Book review: Moloka'i

I just finished reading the novel ‘Moloka’i’ by Alan Brennert. Although this blog doesn’t usually involve book reviews, I really couldn’t help myself.

I’d like to say ‘this is one of my favourite books of all time’, however when I stop to think about it, I’d be hard pressed to think of a book I liked more. This book had everything: history, romance, tragedy, comedy and an overall sense of hope and inspiration.

Now see, even when I write that it sounds too hyperbolic, and I’m sure many of you are saying ‘yeah yeah, heard it all before’.  But this is the real McCoy, people! 

The same thing seems to happen in the blurb:

"Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka'i. Here her life is supposed to end - but instead she discovers it is just beginning... Moloka'i is a masterpiece of story telling about a people who embraced life in the face of death."

When I first read this part of the blurb, my initial reaction was 'eh, sounds a bit depressing. She gets sent away to a leper colony, but still does some cool things there. Great.'

But, as you might have guessed, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The novel follows the life of the protagonist, Rachel Kalama, from 1891 to 1970 in her homeland of Hawai’i, where she “dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman”, however at the age of seven she is diagnosed with leprosy, and is quarantined at the Kalaupapa settlement on the island of Moloka’i.

The novel follows all the trials and tribulations she experiences throughout her life, most of which are based on real life experiences of Kalaupapa residents and events that the author meticulously researched.

Although I had known a small amount about the history of Hawai’i, the novel explores events like the annexation of Hawai’i to the United States, WWII and the later commercialization and tourist-takeover, from the perspective of native Hawai’ians. There are other, smaller, considerations which also give the novel realistic qualities, such as the arrival of films, electricity, and aeroplanes.

Of course, this is all occurring as an undercurrent to the main plot: that of Rachel as she grows from a young girl, throughout her teenage years, into adulthood and as an elderly woman.

I don’t want to spoil too much, so I’ll try not to say anymore, however I do want to share with you this quote:

“There’s only one disadvantage, really, to having two mothers… You know twice the love… but you grieve twice as much.”

In her time at Kalaupapa, Rachel found a whole new “ohana”, a family, comprised of mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, friends and lovers. Although almost everyone, even her dogs, seemed to perish before she, the novel allows you to realise that the pain you suffer when those you love leave is a small price to pay for ever having had them.

I highly recommend this book to anyone with or without knowledge about Hawai'i, with or without interest in historical/epic novels, and with or without a heart. 

- the reckless philosopher