Lava: A Novel

By Pamela J. Ball and Pamela C. Ball

Book Overview

Five years after her husband abandons her for another woman, Kinau finds her life disrupted by Ivan's return and the new bonds of passion and leave-taking that he brings with him, in a story of one woman's obsessive love and how she frees herself from it.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393040240
• ISBN13: 9780393040241
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 191 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Beautiful, sad, lovely tale

**** This novel is a story of obsessive love, full of sad, moving moments, and so well-written. It was enjoyable beginning to end. What I enjoyed most about it was the real main character of the story, though---Hilo, Hawaii. The sounds, scents, and beauty of Hawaii was poignantly described in a way that drew me in from the very first page and made me love Hilo. Although I'd visited Hilo, I didn't truly appreciate it until I read "Lava". If you love Hawaii and want to get to know it better, if you want to read a different type of romance, you'll really enjoy this novel. ****

breathtaking

Pamlea Ball's novel is a subtle and beautiful work set in Hilo, Hawaii, simply one of the best books I have ever read...

IMAGINATIVE

I love this book! - and like the first reviewer I tend to give it as a gift to all my literary friends. The setting - Hawaii - is wonderful, the characters memorable and the rhythm of the dialogue is great. I would definitely buy another book by Pam Ball.

In the heat of September, my Book of the Year!

I found this novel recommended by Terri Windling in this year's BEST OF HORROR AND FANTASY anthology (Number 11). I tend to like genre-benders, fiction that has an element of fantasy or unreality and Windling has proven to be a reliable source for many.At less than 200 pages, this brilliant, stunningly written, often hallucenogenic novel by Ball, a teacher of writing at Florida State, is a compelling afternoon's read.Sharks, tropical flowers, Tsunanis, mythology, and a theme of loss make for a potent, sensuous blend in a lush tropical Hawaiian atmosphere.I fully intend to get all my great reading friends to read this one. A remarkable first novel.