I felt that Allen Brennert’s book “Daughter of Moloka’i was really two books in one. Having read his first book Moloka’i several years ago I eagerly looked forward to the sequel. However this book was in no way the sequel. In reading this I felt it was more about the treatment of the Japanese in World War II than it was about Moloka’i and his original idea. He encapsulated the story in a very arbitrary way with little resemblance to his original book. I was quite disappointed with his treatment of the subject matter and in the handling of the idea for this book. If I had approached this book with a different mindset I’m certain I would’ve enjoyed it more and not been so disappointed. It’s perhaps unfair to judge this book on my pre-determination of what I thought it would be.

Many thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy. Here is my honest review.

Pros:
It was a sweet story.
The parts about their internment were interesting.

Cons:
There was no depth to the story or the characters.
I love historical fiction but was bored for the whole thing.
It felt very amateurish at times.

I give this book a 3.5. It starts really strong but loses its footing mid0-book.
Ruth is given to a convent to help foster an adoption. But Ruth is like no other girl: she is hapa, half Japanese and half Hawaiian. Her parents live in Moloka'i and have been forced to give up their daughter because they have leprosy. Ruth is luckily to grow up in a stable Japanese home, but when Pearl Harbor is bombed, Ruth must go to the internment camps and give up every part of her life she has fought for.
I vaguely understood this was a sequel to another, much older novel. That being said, the book sets itself up with a great story about Ruth. This intoxicating story gives a look into what it was like in eg camps and was emotionally moving. But suddenly the book takes a sharp turn, and it becomes about the original novel and this book is used to finish that character's tale putting Ruth on the backburner. Since I had not read the original, I was not invested in Rachel and I wanted to see more in-depth what Ruth's family would do after the internment camps.
The book is lush and beautiful. I loved reading the descriptions if Hawaii and learning more about that and Japanese culture. Unfortunately, we lost Ruth along the way.

First of all, I must say I did not read the first book in this series, 'Moloka'i. However, after reading Alan Brennerts' second installment in this series 'Daughter of Moloka'i', I will be going back to read, learn and digest it posthaste!

'Daughter of Moloka'i' for me was as much of a "coming home" experience as is was a "revelation of history". As an Asian-American, a Filipino-Caucasian, that was raised in Japan, and also lived in Hawaii, before making the mainland my home, the incredible story of Ruth's life was both wondrous and heartbreaking. In our present school systems we learn much about American history, mainly the colonizing of the United States, and we spend a short stint in the Slavery histories of the United States. However, thinking back, I can't remember anytime when I was taught about Japanese Interment camps. The blatant prejudice and discrimination, and forced encampment that took place right here in our United States. I doesn't surprise me that we didn't either. Alan Brennert does a wonderful job of telling the story of the many Japanese-American people that were affected by this injustice, when many of those by way of culture is to carry on without complaint, to 'gaman'. Or those silenced by shame or selflessness, because their stories of internment, while no less unfair, paled in comparison to the injustices of the Holocust, occurring ar the same time.

If Asian-American history sparks your interest, I highly recommend you read this gem and immerse yourself into Ruth's story of struggle, of love, and most importantly of Ohana and Aloha.


Thank you Alan Brennert for writing Ruth's story, and thank you for the references to explore in your author's notes, I will be exploring this journey more. Also, thank you Netgallery for the opportunity to read and review 'Daughter of Molok'ai' via the free advanced readers copy I recieved in exchange for my honest review. I look forward to future opportunities as well.

I haven’t read the first book in this series, but I think this book stands alone. It’s beautifully written and so thorough. I wasn’t particularly interested in the time period, even though I generally love historical fiction. It’s definitely worth a read!

When I started Daughter of Moloka'i, I did not realize it was book 2. However, after reading the book, I think it works as a stand-alone book. I may go back and read the first book because of all the rave reviews and the Rachel was and interesting character in this book. The book is very well written and the story is compelling. You feel like you know the people in the book. The book makes you smile, love, hate, and cry. I would recommend reading this book.

I did receive an advanced readers copy for an honest review from Netgalley.

What a great sequel to Moloka’i! I was on an emotional roller coaster reading this book. I have daughters and I thought of so many things regarding them and our relationships. The characters in this book are well defined and descriptions flow beautifully. I highly recommend this book. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A great story! It’s a wonderful history of the time period in Hawaii and California. The characters are so real- I was totally engrossed in their stories.
I had never read the first book and had no idea it was a series of 2 books. I will read the first one!
I highly recommend it!

