

Smoking doesn’t help when dealing with lupus.

I hope Wu doesn’t get addicted to Opium like Jin did.

It sounds like Wu is a downward spiral and his Opium addiction is getting out of hand.

4. Rosie and Jake at Top Speed

I predict these two people will be involved in a high-speed car race in this story.

With Tito having lost both of his legs, that must make life extremely difficult for him and his mother Ruth.

I have never heard of Nauru.

“Each year Nauru sold more than two and a half million tons of guano at $68 a ton.” (Page 54)

What is guano?

I enjoyed reading about the history of Nauru.

The ending was really sad as Rosie and Jake drove off to their death.

5. Fork Used in Eating Reverend Baker

“Months later when armed soldiers patrolled the streets, she would remember the omens.” (Page 70)

This story must be taking place during a war.

“French tourists were killed by a pack of wild dogs, a teenage girl grew horns.” (Page 71)

These sound like supernatural occurrences.

“The boy to Australia where man-sized lizards walked upright.” (Page 73)

I want to see these lizards.

The jungles of Fiji sound dangerous.

6. War Doll Hotel

I think everyone has snapshots of memories of their youth and of their family.

“I try to imagine him at the front door of his father’s house, grinning and proud. He puts his arm around my mother’s waist and rings the bell. They’re all assembled inside. Maybe there’s a cake, WELCOME HOME. Maybe someone sits at a piano, fingers poised above the keys. A window curtain twitches. My father rings and rings but on one ever answers. Finally, he and my mother leave.” (Page 88)

Tensions were very high during the war and especially after the bombs were dropped on Nagasaki.

I like how this story has snapshots of the main character throughout their life.

I wonder why the father left after the death of the mother.

7. Her Walking Stick

“Watching his headlong dive, mama has squeezed her eyes shut grabbing her heart. She is much older when she opens them.” (Page 103)

This is a very good descriptive part of the chapter.

Traditional island masks are very pretty and cool looking.

There seems to be a common theme of people smoking in these stories.

“Hot mornings in June, the sun already a bully.” (Page 114)

I like the analogy of the sun being a bully.

8. Bones of the Inner Ear

What a powerful imagery conjured up in the beginning about the lightning storm.

“Doctors built him a metal nose, which he removed at night before he slept.” (Page 135)

I didn’t know metal noses existed.

The house sounds like a dangerous environment to live in.

Why is dancing so big in the Hawaiian culture?