Big Happiness: One of the Best Local Books of 2011

Big HappinessBig Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior, by Mark Panek, is called “one of the best local books of 2011” in a review at Hawai‘i Book Blog:

Big Happiness is an account of the amazing and tragic life of Percy Kipapa, local boy turned professional sumo wrestler. In my opinion it’s an important work of creative nonfiction and one of the best local books of 2011. Using a combination of personal experiences with Kipapa, interviews, newspaper articles and court documents, Panek has seamlessly composed a narrative that tells the story of how Percy Kipapa came home a hero only to end his life as a terrible reminder of the destructive power of “meth” addiction. It’s an unofficial biography of a man and a community struggling to stay afloat in a world changing too quickly.”

Read the entire review here: http://www.hawaiibookblog.com/articles/book-review-big-happiness/.