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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
In Moloka’i and Daughter of Moloka’i, by Alan Brennart, Moloka’i was the home of a leper colony, way into the last century, long past when I though leprosy was a credible disease. When Hawaiians begin showing the first signs of illness, they’re sent to Mokolai, even if that means taking young children away from their parents. Some parts of the books are a bit hard to read, because of the brutality and harsh laws of the Molokai colony, but it’s an accurate picture. There’s a lot going on in this two novels about the colonization of Hawaii and the disparity between local Hawaiians, Japanese residents, and haole. Daughter of Moloka’i tells the story of Ruth, the healthy baby Rachel has on Molokai, but is forced to give up. The connecting threads of friendship and family love make the two books ultimately uplifting.
emotional
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I enjoyed the conclusion to the characters’ stories begun in Molokai’i. Reading about the the racism that has plagues (and continues to plague) our history was hard to read, as it always is. Since I grew up going to the mall where Tanforan racetrack/internment camp was (which has recently been sold, with mall to be demolished and office buildings to be erected), there was that very real connection of knowing that place and the weight of that connection.
Moloka'i is, simply put, a fascinating, endearing, haunting, and compelling story about Rachel Kalama, a character that invades and remains in one's heart. Rachel was torn from her family in Honolulu and exiled to Molokai, where she remained quarantined for more than 50 years in Kalaupapa, an isolated leprosy settlement. She was fortunate to meet a wonderful man, Kenji, and marry, but they were heartbroken when they were forced to give their only child, daughter Ruth, up a few hours after her birth. After one year in isolation on Molokai -- during which her parents could only visit her with a glass wall separating them -- Ruth was put up for adoption.
Daughter of Molokai follows Ruth from her arrival at the Kapi'olani Home for Girls in Honolulu, to her adoption at age 5 by a Japanese couple. After a few years happily growing up in Honolulu with her parents and older brothers, the family relocates to Florin, California, a small town near Sacramento. Her family joins her father's brother and his family on their strawberry and Flame Tokay grape farm. Rachel marries Frank and the two of them are happily running a local business and raising their two young children when the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, changes everything. Rachel and family are forced to leave everything behind and enter an internment camp, eventually assigned to Manzanar Relocation Camp. After the war, her life is again changed when she intercepts a letter to her parents from a woman who claims to be Ruth’s birth mother, Rachel.
At that point, the two books overlap. Moloka'i was Rachel's story and her eventual relationship with Ruth was not described in detail or from Ruth's point of view. That aspect of the story is related in Daughter of Molokai.
Author Alan Brennert has crafted a worthy follow up to Moloka'i. It is an equally rich tale, focused upon Ruth's upbringing in a Japanese family, struggle to understand why her mother gave her up, and challenges as a person who is hapa (of both Hawaiian and Japanese descent) living in the Japanese community. Scrupulously researched, Daughter of Molokai explores the extreme prejudice toward Japanese nationals, as well as their children and grandchildren, in California which was exacerbated on a national scale when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Brennert describes, in heartbreaking detail, the indignities to which Ruth and her family are subjected during World War II, illustrating the different ways in which the various family members respond.
And he fully explores the reunion of Rachel and her beloved only child and the relationship they are at long last able to forge. Rachel deems it nothing less than a miracle, brought about the cure for leprosy, later known as Hansen's Disease, developed in the 1940's. From Ruth's perspective, meeting her mother allows her to discover the truth about her past, and develop an understanding and appreciation of the Hawaiian culture.
Like Molokai, Daughter of Molokai is a beautiful story, full of historical and cultural detail that leaves the reader richer for the experience of having read the book. Brennert's love of the Hawaiian and Japanese people is evident in the accurate, yet compassionate, manner in which he tells the story of his characters' lives. Daughter of Molokai is poignant, emotionally satisfying, and powerfully eloquent. I enthusiastically give it, and Molokai, my strongest recommendation.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
Daughter of Molokai follows Ruth from her arrival at the Kapi'olani Home for Girls in Honolulu, to her adoption at age 5 by a Japanese couple. After a few years happily growing up in Honolulu with her parents and older brothers, the family relocates to Florin, California, a small town near Sacramento. Her family joins her father's brother and his family on their strawberry and Flame Tokay grape farm. Rachel marries Frank and the two of them are happily running a local business and raising their two young children when the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, changes everything. Rachel and family are forced to leave everything behind and enter an internment camp, eventually assigned to Manzanar Relocation Camp. After the war, her life is again changed when she intercepts a letter to her parents from a woman who claims to be Ruth’s birth mother, Rachel.
At that point, the two books overlap. Moloka'i was Rachel's story and her eventual relationship with Ruth was not described in detail or from Ruth's point of view. That aspect of the story is related in Daughter of Molokai.
