My best friend, Kristen, and I decided to start a cross-country "book club" of two. We both love to read and we thought it would be a good way to stay in touch across the miles. We're off to a pretty good start. I picked our first book and Kristen picked our most recent book. I just finished it and loved it. She nailed my favorite genre - historical fiction. I love to learn and I love to get lost in a story, so it is the perfect combination.
Moloka'i is set in Hawaii in the late 1800s to the mid-1900s. It is the story of a young Hawaiian girl who contracts leprosy and is sent to the leper colony on the island of Moloka'i. It is so fascinating to think that not so long ago there was no known prevention, treatment, or cure for leprosy, otherwise known as Hansen's disease. The only "treatment" of any kind in Hawaii was to sequester Hansen's patients on their own island. So in addition to the agonizing physical toll of their disease, they also had to suffer the emotional loss of their previous life, everyone they knew, and their freedom.
The tale is told primarily from the perspective of women and the author so eloquently captures the thoughts, emotions, and actions of those women that I constantly had to remind myself that he is a man. As I learned in the author's note, he also did a great job of weaving historical figures that actually lived and worked on Moloka'i into his fictional story.
Overall, I thought it was an excellent book and would highly recommend it. It is a great story about the human spirit, life, and all that life entails - love, loss, agony, growth, religion, joy, adventure, and, of course, illness. Brennert also broached a few subjects that I did not expect, but were pleasantly surprising, especially in the historical context in which they were set, including adoption, domestic violence, war, internment camps, and transgender issues. Not that I think all of these topics are pleasant, but I thought the presentation of them in the novel was unique and refreshing.
Additionally, the setting of the story in the Hawaiian islands transported me there and allowed for a mini-tropical vacation. Brennert beautifully captured the contrasting tranquility and wildness of the Hawaiian islands in his imagery and in his use of the Hawaiian language. It really made me want to learn Hawaiian because it is such an amazing language - they have single words that would take us a whole sentence to explain. If you decide to read Moloka'i or have read it in the past, let me know what you think. I'd love to hear your opinion! And I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.
Thank you, Kristen, for a great pick. Now I'm curious to read more of Brennert's books.
