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A review by ceeemvee
Daughter of Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
3.0
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Previously, I read and reviewed Book No. 1, Moloka’i, which is Rachel’s story of contracting leprosy, being wrenched from her family and sent to live at Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i. Book No. 1 was full of emotions, from one end of the spectrum to the next, a roller coaster of a ride with happiness and joy marred by heartbreak. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the same emotional impact from Book No. 2. It just really fell flat for me. It was a good story with a lot of potential, but it just didn’t engage me as the first book did.
Book No. 2 is the story of Ruth, Rachel’s daughter. While Kalaupapa may have been a quarantined island, the residents were still free to live in their own homes, fall in love, marry and have children. With dire consequences, I might add. Rachel fell in love with Kenji, who was Japanese. They married and their daughter, Ruth, was taken from them at birth. I think this is the part of the book that deserves 5 stars for making me think. Imagine how devastating it would be to have a child taken from you immediately after birth. Would it then be less traumatic to never see them again, or to see them for a year and then have them whisked away to an orphanage on another Hawaiian island? Until Ruth’s first birthday, Rachel and Kenji can see their daughter, albeit from behind glass and never being able to touch her. I really wrestled with which option was the lesser of two evils and still haven’t been able to decide.
On with the story, which now becomes Ruth’s story. She spends five years or so in a Catholic orphanage before being adopted by a Japanese family. We follow her through childhood, adolescent and teen years, into her marriage and as a new mother. We also follow her and her family into a Japanese internment camp. The writing style of Book No. 1 was simplistic, but in a good way. There wasn’t a lot of flowery prose, just raw emotion that clearly conveyed. Book No. 2 is just simplistic and lacks any depth to the plot or the emotions. There is so much anger and hatred towards the whites that interred the Japanese, yet it is never fully examined. Please don’t think I am condoning this, I just felt there was a lack of story behind the actions to help me better understand what each side was feeling. I do understand feeling anger and hatred towards those who imprison you unjustly, but felt there would have been more complexity and depth to those emotions which I just didn’t pick-up from the writing. At the same time, there are some family rifts which I would have loved seen explored more from a Japanese cultural perspective of family, honor and shame.
There were things mentioned in the book which I needed to go look up for myself to see what the author was referring to, see if they were true and to learn more about them. I would have loved to have seen more of that explained in the book, but they were just glossed over.
There was also a large section of the book which was taken directly from Book No. 1. I guess if it’s been a while since you read the first, or if you didn’t read the first, to be able to recap. Since I read them back-to-back, it dragged down the pace of the book.
Previously, I read and reviewed Book No. 1, Moloka’i, which is Rachel’s story of contracting leprosy, being wrenched from her family and sent to live at Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka’i. Book No. 1 was full of emotions, from one end of the spectrum to the next, a roller coaster of a ride with happiness and joy marred by heartbreak. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the same emotional impact from Book No. 2. It just really fell flat for me. It was a good story with a lot of potential, but it just didn’t engage me as the first book did.
Book No. 2 is the story of Ruth, Rachel’s daughter. While Kalaupapa may have been a quarantined island, the residents were still free to live in their own homes, fall in love, marry and have children. With dire consequences, I might add. Rachel fell in love with Kenji, who was Japanese. They married and their daughter, Ruth, was taken from them at birth. I think this is the part of the book that deserves 5 stars for making me think. Imagine how devastating it would be to have a child taken from you immediately after birth. Would it then be less traumatic to never see them again, or to see them for a year and then have them whisked away to an orphanage on another Hawaiian island? Until Ruth’s first birthday, Rachel and Kenji can see their daughter, albeit from behind glass and never being able to touch her. I really wrestled with which option was the lesser of two evils and still haven’t been able to decide.
On with the story, which now becomes Ruth’s story. She spends five years or so in a Catholic orphanage before being adopted by a Japanese family. We follow her through childhood, adolescent and teen years, into her marriage and as a new mother. We also follow her and her family into a Japanese internment camp. The writing style of Book No. 1 was simplistic, but in a good way. There wasn’t a lot of flowery prose, just raw emotion that clearly conveyed. Book No. 2 is just simplistic and lacks any depth to the plot or the emotions. There is so much anger and hatred towards the whites that interred the Japanese, yet it is never fully examined. Please don’t think I am condoning this, I just felt there was a lack of story behind the actions to help me better understand what each side was feeling. I do understand feeling anger and hatred towards those who imprison you unjustly, but felt there would have been more complexity and depth to those emotions which I just didn’t pick-up from the writing. At the same time, there are some family rifts which I would have loved seen explored more from a Japanese cultural perspective of family, honor and shame.
There were things mentioned in the book which I needed to go look up for myself to see what the author was referring to, see if they were true and to learn more about them. I would have loved to have seen more of that explained in the book, but they were just glossed over.
There was also a large section of the book which was taken directly from Book No. 1. I guess if it’s been a while since you read the first, or if you didn’t read the first, to be able to recap. Since I read them back-to-back, it dragged down the pace of the book.