Author Alan Brennert has crafted a worthy follow up to Moloka'i. It is an equally rich tale, focused upon Ruth's upbringing in a Japanese family, struggle to understand why her mother gave her up, and challenges as a person who is hapa (of both Hawaiian and Japanese descent) living in the Japanese community. Scrupulously researched, Daughter of Molokai explores the extreme prejudice toward Japanese nationals, as well as their children and grandchildren, in California which was exacerbated on a national scale when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Brennert describes, in heartbreaking detail, the indignities to which Ruth and her family are subjected during World War II, illustrating the different ways in which the various family members respond.
And he fully explores the reunion of Rachel and her beloved only child and the relationship they are at long last able to forge. Rachel deems it nothing less than a miracle, brought about the cure for leprosy, later known as Hansen's Disease, developed in the 1940's. From Ruth's perspective, meeting her mother allows her to discover the truth about her past, and develop an understanding and appreciation of the Hawaiian culture.
Like Molokai, Daughter of Molokai is a beautiful story, full of historical and cultural detail that leaves the reader richer for the experience of having read the book. Brennert's love of the Hawaiian and Japanese people is evident in the accurate, yet compassionate, manner in which he tells the story of his characters' lives. Daughter of Molokai is poignant, emotionally satisfying, and powerfully eloquent. I enthusiastically give it, and Molokai, my strongest recommendation.
Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book.
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Daughter of Moloka’i is the story of Ruth who was born in the Hawaiian leper colony of Kalaupapa to a Hawaiian mother and Japanese father. She was removed from their care lest they infect her with leprosy, and was adopted by a Japanese couple. I think the main reason I enjoyed this less than its predecessor, Moloka’i, was because much of the ground it covered - discrimination against Japanese citizens and their internment during World War II - was already familiar to me. I enjoyed the story more when Rachel reentered Ruth’s life forcing her to reckon with her mixed feelings as an adoptee and giving her the opportunity to learn about her Hawaiian heritage, both topics I’m less familiar with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia
Moderate: Terminal illness, Grief
Beautifully written. I love the writing style and the pacing. Great book!
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Previously, I read and reviewed Book No. 1, Moloka’i, which is Rachel’s story of contracting leprosy, being wrenched from her family and sent to live at Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i. Book No. 1 was full of emotions, from one end of the spectrum to the next, a roller coaster of a ride with happiness and joy marred by heartbreak. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the same emotional impact from Book No. 2. It just really fell flat for me. It was a good story with a lot of potential, but it just didn’t engage me as the first book did.
Book No. 2 is the story of Ruth, Rachel’s daughter. While Kalaupapa may have been a quarantined island, the residents were still free to live in their own homes, fall in love, marry and have children. With dire consequences, I might add. Rachel fell in love with Kenji, who was Japanese. They married and their daughter, Ruth, was taken from them at birth. I think this is the part of the book that deserves 5 stars for making me think. Imagine how devastating it would be to have a child taken from you immediately after birth. Would it then be less traumatic to never see them again, or to see them for a year and then have them whisked away to an orphanage on another Hawaiian island? Until Ruth’s first birthday, Rachel and Kenji can see their daughter, albeit from behind glass and never being able to touch her. I really wrestled with which option was the lesser of two evils and still haven’t been able to decide.
On with the story, which now becomes Ruth’s story. She spends five years or so in a Catholic orphanage before being adopted by a Japanese family. We follow her through childhood, adolescent and teen years, into her marriage and as a new mother. We also follow her and her family into a Japanese internment camp. The writing style of Book No. 1 was simplistic, but in a good way. There wasn’t a lot of flowery prose, just raw emotion that clearly conveyed. Book No. 2 is just simplistic and lacks any depth to the plot or the emotions. There is so much anger and hatred towards the whites that interred the Japanese, yet it is never fully examined. Please don’t think I am condoning this, I just felt there was a lack of story behind the actions to help me better understand what each side was feeling. I do understand feeling anger and hatred towards those who imprison you unjustly, but felt there would have been more complexity and depth to those emotions which I just didn’t pick-up from the writing. At the same time, there are some family rifts which I would have loved seen explored more from a Japanese cultural perspective of family, honor and shame.
There were things mentioned in the book which I needed to go look up for myself to see what the author was referring to, see if they were true and to learn more about them. I would have loved to have seen more of that explained in the book, but they were just glossed over.
There was also a large section of the book which was taken directly from Book No. 1. I guess if it’s been a while since you read the first, or if you didn’t read the first, to be able to recap. Since I read them back-to-back, it dragged down the pace of the book.
Previously, I read and reviewed Book No. 1, Moloka’i, which is Rachel’s story of contracting leprosy, being wrenched from her family and sent to live at Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i. Book No. 1 was full of emotions, from one end of the spectrum to the next, a roller coaster of a ride with happiness and joy marred by heartbreak. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the same emotional impact from Book No. 2. It just really fell flat for me. It was a good story with a lot of potential, but it just didn’t engage me as the first book did.
