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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
1.5 stars
I have traditionally enjoyed Vowell's novels as they mix two of my favorite things: history and humor. However, I felt the humor was almost entirely missing from Unfamiliar Fishes, which is one of the two major issues I have with the book. The other issue I have involves missionaries. Holy shit missionaries! Too many missionaries leads to too much Bible talk and this girl does not like either one of those things. Missionaries AND no humor? Sorry, I was bored to tears. The only reason this book has not received a straight 1 star is due to the pieces of historical knowledge Vowell instilled in me about the last 200 or so years of Hawai'i. Unfortunately this history involves a great deal of Bible-thumping, which makes me quite sad for the islands.
I have traditionally enjoyed Vowell's novels as they mix two of my favorite things: history and humor. However, I felt the humor was almost entirely missing from Unfamiliar Fishes, which is one of the two major issues I have with the book. The other issue I have involves missionaries. Holy shit missionaries! Too many missionaries leads to too much Bible talk and this girl does not like either one of those things. Missionaries AND no humor? Sorry, I was bored to tears. The only reason this book has not received a straight 1 star is due to the pieces of historical knowledge Vowell instilled in me about the last 200 or so years of Hawai'i. Unfortunately this history involves a great deal of Bible-thumping, which makes me quite sad for the islands.
Love the intelligence, insight and style on this historical topic of Hawaii's colonization.
Oddly, casually, amusing.
Doubtful as a history; Hualalai isn't extinct. Perhaps the history is casual, too. It certainly seems to have relied uncritically on the words and views of a few. Can we talk causes of extinction? Seems to be a rather random series of diary entries of a traveler to Hawaii and to history libraries.
Avoids the typical, all-or-nothing, good-or-bad designations of American "empire building" by presenting both ends of the spectrum but leaves the grey zone between unilluminated.
Welcome are the few reminders to restrain the tendency to view (and judge) history with modern perspectives
"somehow baffling and understandable at the same time." Indeed.
Doubtful as a history; Hualalai isn't extinct. Perhaps the history is casual, too. It certainly seems to have relied uncritically on the words and views of a few. Can we talk causes of extinction? Seems to be a rather random series of diary entries of a traveler to Hawaii and to history libraries.
Avoids the typical, all-or-nothing, good-or-bad designations of American "empire building" by presenting both ends of the spectrum but leaves the grey zone between unilluminated.
Welcome are the few reminders to restrain the tendency to view (and judge) history with modern perspectives
"somehow baffling and understandable at the same time." Indeed.
Sarah Vowell is always insightful and off beat and entertaining, but I felt like this book was a (rather brief) continuation of THE WORDY SHIPMATES in a different geographical setting with, of course, some political shades of THE PARTLY CLOUDY PATRIOT (but only in snippets). I'm headed to Hawaii (again) later in the month, so I found the book timely, at times informative, and, periodically, amusing. But I can't put this one in the same class as ASSASSINATION VACATION in terms of originality, creativity, or thematic cohesion. Still, well worth the time, just not my favorite of hers....
"Let us squeeze ourselves into each other; let us squeeze ourselves universally into the very milk and sperm of kindness."
Okage sama de.
"When a crown falls, it is pulverized, and when a scepter departs, it departs forever."
Okage sama de.
"When a crown falls, it is pulverized, and when a scepter departs, it departs forever."
I'm starting to realize that Sarah Vowell may not be for me. I know very little about Hawaii other than we annexed it (and back when I learned this I was indignant anyone wouldn't want to be a part of the United States) and had never made the connection to our even further reaching imperialist streak that hit after the Civil War.
But something like this - it makes me want something thick with footnotes, not a story about her family. It was a good overview of some of the interaction between native Hawaiians and white Americans (I think she may have skimped on the role of plantations on the annexation) but I guess I like more in-depth and scholarly histories.
But something like this - it makes me want something thick with footnotes, not a story about her family. It was a good overview of some of the interaction between native Hawaiians and white Americans (I think she may have skimped on the role of plantations on the annexation) but I guess I like more in-depth and scholarly histories.
Cheeky, lively and deceptively well researched. Recommended by a number of people during a recent visit to Hawaii -- "if you're only going to read one book," etc. In essence, this is the timeline Vowell draws of the winds that blew through Hawaii in the 19th Century: The arrival of the missionaries, which led to a host of reforms (including a written alphabet and widespread literacy) … the simultaneous arrival of the whalers (from places like New Bedford and Sag Harbor), which can be viewed as the start of the tourism industry … when real oil is discovered in Pennsylvania in 1859 and the Civil War cuts off Southern sugar, then come the sugar growers who ultimately wind up with most of the land and are the schemers behind the overthrow … and who are responsible for the ethnic diversity of modern Hawaii by bringing into waves of Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese to work in the fields.
The history of the colonization of Hawaii, told in the compelling way that only Sarah Vowell can pull off. The early missionaries were so pure and self-sacrificing in their motivation, and so destructive in their effects. While the imported diseases ravaged the Hawaiians, they also became (probably) the most literate society in the world -- in the literature brought by the Americans.
I love Sarah Vowell's ability to bounce around between a few disparate ideas, cracking little snarky jokes, then hitting you right in the gut with an insight you didn't see coming. Having been to Hawaii a few times and scratching the surface of the historic and modern culture there, this book was a huge pleasure and makes me want to go back.
(I also, of course, loved the quick digression to New Bedford)
(I also, of course, loved the quick digression to New Bedford)