A review by lnocita
Honolulu by Alan Brennert

5.0

Honolulu is a sweeping piece of historical fiction. Regret is a Korean girl whose father is very traditional. Korean tradition dictated that women were very much second class citizens with no rights of their own. Additionally, they lived a very sequestered and fettered life, serving first their families and then, later, their husband, usually by arranged marriage. There was no education outside of the home. Regret yearns for a bigger life and jumps at the opportunity to become a "picture bride," an arranged marriage of sorts to Korean nationals living abroad. In this, Regret has some choice in choosing her husband based on photos and a dossier about the men who are looking for wives. She leaves home under a cloud of dishonor as her father disowns her for her brashness. She journeys to Hawaii to meet her husband and is dismayed to find that he and the other "husbands" bear little resemblance to their dossiers. Although she has the chance to back out of the marriage, she chooses to go ahead with it, hoping for a brighter future. When her first husband turns out to be a lush and have a brutish temper, she flees and goes to live in Honolulu eventually securing a divorce and a brighter future for herself through much hard work and determination. Very engaging narrative.