Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare

By: Megan Kamalei Kakimoto

Narrated by: Michelle Sekine

Bloomsbury presents Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare by Megan Kamalei Kakimoto, read by Michelle Sekine.

USA Today Bestseller
A Debutiful “Best Debuts of the Year”
“Rich and wise, humming with confidence.” —New York Times Book Review
“A knockout. Eleven knockouts. One KO for every story.”—Elizabeth McCracken
“Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare is a frontrunner for Book of the Year.” —Debutiful

Megan Kamalei Kakimoto's wrenching and sensational debut story collection presents a Hawai'i where unruly sexuality and generational memory overflow the postcard image of paradise and the boundaries of the real, where the superstitions born of the islands take on the weight of truth.

A childhood encounter with a wild pua'a (pig) on the haunted Pali highway portends one young woman's fraught relationship with her pregnant body. An elderly widow begins seeing her deceased lover in a giant flower. A kanaka writer, mid-manuscript, feels her raw pages quaking and knocking in the briefcase.

Every Drop Is a Man's Nightmare is both a fierce love letter to Hawaiian identity and mythology, and a searing dispatch from an occupied territory threatening to erupt with violent secrets.

©2023 Megan Kamalei Kakimoto (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

a great collection

This book was a little different than I'm used to. I read it with the Indigenous Reading Circle's pick for the month of September. I bought the audiobook and listened along while I skimmed through the pages of the paperback that I had gotten from my library. That was a fun immersive experience because the narrator of the audiobook did a great job at giving life to the different character's in the book.

I am usually not a fan of short story collections. It helped a bit that the stories in this book were really not connected at all. This book touches heavy on the idea of what womanhood is. It has a lot of subtle and not-so-subtle inferences to puberty, virginity, sexuality, sensuality, and the whole range of emotions and experiences that females go through. This book touches on love, and grief, and includes a lot of cultural references that help tie a lot of things together.

I enjoyed this book, and especially enjoyed being about to talk about this book with a group of individuals because some of the context in these stories needed to be explored through mutual conversation.

Great works of speculative fiction

Kakimoto writes a unique set of haunting tales woven in folklore and mythology. This is a very engaging and interesting read!

Amazing Novel

Megan’s writing is blunt and honest. It forces the reader to look at femininity in its entirety. Offering us a glimpse into what inhabiting a female body is like. Each short story moves the reader along, ushering in a new stage of womanhood with vibrant mythic making and stunning language. A must read.

a fierce short story collection

I recently became interested in the Hawaiian culture because my community offers a Hula dance class. My beloved teacher, a beautiful Hawaiian woman who loves her culture, educates us on the history of hula and the Hawaiian culture. I look forward to my 1 hour a week, in which I learn about a fascinating culture while exercising! Win win.

“Every Drop is a Man’s Nightmare” is a short story collection encompassing women’s issues along with Hawaiian folk tale, fairy tales, superstitions, and of course, Elvis.

I chose the audio version because I wanted to be immersed in the culture by hearing Hawaiian vernacular, including pidgin Hawaiian. I enjoyed listening to narrator Michelle Sekine voicing the collection which vary from Kauai residents displaced by U.S. military bombing drills, the psychological cost of a Brazilian waxing, to a hotel that offers fertility enhancements. The stories are unsettling. Some I didn’t really understand but enjoyed listening to Sekine’s voice.

After the devastating fires in Lahanina occupied my news feeds, these stories hold a particular importance to me. My indigenous Hawaiian friend, Debbie, sparked my interest in Hawaii. This short story collection cemented my fascination.

Raw. Important.

A collection of coming of age stories that hold nothing back as they explore what it means to grow up in Hawai’i.