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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
Summary: In the Kapi’olani Home for Girls on O’ahu, three-year-old Ruth is a lively handful. Ruth loves animals and wants a pet of her own. But as loving as the nuns in the Catholic orphanage are, they must maintain the strict rules and can’t allow Ruth to be an exception.
But Ruth is already an exception in the Hawaiian orphanage. While all the other girls are also children of lepers, they are of pure Hawaiian heritage. Ruth is different. She is hapa, someone of mixed heritage. Ruth is half Japanese, born to her parents who met in the leper colony on Moloka’i. When potential adoptive parents meet her, they turn away, not wanting to take on a child who not only carries the stigma of leprosy but is also hapa.
Finally, a Japanese couple adopts Ruth. She becomes Ruth Dai Watanabe and lives with her two brothers and new parents in Chinatown. She learns to speak Japanese and is taught their customs. Ruth thrives in the love of her adoptive family, but she is still hapa.
The novel follows Ruth as her family moves to California. There she grows up and has a family of her own. But after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Ruth and all the other people of Japanese descent on the west coast are rounded up in concentration camps or sent back to Japan. After the camps are closed, Ruth and her family return to California to try to put their lives back together. It is after going through all this that Ruth gets a surprise and finally learns to accept her heritage.
Comments: I absolutely loved the first Moloka'i book and wasn’t disappointed by this sequel, Daughter of Moloka'i. While the first takes place almost exclusively on the island, this one reflects the changes in the treatment of lepers, both socially and medically, and moves to the greater world. A large portion of the book takes place in the Japanese internment camps and from the resources listed in the back of the book, I know the descriptions and details were well researched. In writing about Ruth’s mixed heritage and the atrocity of rounding up the Japanese Americans (and not rounding up the German Americans, for example), the author makes some profound observations of what it’s like to be non-white in America. What happened to the Japanese is not “in the past”. It happened and continues to happen to Native Americans, Blacks and currently to Hispanics and others. Fear and ignorance are powerful forces that destroy people’s lives.
Highly recommended for readers of Historical Fiction, General Fiction and Literary Fiction.
But Ruth is already an exception in the Hawaiian orphanage. While all the other girls are also children of lepers, they are of pure Hawaiian heritage. Ruth is different. She is hapa, someone of mixed heritage. Ruth is half Japanese, born to her parents who met in the leper colony on Moloka’i. When potential adoptive parents meet her, they turn away, not wanting to take on a child who not only carries the stigma of leprosy but is also hapa.
Finally, a Japanese couple adopts Ruth. She becomes Ruth Dai Watanabe and lives with her two brothers and new parents in Chinatown. She learns to speak Japanese and is taught their customs. Ruth thrives in the love of her adoptive family, but she is still hapa.
The novel follows Ruth as her family moves to California. There she grows up and has a family of her own. But after the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor, Ruth and all the other people of Japanese descent on the west coast are rounded up in concentration camps or sent back to Japan. After the camps are closed, Ruth and her family return to California to try to put their lives back together. It is after going through all this that Ruth gets a surprise and finally learns to accept her heritage.
Comments: I absolutely loved the first Moloka'i book and wasn’t disappointed by this sequel, Daughter of Moloka'i. While the first takes place almost exclusively on the island, this one reflects the changes in the treatment of lepers, both socially and medically, and moves to the greater world. A large portion of the book takes place in the Japanese internment camps and from the resources listed in the back of the book, I know the descriptions and details were well researched. In writing about Ruth’s mixed heritage and the atrocity of rounding up the Japanese Americans (and not rounding up the German Americans, for example), the author makes some profound observations of what it’s like to be non-white in America. What happened to the Japanese is not “in the past”. It happened and continues to happen to Native Americans, Blacks and currently to Hispanics and others. Fear and ignorance are powerful forces that destroy people’s lives.
Highly recommended for readers of Historical Fiction, General Fiction and Literary Fiction.
Great follow-up to Moloka'i. I listened to the audio version, and that narrator was a bit stilted and also overly emotional, sometimes in the same sentence, so that was a bit of an odd experience. In general, the story is very interesting, if depressing, as a good hunk of it takes place in the internment camps for the Japanese during WWII. Once the main character from Moloka'i enters the story, it is neat to see the same events discussed in both books (like the party the teenagers sneaked out to from the leper colony).
I loved this story. My only complaint is that the characters didn’t spend enough time in Hawaii. The setting was one of the things that made Molokai so wonderful to read. While Daughters of Molokai is an engaging continuation of that story, I was expecting a bit more of the Hawaiian atmosphere.
In Alan Brennert’s sequel, readers follow the child Ruth as she is put in an orphanage and eventually adopted. I felt her adoptive family was so pivotal to the story. As Ruth adjusts to her new family, she eventually forgets her life in the orphanage. The family endures many changes throughout her growing up years.
A major event in their lives was the move to California, where her father learns some unsettling news about his older brother. Later, the bombing of Pearl Harbor leads to the incredibly sad time Ruth and her family spend in an internment camp during WWII.
Growing up, Ruth was often bothered by being “half.” Half Japanese and half Hawaiian, Ruth was left with a sense of not completely belonging. Eventually meeting her biological mother and learning more about her Hawaiian culture helps Ruth to reconcile her dual heritage.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.