This book is a sequel to “Moloka’i” -- I read it in 2014 (loved it) and I was a bit worried that I’d forgotten too much from that book. Alan Brennert does an excellent job reminding viewers of key elements from that book in just the right places. The author is a fantastic storyteller and has created memorable characters. I do recommend reading these books in order though for the most magical reading experience.

The first half of this book is Ruth’s story, she’s the daughter of Rachel and Kenji from book #1. Raised by nuns, she is eventually adopted by a Japanese family and moves to California. I must admit that I didn’t enjoy the California setting as much as the parts of the book set in Hawaii. There is a great deal of historical material here in the first half about the internment camps, especially the California ones, during WWII. I found this part uncomfortable to read, especially considering our current political climate. The Japanese people were treated abominably in these camps.

I love that Rachel finds her way back into this story and the reader is taken back to Hawaii. There are so many fantastic emotional elements with mothers and daughter in this book and I was brought to tears in a few places. This sweeping saga covers several generations and is well worth a read. I highly recommend it as well as the first book if you haven’t read that one. Now I’m curious if there will be a book #3 in this series.

*I will post my review on Goodreads closer to the publication date

This is a sequel to “Moloka’i”, to be published early in 2019. This one follows Ruth, the daughter of Rachel and Kenji, both who have Hansen’s disease (leprosy) and were sent to Molokai to live their lives. Rachel is Hawaiian and Kenji, Japanese. Ruth was born in the early 20th century, and was taken away from her parents. At 5 years old, she is adopted by a Japanese couple, so Ruth is raised learning her Japanese culture. They move from Hawaii to California when Ruth is still young to help her uncle on his farm. Things do not go well for Ruth and her family, along with over 100,000 Japanese Americans when Pearl Harbour is bombed in 1941.

I really liked this, though I have to admit, I wasn’t as interested later on in the book when Rachel came back into the picture. Maybe that would have been different if it hadn’t been so long since I’d read the first book, I’m not sure. It was interesting learning about the Japanese culture, as Ruth learned, and later there was some about the Hawaiian culture, as well. The most interesting parts of the book to me was when Ruth and her family were in the internment camps. That wasn’t completely new to me, but it was the best part of the book for me. I do feel like this one could stand-alone without having read the first book.

This is Alan Brennert's sequel to his 2004 book Moloka'i. I've not read Moloka'i and it's not necessary to do so in order to read and enjoy Daughter of Moloka'i, but I'll be reading Moloka'i soon, as soon as my heart settles and absorbs what I read in this book. I knew some things about the internment of the Japanese or anyone with Japanese blood, on United States soil, during World War II, but I really didn't know what it was like or see the faces or know the names. This book gives me greater insight into how very wrong and horrible this was for this to happen to law abiding, loyal, hardworking, Americans and future Americans who lost so much, often everything, during this time of unjust imprisonment.

But this book is about much more than that particular time. It's about the life of Ruth, the daughter of Hawaiian Rachael and her Japanese husband, both quarantined at the isolated leprosy settlement of Kalaupapa, who had to give up Ruth, within hours of her birth. Ruth didn't know why she had been given up until decades later, when she received letter from her birth mother, hoping to meet her or at least to hear Ruth's voice. The book might seem slow to others, the action is not that of a thriller despite so much going on in the world of Ruth, but what she and her family and friends endured was lived one day at a time and I could feel the long days of sadness, worry, and amazement that their country would do such things to them.

At the age of five, Ruth was able to leave the Kapi'olani Home for Girls in Honolulu when she was adopted by a Japanese couple with three young sons. We learn so much about both the Japanese and later, Hawaiian cultures, and the love of these people for nature, history, family, land, honor, life and death. Ruth has a very strong connection to animals and the book starts with this connection, carries it throughout the book, and then ends with this connection. I couldn't write this review until a day after I finished this book because I couldn't stop crying when I would try to even think of how to write down the words I wanted to say, and it was that animal connection that brought out the tears. Know that his book shows the love of life, of animals, and nature with it's treatment of all those things.

The love between family members and their friends, the strong sense of honor that led to very hard decisions, the pride of these people that allowed them to live full lives even during internment, and the humbleness of these people, who upon release from the camps, realizing the horrors inflicted on Jewish people in the concentration camps, knowing they could have endured so much worse than they did, all these things are full of love, forgiveness, sadness and hope. I know that sentence is too long but this book is so full of emotions for me, I can't put all my thoughts and feeling for it, on this page.

