Rating:  ☆☆☆1/2

Recommended by:

Author:  Alan Brennert

Genre:   Fiction, Historical Fiction

439 pages, published May 24, 2011

Reading Format:  Book

Summary

In the book Honolulu, author Alan Brennert tells the story of Jin, a young girl who leaves behind her family in Japanese occupied Korea to journey to Honolulu in 1914 as a picture bride.  We follow Jin’s ups and downs through the decades, from a disastrous first marriage, to living in the red light district, to starting a family and successful business, to finally traveling back to Korea.  Through this character we see the metamorphosis of the Hawaiian islands during the 20^th century.

Quotes 

“Hawai’i is not truly the idyllic paradise of popular songs–islands of love and tranquility, where nothing bad ever happens. It was and is a place where people work and struggle, live and die, as they do the world over.”

 

“Quoting an old proverb: “An empty cart rattles loudly.” she said. meaning, One who lacks substance boasts loudest.”

 

“A road need not be paved in gold to find treasures at its end.”

 

“When we are young, we think life will be like a supo: one fabric, one weave, one grand design. But in truth, life turns out to be more like the patchwork cloths-bits and pieces, odds and ends-people, places, things we never expected, never wanted, perhaps.”

 

“Hawai’i has often been called a melting pot, but I think of it more as a ‘mixed plate’—a scoop of rice with gravy, a scoop of macaroni salad, a piece of mahi-mahi, and a side of kimchi. Many different tastes share the plate, but none of them lose their individual flavor, and together they make up a uniquely ‘local’ cuisine. This is also, I believe, what America is at its best—a whole greater than the sum of it’s parts.”

 

“Old Korean adage, “Even jade has flaws.” Or, in other words: Nothing in life is ever perfect.”

 

“Summer in Honolulu brings the sweet smell of mangoes, guava, and passionfruit, ripe for picking; it arbors the streets with the fiery red umbrellas of poincianta trees and decorates the sidewalks with the pink and white puffs of blossoming monkeypods. Cooling trade winds prevail all summer, bringing what the old Hawaiians called makani ‘olu’ ‘olu— “fair wind”.”

 

“She laughed at that, and finally accepted the gift. “Thank you,” she said, bowing, “for your kampana.” This was a Buddhist term that spoke of when “good people’s hearts are moved” to do a compassionate act.

 

“In that panic I convinced myself that this was all my fault; had I not come here under false pretenses, the lie that was my photograph? Did my husband not have the right to be disappointed in me? And I had been callow and stupid to criticize him. I thought of the night a week before when he praised the meal I had cooked and had allowed me to sit and eat with him. He was not a bad man; I was a bad wife. I would have to become a better one, that was all. It was the only way I could walk back into that little bungalow: to embrace the illusion that I could somehow change the situation, that I had some say over it. To admit that I had no say—that was too terrifying to contemplate. And so I sat there on the ground, weaving an illusion from strands of desperation, until at last I got up and started the long walk back to my husband’s house.”

 

“Legend holds that seesaws became popular with girls because on the upswing they were able to catch a glimpse of the world beyond their cloistered walls.”

 

“I liked the fact that the happiest night of my life was followed by a day like any other. It seemed to say that such happiness, so long denied, was now a part of my everyday life.”

 

“Korean clothes, both men’s trousers and women’s skirts, were of one size, with waistbands that could be tightened or loosened as needed. Koreans know that the human body is always changing—so why try to make one’s body fit into some garment of arbitrary size? But Americans seemed quick to bow to the tyranny of a fitted garment—and just as quick to cheat that fit when they could not live up to its restrictions.”

My Take

I had previously read Molokai by Alan Brennert and, having enjoyed that story, had high hopes for Honolulu.  I was not disappointed.  Brennert creates characters whom you care about while weaving in historical details.  It was also interesting to read about the evolution of the Hawaiian islands from the perspective of a young Korean woman brought there in the early 20^th century as a picture bride.  I also learned a bit about Korean during that same time period when it was occupied by the Japanese.  If you have a trip to Hawaii planned, I encourage you to read this book.