In Alan Brennert’s sequel, readers follow the child Ruth as she is put in an orphanage and eventually adopted. I felt her adoptive family was so pivotal to the story. As Ruth adjusts to her new family, she eventually forgets her life in the orphanage. The family endures many changes throughout her growing up years.
A major event in their lives was the move to California, where her father learns some unsettling news about his older brother. Later, the bombing of Pearl Harbor leads to the incredibly sad time Ruth and her family spend in an internment camp during WWII.
Growing up, Ruth was often bothered by being “half.” Half Japanese and half Hawaiian, Ruth was left with a sense of not completely belonging. Eventually meeting her biological mother and learning more about her Hawaiian culture helps Ruth to reconcile her dual heritage.
Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.
Daughter of Moloka'i was well done but Moloka'i was definitely a better read for me. There so many people to keep track of in this one, especially in part 2, that it took away from the main characters story . But still a very good book.
Aloha! Moloka'i has been one of my favorite books since I first read it so many years ago. When Alan Brennert announced he was writing a book about the daughter of Rachel (Moloka'i's main character) I was so excited. It was THE most anticipated book of 2019 for me.
And it didn't disappoint. I finished it today and cried at the ending. This was such a lovely of book and also made me really really really want to get to Hawaii because the way he writes about the land and culture has me fully in love with it. Next big trip maybe?
Being adopted myself and reunited with my birth family I really identified with Ruth (Rachel's daughter who she had to put up for adoption). And Rachel always reminded me of my (adoptive) mom and even more so in this book as does Rachel's adoptive mother is a lot like my adoptive mom. I guess what I'm trying to say is this book made me feel close to my mom. Thank you for this book. It's going on my desert island bookshelf!
And it didn't disappoint. I finished it today and cried at the ending. This was such a lovely of book and also made me really really really want to get to Hawaii because the way he writes about the land and culture has me fully in love with it. Next big trip maybe?
Being adopted myself and reunited with my birth family I really identified with Ruth (Rachel's daughter who she had to put up for adoption). And Rachel always reminded me of my (adoptive) mom and even more so in this book as does Rachel's adoptive mother is a lot like my adoptive mom. I guess what I'm trying to say is this book made me feel close to my mom. Thank you for this book. It's going on my desert island bookshelf!
Moloka’i was a great book and the follow up did not disappoint. This pulled at all of my heartstrings, while digging into both painful and fascinating parts of American history.
Several years ago we read Moloka'i for book club and many of us loved it. Wanting to see where the story went after Moloka'i, I once again nominated an Alan Brennert novel for book club and it is our January 2020 read. This book was not what I was expecting and that's okay. I went into it expecting to read more about Ruth and Rachel's relationship after Ruth finally found out who her birth mother was. And while I did enjoy reading about their relationship I had to wait 4/5ths of the book for Rachel to be introduced. Instead, a large portion of the book was about Ruth and her family's internment in the camps in the months and years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This was fascinating to me! Although I had read about these camps on several occasions, Brennert portrayed them a different way than others had. I also very much enjoyed reading about Japanese custom and the Watanabe family whom I adored.
The only reason this one gets deducted a star from me is because I believe you do have to have read the first novel in the not too distant past to have fully enjoyed the final fifth of the book after Rachel is reintroduced. I had read it too long ago to remember some of the characters in Hawaii that were instrumental in shaping Rachel, and they are referred to several times in this book. a solid 4+ stars!
The only reason this one gets deducted a star from me is because I believe you do have to have read the first novel in the not too distant past to have fully enjoyed the final fifth of the book after Rachel is reintroduced. I had read it too long ago to remember some of the characters in Hawaii that were instrumental in shaping Rachel, and they are referred to several times in this book. a solid 4+ stars!
Enjoyed this more than I expected, after finishing Moloka'i I thought it would be hard to continue in Rachel's daughter's perspective, but this was not the case. The two stories stand alone but interweave together nicely and complete Rachel's story. Plus I love the Hawaiian culture and tradition!
3.5 Rounding up to 4 from 3.5 stars. While I found this story to be very informative of events that occurred in the United States during WW2, the writing just seemed different and less emotionally engaging as compared to the author's other books that I loved immensely. I'm not sure if this is a result of my own mind as there are many things happening in my life right now to distract me but I know I loved his books [b:Moloka'i|3273|Moloka'i (Moloka'i, #1)|Alan Brennert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441920261l/3273._SX50_.jpg|3303291] and [b:Palisades Park|15787946|Palisades Park|Alan Brennert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1344319665l/15787946._SY75_.jpg|21508062] and this one just did not engage me in quite the same way. The author is able to present characters that stick with us and that is still true of this book and I'm glad we were able to reconnect with Rachel from [b:Moloka'i|3273|Moloka'i (Moloka'i, #1)|Alan Brennert|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1441920261l/3273._SX50_.jpg|3303291]; that was a special bonus and I recommend reading Moloka'i before this one to get that bonus but it's absolutely not necessary. Looking forward to [a:Alan Brennert|2226|Alan Brennert|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1242124016p2/2226.jpg]'s next book, hope it's soon!
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes