Writing the Hawaii Memoir: Advice and Exercises to Help You Tell Your Story

I’ll admit: I side-eyed the idea of a *location-specific* memoir guide at first. But *Writing the Hawaii Memoir* converted me within the first chapter. Gee’s approach is radical in its simplicity—she refuses to let you write about Hawaii (or any place) in vague, postcard terms. One exercise had me mapping my childhood home by scent, not square footage, and suddenly I was scribbling notes about the metallic tang of rain on galvanized roofs, something I’d never thought to include before. Gilfry’s narration is the perfect match: her voice has the rhythmic cadence of someone who’s spent years listening more than talking, which makes the book feel like a conversation, not a lecture. That said, the audiobook isn’t flawless. The production occasionally stumbles with awkward pauses before exercises, as if the editor wasn’t sure whether to leave space for listeners to grab a pen. And while Gee’s insistence on *Hawaii*-ness is the book’s strength, it occasionally veers into exclusionary territory—some prompts assume a level of local knowledge (like references to specific ahupuaʻa or ʻōlelo Noʻeau) that might leave outsiders scrambling for context. Still, even those moments spark useful questions: *What’s the equivalent in my own homeland?* The last hour, where Gee walks through revising a draft with an eye for cultural nuance, is worth the price alone. If you’ve ever felt your memories of a place were too vivid for words, this audiobook will hand you the shovel to dig them up.