Rating:

The best feature of the book is that is is
organized as a set of driving tours from the
Kailua-Kona and Hilo areas. Almost everyone
visiting the Big Island travels by rented car
and stays in either of these areas. The struc-
ture is perfect for a tourist, right down to
listing the mile-marker numbers where unmarked
sideroads lead to beaches, volcano view spots,
and other points of interest not on the rental
car maps. It is loaded with color photographs, maps in many level of details — including hiking trails — and easy-to-spot icons of the things to see and do. We visited friends who have lived in Kailua for years who were surprised at how
many new things they learned.

I have to stop now before I embarass myself.
If you visit the Big Island and don’t take this
book with you your trip will be that much less
fun.

Rating:

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!

Rating:

Since this book is several million years long, that’s quite an experience, as is reading this book. I’ve real quite a bit of Michener’s works, and this is buy far his best. For one, there are only 17 pages about geology, not several hundred as in other books. For another, the clear connections of family through the generations in this book really make you know the main characters. For another, it’s clear he loves Hawaii, as does anyone who’s been there.

This book is the history of Hawaii. It’s well arranged, first there are 17 pages of geology, then the Polynesian settlers get 100 pages. Next, we head forward a thousand years and the first Christian missionaries from the east coast arrive (and insisted on wearing wool clothing!) Then came the Chinese, and leprosy. Next the Japanese, and Pearl Harbor. Finally, the golden man emerges a mix of all these races and a good dash of Aloha spirit. Each section follows one or two families who intermix with those already established and intermarry and have children.

This book is fascinating. Every part of it excellent, although I especially love the missionaries, the Chinese family (they’re just great characters and you learn so much about Chinese culture) and the descriptions of the Japanese American soldiers fighting in WW2.

Reading this book requires great amounts of patience, because there are rough patches, sections where 50 or so pages will go by without an interesting thing in them. But the great parts are truly great. It’s easy to see why Michener is one of the greatest American writers when you read this. I have tried many of his other works and they don’t come close to the quality of this book.

I recommend this to everyone, and I recommend you buy it, not check it out from a library. You’ll want to read it again and again.