An excellent, well-told primer on Hawaiian history.
Bill Fernandez’s novel of Hawaii deals with the struggle to find a humane belief system.
We open with a kind of origin story. Centuries ago, life on what would become Hawaii was truly Edenic. Everyone got along amicably, and simple goodness reigned under Io, their god of peace and equality. Then came Paoa, a high priest from Tahiti who declared that the Tahitian gods, most notably Ku, the war god, would be in charge. Now the ethos would be “kapu,” royal edicts where the slightest misstep could get one killed. And of course there would be chiefs and high priests—and human sacrifice. Fast-forward to the early 19th century. Kalani Tana is a chief, a title and status bestowed upon him for his valor fighting alongside the great Kamehameha, a renowned war chief who united all of the Hawaiian Islands. Spiritual seeking is in the air: There has to be something better than this insane cruelty. Perhaps it is Confucianism? Christianity? Kaahumanu, the late Kamehameha’s favorite wife; Hewahewa, the high priest; and others decide that the old gods must go. Even the feckless young king, Liholiho, is reluctantly on board. Keaoua, the priest of Ku, and cousin of Liholiho, leads an ill-fated rebellion. Meanwhile, Kalani simply wants to return to the village where he is chief and help them prosper again. He is also wracked with guilt over his teenage daughter, Lehua, because he was an absent father to her, and now she rejects him and leads a wild life. He wants to regain her love, but first he must find her. Ultimately, missionaries from New England arrive.
Author Fernandez tells a good story, and Kalani is an admirable hero, great in hand-to-hand combat but also complex and thoughtful. (We do have a rather cartoonish villain, Kalani’s nemesis, the arrogant Kamuela; other villains are usually riffraff from the outside.) The book opens with a bang—an exciting sea battle with Malay pirates in which, as always, Kalani distinguishes himself as a fighter and a leader. We are reminded that he is well traveled. He has even lived in Boston and speaks English well. Another important character is wise Kaahumanu, the widowed wife who becomes regent when Liholiho ascends the throne. She is probably the most forward looking of the Natives and had almost persuaded the dying Kamehameha to abolish kapu. Hawaii is hardly isolated, of course. Trading ships, whaling ships, and others are common visitors and definitely a mixed blessing. The islanders need the trade, but the ships bring all sorts of vices (and diseases), and, even allowing for the open sexual mores of the islanders, the women’s throwing themselves at the sailors in exchange for trinkets is cause for alarm, which is where the story of Lehua gets complicated: The concept of “aloha” always included free love, but where is the line between aloha and prostitution? (Needless to say, the sight of all these naked women paddling out to their ship gives the missionary wives the fantods!) These and other issues must be wrestled with. The author is a Hawaiian Native who came home after his retirement from being a judge in California. His latest book is illustrated with photographs and sketches by Judith Fernandez and maps.
An excellent, well-told primer on Hawaiian history.Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63944-358-1
Page Count: 318
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: Oct. 18, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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