Moloka’i

By: Alan Brennert

Narrated by: Anne Noelani Miyamoto

Length: 17 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

The powerful debut novel from Alan Brennert, Moloka’i tells the story of Rachel Kalama, a seven-year-old Hawaiian girl who contracts leprosy and is quarantined on the island of Moloka’i during the 1890s. Separated from her family and forced to grow up in the leper colony of Kalaupapa, Rachel experiences intense isolation. But she remains strong, finding moments of joy, and even love. Rich in Hawaiian history, this novel proves itself a stellar piece of historical fiction.

©2003 Alan Brennert (P)2009 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

“Compellingly original … Brennert’s compassion makes Rachel a memorable character, and his smooth storytelling vividly brings early twentieth-century Hawaii to life.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Excellent piece of historical fiction

I enjoyed this book.
I thought it was over, twice. But it turned out that the parts that remained were worth the story being longer.
The narrator was able to pronounce all of the names and locations appropriately, which always lends to the story. But the inflections were subdued. not quite monotone, but never heard the fear or the love or the confusion in the narrators voice, so it made the story SEEM flat.
But looking back on it, the characters had depth and there were passionate moments and subjects and experiences throughout.
I appreciate that there are quite a few pieces of history in the book. I love historical fiction!

what happened to narrator

I loved the story and the voice of the narrator with the correct pronunciation of the Hawaiian language. but from chapter 14 and beyond the voice was fast and the pronunciation was lost. I'm not sure it was the same narrator. ruined the last couple of chapters.

Wow! Comparable to Michener--well done!

This poignant tale of a young Hawaiian girl during the turn of the 19th century is well told by Allan Brennert, and I might add, well read by Anne Miyamoto. I had the privilege of visiting Kalaupapa in the late 1950s as an entertainer. Brennert's narrative is so evocative of that lonely place, that I was swept back there and relived the hours that I spent in the colony. We were truly separated from the patients at every level, but the warmth of the people minimized the uneasiness that I felt being there among them.

Brennant's story is very typical of how people were treated in those days. I thoroughlly enjoyed following Rachel as she grew from a frightened child into a mature woman, and felt her pain as she dealt with the problems of being ripped away from her family and thrown into a strange, forboding place, finding then losing loved ones, and the bittersweetness of finding a child that was taken from her at birth because she was infected

Alan Brennert's research of the time period, and the way he wove the events of the day into her story was heartwrenching real. I could hear the collective "Auwe" at the news of the king's death, and at her leaving Oahu for Moloka`i.

Anne Noelani's narration is better than any other reader's attempt at pronouncing the Hawaiian language. She is definitely familiar with island speech and inflection, however, there were a few words that were strangely pronounced. Kaiwi is pronounced ka-EE-vee, not KYE-vee. In spite of those little gafs, I did enjoy listening to the book very much. As a matter of fact, I am listening to it once again.

Although Mr. Brennant has another book on audible (Honolulu), I have decided not to get it. Another islander has reviewed that book and had the same pronounciation problem. It is very off-putting. However, if you are NOT familiar with the Hawaiian language, you might try his other book (Honolulu) if his story telling style is as good there as it is in this book, Moloka`i. I definitely will read the hard copy, instead.

Loved this!

I'm not sure what drew me to purchase this book... was it the cover? the fact that I'm going to Hawaii in a couple of months? Whatever the reason, I'm SO glad I did! You know those books that draw you in and you can picture yourself right by the main characters? This book did that for me. I could SEE the beaches, the lush greenery, and the pain and suffering these characters experienced. Ms. Miyamoto's performance was excellent. The book was well written. I'm now on to it's next chapter, Daughter of Moloka'i.

Surprising depth and believability

Surprisingly rich with fully fleshed-out characters. I was moved by their motives, their triumphs, and even their faults. The passage of time is beautifully unraveled and, on a whole, the story is narrated wonderfully. The audio recording is great, if a little slow - I listened to it at 1.25-1.3 speed and it still felt a little slow, but speeding it up made the pronunciation of words noticeably choppy.

Excellent

Beautifully written, moving story. The writing was wonderful, all the characters had lovely interwoven backstories that added color and clarity to the overall story. Rachel herself was an amazing character and as I listened I truly felt her emotions whether being happy, frustrated, angry or sad. One of my favorite books in a while.

Heartbreaking yet beautiful story!

Loved this book. I didn’t know what to expect and had never heard anything of it. It taught me a lot about Moloka’i, Hawaiian history, the culture, and the reality of Hansen’s disease. After the first little bit I wondered where the story could possibly go but I’m glad I kept listening because I loved the ending. It will tug at your heart strings.. made me cry a few times. I think Anne did a great job with the narrative performance however I did listen to it at 1.5 speed most of the time so if you listen to 1x speed you may find her slow.

Great book.

I read this book years ago and loved it then. It was chosen for my book club selection so I decided to do the audible version. Narrator was wonderful.

Powerful, heartbreaking, and wonderful

I bought this due to an upcoming trip to Hawaii. I wanted books about Hawaii written by locals. The history, culture, and feel of the place. This work has all that and more. As a Choctaw, the casual racism of the time is both nothing new, and still heartbreaking to see played out in a different way. The isolation the residents of Moloka’i suffered was all too imaginable. Rachel’s story moved me to tears many times, both in sadness and in joy. I will recommend this book to anyone that will listen to me. I will be getting the second book soon.
Brennert did his research for this work and it shows. I kept looking up more details about the places and the real people mentioned. This will lead down a large rabbit hole.

Anne’s performance of the audio book is my dream type of narrator. Her character voices all sound unique. The men and women and mahu sound like different voices in the right pitch range. There is a melody in her speaking voice that is just soothing. I’ll be looking her up too for more book ideas. I cannot say with certainty that her production of the Hawaiian or Japanese is 100% correct, but it sounded lovely to me. It’s much better than I could have achieved.

I also now see that some people are complaining there is a transgender character "for no reason" in the book. No, look up "mahu" - it is a real thing in the Hawaiian culture. It pre-dates the Christian missionaries. It's not just a thing to be modern and PC. The character also highlighted one aspect of the disease I did not know was possible.

A voice acting masterpiece

Anne Noelani Miyamoto is no narrator. She is a master in the art of voice acting bringing alive the many characters Alan Brennert skillfully and compassionately composed. Listen, enjoy, learn.