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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
I've tried to read this before and couldn't get into it, but I listened to the audiobook this time and enjoyed the book overall. My main issue with this book isn't really with the book at all, it is just with this kind of densely researched book of history, I feel like I'm constantly letting myself down when I'm not remembering every detail. But an interesting book about American imperialism through missionaries. Definitely worth reading if you are going to Hawaii.
Really interesting and engaging, but there were some topics I wish would have been included, like why the Hawaiian leaders where so willing follow the missionaries, or what Asian influences happened.
I learned a lot about Hawaiian and American history in this book, and I like the way Sarah Vowell tells a story. I think because I listened to this book, rather than read it, I got the names mixed up at times. The trips made by the first people headed to Hawaii from Massachusetts made me think of people today figuring out how we could send people to Mars: it was such a long arduous trip.
informative
reflective
slow-paced
This book left me feeling guilty and depressed, as do all books about American Imperialism.
funny
informative
medium-paced
The audio version is superb. Highly recommended for everyone, required if you have been or are planning to ever go to Hawaii.
Sarah Vowell is such a smart writer and thorough researcher that I always know I will like her books. Unfamiliar Fishes is no exception - fascinating and funny and gives terrific insight into Hawaiian history (something I knew very little about before reading this).
The only real complaint I have about this book is the lack of real chapters or sections - I get that the story is less segmented than, for example, Assassination Vacation which tells three different stories about three different presidents, but sometimes it felt hard to find a stopping place or a way to mentally catalog all of the information I was taking in.
The only real complaint I have about this book is the lack of real chapters or sections - I get that the story is less segmented than, for example, Assassination Vacation which tells three different stories about three different presidents, but sometimes it felt hard to find a stopping place or a way to mentally catalog all of the information I was taking in.
Good book about the history of Hawaii and how it came to be part of the United States. The book is best when the author (Sarah Vowell) interjects a snarky comment but those were to far in between. Also had a difficult time keeping all the names straight (Kamehameha, Keaweikekahialiiokamoku, Kalaniopuu,etc). Geez. Still a very entertaining and enlightening book about the 50th State.