Hawaii: A Novel by James A. Michener
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Book Reviews of Hawaii: A Novel
Book Review: The ultimate family saga
Summary: 5 Stars
This, as far I'm concerned, is the ultimate "family saga" novel. Some call it Michener's master work, and I wholeheartedly agree with that assessment.
HAWAII follows an organizational pattern familiar to readers of Michener's other huge historical novels. First he tells the geological and prehistoric story of the region that provides the book's setting. Next, he introduces characters from early in that region's history - characters whose descendants people the book's subsequent sections, joined by a new group of immigrants as each of the tale's installments unfolds. The Polynesians - the New England missionaries, whalers, and merchants - the Chinese - and finally, the Japanese, arrive in different eras and under different circumstances. Each of these groups finds its own place, or rather creates its own place, in a society that's both challenged and enriched by Hawaii's ever-increasing racial and cultural diversity.
Genealogy ties this vast story's threads together, yet each of its major characters exists as a memorable individual in his or her own right. The author never allows his book's colorful setting, or the exciting backdrop of world events against which local happenings play out, to upstage those characters - nor does he let them blur into each other, which could easily happen with this many for both author and reader to keep straight. But what reader could possibly forget the great Alii Nui Malama, no matter how many descendants of the original Malama wind up sharing her name? Who could forget missionary wife Jerusha Bromley Hale, or the Chinese concubine whose true name her hundreds of descendants never know?
HAWAII heads the short list of books that I can read over and over, and always find fresh. A master work, indeed!
Book Review: Hawaii
Summary: 5 Stars
In the late sixties during the summer between 8th and 9th grades, I was gleaning through the relatively few paperback novels in my parent's library for anything interesting to read. It was my good fortune to stumble upon a copy of James Michener's "Hawaii" on an upper shelf. It looked formidable at more than an inch thick, but I fearlessly plunged in with all the confidence I had assumed from earlier tackling J.R.R. Tolkein's "Hobbit" and Lord of the Ring series. To my delight, I was also taken for a life-changing ride into what was then a truly an entirely different universe.
Not only was " Hawaii" a vivid, flowing introduction to the history, the people and promise of Hawaii, to a third-generation offspring of Japanese-American grandparents such as myself, whose entire family was interned in US government relocation centers during World War II on the mainland, Michener's book was riveting and revolutionary! I must have read and re-read it six, maybe seven times in a row. To this very date of all books I've read since, this novel stands alone.
More significantly, in the heyday of the Dick & Jane readers, "Hawaii" was the first novel I read prior to age 21, which featured a cast of Asian-American characters as fully-fleshed out and on equal footing to those of the Caucasian-American characters, a precious and affirming detail for which I'll be eternally in this memorable and most-productive author's debt.
Book Review: Fantastic Fictional Tour of Historical Hawaii
Summary: 5 Stars
Mr. Michener's wonderful historical novel on the 50th state masterfully weaves together many smaller individual stories that allow the reader to appreciate this amazing and diverse island group. Hawaii was settled in waves, and book begins with the original human settlement by brave seafarers who could read the waves and locate dots of land in a vast seascape. The reader experiences the later impacts of famous explorers, Christian missionaries, far-away countries seeking to colonize, businessmen and sailors, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipinos. One of the gems of the book is the amazing story of young Japanese-American men and their wartime valor on behalf of their adopted country.
Once you get past the beaches, hotels, and shops, Hawaii is an absolutely fascinating place - culturally, geologically, and historically. Despite the danger of learning facts from a historical novel that is fictional in its details, I believe Michener's research and accuracy allows the reader to acquire a good feel for the essence of Hawaii, and engender more reading on the same topic and perhaps on-site exploration. That aside, though, reading through this extensive book is a great experience. It is really a compendium of many sub-stories, each special in its own way. The book moves along at a good pace, and in the end provides a marathon of fascinating tales and images.
Book Review: Granddaddy of Hawaii Novels
Summary: 5 Stars
As a Hawaii resident, <www.waikikinews.com> columnist, and author of a Hawaii novel, I want to Give Michener his "props." This is the granddaddy of all Hawaii novels that introduced our island culture to the vast "mainland" and the world! If you loved this book and want more, or want to read something (shorter and more contemporary) set in more recent times, please check out our current literature by authors such as Lois Ann Yamanaka, Glen Grant, or. . . um . ME! Mahalo! And "Stay Come!" We'll hold a place at the luau for you! Cloudia W. Charters ALOHA Where You Like Go?: From Survival to Satisfaction by Honolulu TaxiBook Review: The Big Picture
Summary: 5 Stars
Michener is amazing at condensing a lifetime of history into a story that gives you the big picture. We decided to read this one because of my upcoming trip to Hawaii. Reading about my travel destination before going makes the trip more fulfilling. It gives you a since of the culture and history of the place before you get there. It gives you a hint of what you really should look for when you get there. It was such a rush to go to Lahaina and view the missionary house there. It makes the book real and burns it into your mind.