Moloka'i Review by Nick

Hello, my name is Nick and today I will be reviewing Moloka'i written by Alan Brennert and published in 2003. Before I dive into my review of the book, I will be including a small summary with important information from the book so if you plan on reading Moloka'i I would advise skipping the next two paragraphs.

Moloka'i is a historical fiction novel set on the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i in the 1890s and follows a girl named Rachel Kalama's entire life from her birth in 1891 to her death in 1970. Rachel has a bit of trouble adjusting to the new environment, but is still able to make a few friends in her new school called a Bishop Home that she was forced to go to by the  religious leaders that have a major influence over the lives of young children in the village. One of the main people who Rachel befriends is Haleola, a faith healer and somewhat of a maternal figure to Rachel. Outward signs of Rachel's leprosy begin to show as she begins to develop an interest in a young, athletic teen. Rachel continues to hope that her leprosy will be healed one day and carefully follows all medical suggestions and procedures.

Eventually, Rachel and Kenji, the boy she had feelings for when she first arrived, get married. Very early on in their marriage they unintentionally have a daughter who is taken away by the government as protocol because the parents were leprous. Much later into their lives Kenji dies while trying to help other settlers and Rachel loses her will to live. Rachel's leprosy worsens and she spends months in the hospital, but when the doctors give her a new, experimental drug to use she recovers quickly. Rachel finds a new perception of her world since her leprosy was cured and reunites with her sister and other family members who thought that she was dead. Rachel spends the last 20 years of her live travelling throughout the world and the book ends with her funeral on the Kalaupapa Peninsula in 1970.

I found Moloka'i to be extremely enjoyable to read. Although the book had a lot of sad points which emphasized the struggle that Rachel and Kenji went through I still really enjoyed reading those sections because they felt so real. Even though leprosy has mostly disappeared from developed countries I felt like I could relate to the characters because of their suffering, but constant will to push forward and to try for the best. The story of Rachel contains many ups and downs that invoke great emotion in the reader and the hope and resilience that Rachel exhibits throughout the book maker her an extremely memorable character. Despite suffering from leprosy for most of her life and having her daughter taken away after a healthy birth Rachel continued to try and fight her disease. I would highly recommend this book to pretty much everyone. It is an extremely realistic story that involves a wide variety of emotions through excellent storytelling and strong main characters that you will find difficult to put down.

Thanks for reading!


Comments

  1. Dan Y.March 7, 2020 at 9:46 AM

    This is a great review! This is not a book that I would usually read on my own, but the way you describe it, the novel sounds like it would be worth it to read. You gave a really good summary of the novel and described it in a way that made it sound very intriguing. It seems that this is obviously a very emotional book with its main focus on Rachel's development as a person throughout her struggles. I may have to actually read this as this sounds like a really interesting book from this genre.

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  2. AndrewMarch 8, 2020 at 8:09 PM

    This sounds like a great read. I’m a fan of realistic fiction, so I think it would suit my taste. It’s interesting that the book covers Rachel’s whole life story rather than a certain significant event in her life. You did a good job conveying both what the book is about and what you liked about it. Nice job!

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  3. Ethan RobertsMarch 8, 2020 at 8:45 PM

    I like the sound of this book! Though I'm not usually into sad stories about real struggles, I recently got back into realistic fiction, so I might give it a try. While you made the book seem emotional, and I don't like emotional stories, I think it isn't too bad because the plot is interesting enough. I am also looking for a book that I can really get invested into, and you said that the characters were extremely realistic. Great review!


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