Book No. 2 is the story of Ruth, Rachel’s daughter. While Kalaupapa may have been a quarantined island, the residents were still free to live in their own homes, fall in love, marry and have children. With dire consequences, I might add. Rachel fell in love with Kenji, who was Japanese. They married and their daughter, Ruth, was taken from them at birth. I think this is the part of the book that deserves 5 stars for making me think. Imagine how devastating it would be to have a child taken from you immediately after birth. Would it then be less traumatic to never see them again, or to see them for a year and then have them whisked away to an orphanage on another Hawaiian island? Until Ruth’s first birthday, Rachel and Kenji can see their daughter, albeit from behind glass and never being able to touch her. I really wrestled with which option was the lesser of two evils and still haven’t been able to decide.
On with the story, which now becomes Ruth’s story. She spends five years or so in a Catholic orphanage before being adopted by a Japanese family. We follow her through childhood, adolescent and teen years, into her marriage and as a new mother. We also follow her and her family into a Japanese internment camp. The writing style of Book No. 1 was simplistic, but in a good way. There wasn’t a lot of flowery prose, just raw emotion that clearly conveyed. Book No. 2 is just simplistic and lacks any depth to the plot or the emotions. There is so much anger and hatred towards the whites that interred the Japanese, yet it is never fully examined. Please don’t think I am condoning this, I just felt there was a lack of story behind the actions to help me better understand what each side was feeling. I do understand feeling anger and hatred towards those who imprison you unjustly, but felt there would have been more complexity and depth to those emotions which I just didn’t pick-up from the writing. At the same time, there are some family rifts which I would have loved seen explored more from a Japanese cultural perspective of family, honor and shame.
There were things mentioned in the book which I needed to go look up for myself to see what the author was referring to, see if they were true and to learn more about them. I would have loved to have seen more of that explained in the book, but they were just glossed over.
There was also a large section of the book which was taken directly from Book No. 1. I guess if it’s been a while since you read the first, or if you didn’t read the first, to be able to recap. Since I read them back-to-back, it dragged down the pace of the book.
My emotions are still on high just thinking about this book. Beautifully written. Amazing storyline. I fell in love with all of the characters and could so vividly picture them. I went running this morning and I live in Hawaii so saw birds of paradise and started crying during my run. It has a lasting impact. Love love love this book. I was so excited to reserve it through the library that I didn’t notice it was book 2 and not 1...will probably go back and read one and hope too much wasn’t spoiled. So good, would read again and again and I don’t feel that way about many.
I'm a big fan of Moloka'i, the novel that preceded this one. It's one of the few stories that made me cry (I'm a sap at movies, but somehow books don't get me quite as much), and how I respond to a book, emotionally, goes a long way toward how much I like it. To say I was eager to read this book is a bit of an understatement, even though I was wary that a book like Moloka'i even needed a sequel.
The good news is that Brennert chooses to tell a story set during the same time (-ish) as Moloka'i, instead of making this a direct sequel. He tells the life story of Ruth, daughter of Rachel, the main character from Moloka'i, and takes the story in a different direction. Where the first book told Rachel's story as a prisoner on Moloka'i, the second book tells the story of Ruth as the adopted daughter of a Japanese couple, before, during, and after World War II. Anyone who knows how Japanese Americans were treated during WWII have a good idea of where the story goes.
Brennert chooses to focus more on history this time, because it fits with the story. He places Ruth and her family in the middle of major events from the time of Japanese interment, which sometimes feels a little forced. Moloka'i felt more organic in that way, though admittedly, I'm not sure how much real history Brennert included in that book. If he went further into the history of Moloka'i than simply having his characters be a part of the leper colony, I didn't catch it.
The good news is the story contains the same depth and gravitas that one would expect from Brennert, so it doesn't disappoint. Ruth is a likeable, human character, and Brennert's portrayal of her and her relationships with her family feel genuine. Even though he pulls in a lot of history for his story, Brennert doesn't skimp in creating a story, and anyone who has enjoyed his other books will like this one, too.
The good news is that Brennert chooses to tell a story set during the same time (-ish) as Moloka'i, instead of making this a direct sequel. He tells the life story of Ruth, daughter of Rachel, the main character from Moloka'i, and takes the story in a different direction. Where the first book told Rachel's story as a prisoner on Moloka'i, the second book tells the story of Ruth as the adopted daughter of a Japanese couple, before, during, and after World War II. Anyone who knows how Japanese Americans were treated during WWII have a good idea of where the story goes.
Brennert chooses to focus more on history this time, because it fits with the story. He places Ruth and her family in the middle of major events from the time of Japanese interment, which sometimes feels a little forced. Moloka'i felt more organic in that way, though admittedly, I'm not sure how much real history Brennert included in that book. If he went further into the history of Moloka'i than simply having his characters be a part of the leper colony, I didn't catch it.
The good news is the story contains the same depth and gravitas that one would expect from Brennert, so it doesn't disappoint. Ruth is a likeable, human character, and Brennert's portrayal of her and her relationships with her family feel genuine. Even though he pulls in a lot of history for his story, Brennert doesn't skimp in creating a story, and anyone who has enjoyed his other books will like this one, too.