Brian's Reviews > Moloka'i

“It’s a hard thing, to love someone and not be able to show it.”

This is a text that came into my life through a book club. I had never heard of it, or its subject matter, before. It took me a while to read it, and I did not think often about wanting to pick it up, but every time I did I was captured. An odd experience.

MOLOKA’I is a historical fiction account of a real leper colony that was in Hawaii. This novel takes place starting in 1891 and ends in 1970, and it clips along, covering a lot of material in a pretty quick pace. We follow one Rachel Kalama from pre diagnosis, until death, experiencing the life of one who lives (and Rachel certainly does live a life) with leprosy. The text flows very cinematically, as it does not belabor any point. It presents it, and moves on. And I liked that about this book.

There really are not villains in this piece. Just people. And most people are not really bad, they just sometimes make bad decisions. I appreciate writers who remember that fact. Author Alan Brennert does not take cheap shots at targets that popular culture seems to always take cheap shots at. He does not go after low hanging fruit in this novel, and I marveled that his depictions of the Catholic Church were thoughtful. Lesser writers would have painted the easy (cheap) target of the “unfeeling church”, proselytizing before caring about the individual. But Brennert does not do that. Instead his people of the church are decent (sometimes amazing) humans, with good intentions, sometimes poor execution, but usually good hearted. I appreciated his effort to not paint cheap villains, but instead to give a humanity and realistic depth to his multi-faceted characters and their motives.

Quotes:
• “…and the thought draped itself around her, warm and comforting as a favorite blanket: she wasn’t alone here.”
• “…after a while the fear became a constant, cold companion, a simple fact of existence.”
• “…for a while, at least, the ocean washed everything away. “
• “I believe in Hawai’i. I believe in the land.”
• “Fear is good. In the right degree it prevents us making fools of ourselves. But in the wrong measure it prevents us from fully living. Fear is our boon companion, but never our master.”
• “…and they sat here wordlessly, sharing more than silence.”
• “The sea is always in command, humanity an invited guest; those who did not respect that did not return.”
• “I’ve come to believe that how we choose to live with pain, or injustice, or death…is the true measure of the Divine within us.”
• “It wasn’t right. But it’s over.”

One of the best things about MOLOKA’I is that the book does not focus on the negative. It focuses on living and life, acknowledging the positive and the negative as part of that process. I for one found that very refreshing. We will experience both good and bad repeatedly throughout this journey called life. And neither should dominate our choices.

A note, this edition of the text features a short “Get to Know the History” section at the end that I found to be a nice complement to the book.