Moloka'i

Moloka'i

Alan Brennert

ISBN:0-312-30434

I was totally entrigued and captivated by this historical fiction novel. I had no idea such a place actually exsisted and this book brought it vividly to life. 

I enjoyed reading the book which was overtly sad. However when you added in the courage, conviction and passion of the lead character I felt more hopeful than hopeless. It was a relatively easy read. Never knew how to pronounce many of the Hawaiian names but that lent to the character of the book rather than distracted from it.

The story is about a young girl who contracts leprosy and is banished to a remote settlement on the island of Moloka'i in Hawaii. She lived out her life at the settlement being raised from her small girlhood by the nuns of Father Damien. Later she moved out to the community and a lovely story unfolds of a young girl coming of age. Then later an old woman seeking healing from a lifetime of loss.

I always love to pin down an excerpt from the book I feel like sums it up which follows below;

"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. Some, like Crossen, choose to do harm to themselves and others. Others, like Kenji, bear up under their pain and help others to bear it.

I use to wonder, why did God give children leprosy? Now I believe God doesn't give anyone leprosy. He gives us, if we choose to use it, the spirit to live with leprosy, and with the imminence of death. Becasue it is in our own mortality that we are most Divine."

Religion was weaved in and out of the story with no real commitment being made by any of the characters to any specific belief, so the quotes above encompass so many aspects of this story.

I highly recommend reading this especially if you love historical fiction. If you don't, well may be this one will suck you in!