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mistressbookstress 's review for:
Unfamiliar Fishes
by Sarah Vowell
I felt conflicted again with my second Sarah Vowell book. On the one hand, George Bush was NOT the president when she wrote this book, so we are spared frequent complaining about him. Also, I learned a lot of really fascinating things about the history of Hawaii. And Sarah Vowell seems to be pretty good at reading primary sources and selecting the best/juiciest quotes. However, a few things:
- The book is really A History of Things Americans Did In Hawaii Sarah Vowell Didn't Like. It feels episodic and disconnected sometimes. A book with no chapter divisions drives me a little crazy.
- One problem is that she doesn't give her native Hawaiian characters much autonomy. Instead of making reasoned decisions to do this or that, she claims that they were all manipulated into this or that by white people or they "drank the Jesus juice." It can be condescending.
- I still don't get the sense I would ENJOY traveling with Sarah Vowell, which is irritating because I agree with her about many things, including the tragedies in Hawaiian history, the unfair overthrow of the monarchy, the prissiness of certain missionaries. Yet her preaching can be so obnoxious it makes me pigheadedly want to disagree with her.
In summation, a classic 3-star rating: mostly interesting, but too annoying for a 4-star.
- The book is really A History of Things Americans Did In Hawaii Sarah Vowell Didn't Like. It feels episodic and disconnected sometimes. A book with no chapter divisions drives me a little crazy.
- One problem is that she doesn't give her native Hawaiian characters much autonomy. Instead of making reasoned decisions to do this or that, she claims that they were all manipulated into this or that by white people or they "drank the Jesus juice." It can be condescending.
- I still don't get the sense I would ENJOY traveling with Sarah Vowell, which is irritating because I agree with her about many things, including the tragedies in Hawaiian history, the unfair overthrow of the monarchy, the prissiness of certain missionaries. Yet her preaching can be so obnoxious it makes me pigheadedly want to disagree with her.
In summation, a classic 3-star rating: mostly interesting, but too annoying for a 4-star.