Reviews with content warning for Miscarriage - Hula

Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes

24 reviews

silodear's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book. It takes place in the town I grew up in, partially during the time of my childhood. The characters were so vivid and complex. I loved the unique of the story. I felt the heartache of the characters so acutely. I loved the light dusting of magic.

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alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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emotional reflective slow-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? Yes

4.0

this was a very beautiful generational tale about 3 different Hawaiian women. this was really enjoyable.

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brynpemery's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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maijanou's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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jamieclower's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

4.5

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booksemmahasread's review against another edition

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emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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knkayaktel's review

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2.25

The plot of this book is very interesting and I really enjoyed, but the format in how it is written makes it very difficult. I’m not sure who the narrator is or what POV it actually is. It’s almost like 1st person, but a disconnected first person, but like it’s not? A lot of the dialogue is written in Hawaiian “pidgin” so can be a little hard to understand at times. And there’s a lot of jumping around. Overall, I didn’t rate this book super well cuz I was so confused the whole time (and I’m a harsh rater). I also wish this book had an Hawaiian dictionary to better help learn some of the words that were used. Maybe the narrator is some random family member, kinda seems that way.

Hi’I is a young girl who looks Haole but is in a Hawaiian native family. To the Naupaka’s, Hawaiian is mostly in the blood, and Hi’i doesn’t look like she is part of the family with her red hair and green eyes. Throughout the novel, the narrator tangents into an outsiders perspective, while othertimes being closely immersed in Hi’I’s or Laka’s story. It shows of the family’s fight for the right to their land that the US government has been taking away, promising to return, but never doing it. It shows the hardships native Hawaiians faced as their identity was stripped over time, and how they tried to maintain that through Hula.

Part 1

is about young Hi’i and how she relates to the people around her and how her grandmother, the famous Hulali doesn’t acknowledge her and drives a wedge between the rest of Naupaka’s and Hi’I and her mother. She joins hula and insults another young girl, apparently haole, telling her she doesn’t belong in hula because she’s not real Hawaiian (she was mad people don’t think of her as Hawaiian even tho her family is). It really focuses on Blood Quantum (and it’s mentioned a lot throughout the book). Hi’I goes on a school trip but leaves early due to being on her ma’a and being called out for it (she disobeyed sacred rules by going somewhere while on it and thinks she cursed them when bad things start happening after). Hi’I progresses thru hula and hopes that by doing so she will win her grandmother’s favor. Most of their family won’t accept her because they can’t prove she is actually one of them. Laka becomes pregnant again by a man who is an abusive drunk, Tony. Tony goes to jail for manslaughter. Laka has her baby Malia. Hulali reenters their lives as this baby is a real Hawaiian and somehow things seem a little better as Hulali acknowledges Hi’I now.

Part 2

goes back years before to when Laka was a teen and winning Miss Aloha Hula. It tells how she had a secret boyfriend (David) who she became pregnant by just before the Hula competition and he went off to Vietnam. She runs away to Maui where she miscarries. A young woman helps her through and they become fast friends. They work at a hotel together and go on fun adventures. Beatriz is revealed to be pregnant and the night after she has the baby, Beatriz disappears and no one knows of her and all Laka knew about her family was a lie, so Laka takes the baby and names her Hi’I, believing that the Hawaiian gods sent Beatriz to give the baby she lost to her. Hulali briefly comes to visit and doesn't believe it's Laka's baby. Laka eventually returns home due to not being able to afford living there anymore.

Part 3

once again focuses on Hi’I. Hi’I quits hula at her normal halau and joins another with Jane, who she becomes close friends with. She learns that Jane’s mom was actually Hawaiian which makes Hi’I more angry she is not. Hi’I plans to enter Miss Aloha Hula with a dance from her ancestors and when Laka finds out, she tells her the truth about who she was, a baby from someone else. Upset, Hi’I moves in with Jane for a time before moving to LA with some money from Hulali. Hi’I marries a California Hawaiian (Jacob) and have 2 little girls before he passes from cancer. Malia visits Hi’I in LA and it doesn’t go well, as Malia blames Hi’I (I mean Malia and Hi’I hadn’t seen each other since Malia was a baby). Eventually Hi’I decides to take her daughters to visit home. There’s a big protest going on at the beach cuz the Hawaiians want to build something and the police say no. Some family is watching Hi’I’s girls, Ruth and Emma, so they are on the beach. When Laka sees these girls who look like haole tourists, she screams that they should go away (this last section was chaos).

Part 4.

Laka has gotten really involved in the OHA as part of the Kingdom to fight for Hawaiian rights (or something, this is where I get even more confused). More invading businesses, Hawaiians angry, etc etc. David, Laka’s boyfriend from her youth, is found and has some mental issues after trying to escape the war, so Laka takes him in to live on their land. Eventually Tony gets released and moves home too (I think jail straightened him out). They really focus on the Kingdom here and I guess some people renounce Hawaiian/US citizenship to become a “Kingdom member” (idk). By now we’ve had a lot of perspective from the unknown narrator which makes me even more confused. (Honestly, I think Laka and Tony are going psychotic, so it’s getting weird). But BuyMore is persistent (promising jobs and money) and the people are angry. We glance back to Hi’I who hears her mother screamed at her kids and not realizing her mother didn’t realize that, gets angry (BLOOD QUANTUMS). She goes to search for her mother and sees them being arrested at a protest thing (they’re mad no one is listening to them and selling land out from under them). Hi’I shows up at the jail and bails Laka after BuyMore gets their building permits. She sees Jane and confronts her mother. After breaking down she goes back to her mother’s and lays Jacob to rest. Hi’I decides to stay in Hilo. BuyMore is built and barely hires any Hawaiians.

I think I would have liked this better as a nonfiction that only told the history or a fiction that focused on the story, rather than switching between the two. It kinda made the book feel weaker, especially as there was no clear distinction and it took a few lines to realize a topic had switched.

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