The real heart of this story though, is the love Ruth has for her family despite sometimes chafing under the traditions and also not feeling a compete part of her family because she was only half Japanese. Later, when she meets her birth mother, she meets her other half and the two parts come together. The love both mothers have for her and the respect they have for the other mother, is what shows that this world always has hope when we can treat each other with the love that these women show to others, not exactly like them.

This is my honest review and I thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this Advance Read Copy.

This book was given to me by NetGalley as an ARC in return for a fair review. Unfortunately, I have not yet read the first book, 'Moloka'i', in this series, but It is definitely on my list. This second book was delightful as it told the story of Ruth, a child born to lepers in the Hawaii's leper colony. (The first book is about Ruth's parents and their lives in the leper colony during the late 1800s and early 1900s.) She is taken from her parents as a tot and put in an orphanage once it has been determined that she does not have leprosy. Brennert does a great job describing her early years that were plagued with disappointment after disappointment until a loving Japanese family adopts her. Their happy life in Honolulu ends when the family moves to California. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, they are put in prison camps. The irony being if they had stayed in Hawaii, they could have kept their home and business. Only Japanese families on the west coast were relocated. Ruth's story continues to unfold as she and her family are released from the camp only to find that everything they once had was gone. They must all rebuild their lives, find work and buy new homes plus deal with the prejudice wrought by their ancestry. Many of them had never even set foot in Japan, but found themselves targeted as the enemy. Ruth and her family work hard, rebuild, and continue on wit their lives. She even finds a way to blend her adoptive family and her biological mother. Brennert is a fine writer who pens a wonderful story that I thoroughly enjoyed. This was a very good book and I was privileged to read an advanced copy.

Ruth's story is simply incredible. With her I experienced hope and despair, abandonment and adoption, prosperity and poverty, and the full gamut of human emotions. Daughter of Moloka'i will haunt my thoughts for a long time. This is a book I want to share and discuss with others.

Daughter of Moloka’i by Alan Brennert

Well written with a huge feeling of compassion, Daughter of Moloka’i follows the life of Ruth, also sweetly called Butterfy, throughout her very interesting life in Hawaii and California.

Her early years begin in an orphanage as an animal loving child. We follow her through happy years as an adopted daughter and then well into adulthood.

There is much detail in this story, which shows the author’s dedication to research about Japan and Hawaii, their people, language and customs. It is almost feels like a history lesson at times. In addition, you will get an education about Hansen’s Disease, also known as leprosy.

As a person of Japanese/Hawaiian lineage living in California, Ruth and her adopted family spend time in a U.S. internment camp during WWII. This sad and ugly chapter of American history is depicted in at least 1/4 of the book.

The author, however, creates a satisfying conclusion as Ruth circles back to her origins, having lived a full and happy life. I give this book 3.5 stars.

The” Daughter of Molokai” was a very interesting and great book. I really liked the attention given to the history of the time. The background of the detention centers was very interesting. The characters were so believable and interesting. I enjoyed this book very much and would recommend it to everyone. Thank you! I look forward to your next book!

I requested this novel because I throughly enjoyed Molokai’i. However, this one didn’t quite hit that same high mark for me. Perhaps because the first novel introduced a history of which I was unaware. This story, while solid, didn’t quite grab me as much and the pacing was slower. Good but not great.

Daughter of Moloka’i follows the story of Ruth, a young girl of Japanese and Hawaiian ancestry born to parents who were forced to give her up, rather than raise her in isolation in the leper colony where they lived. Ruth captures the hearts of the nuns who cared for her, and the adoptive parents who took her into their family. Ruth and her adoptive family join her uncle in California, where their fate takes horrific turns during the WWII era. A significant portion of the family’s story takes place while they live in and recover from the Japanese internment camps of WWII. As they weather the cruelties and indignities of the camps and Ruth marries and has children of her own, Ruth’s bond with her adoptive family grows.

While the internment storyline was captivating, as a massive fan of the first book in the series, I was eager to return to Moloka’I, the fascinating story of Ruth’s birth parents, and the lush descriptions of Hawaii’s topography and culture. Without giving away any spoilers, sufficed to say … I was not disappointed. However, I felt like the WWII story line was a book within a book. It was strong enough to stand on its own without ever tying back to Ruth’s birth family, which would have been fine had the expectation not been set from the title.

I highly recommend Daughter of Molokai. Thank you, Alan Brennart for writing such a captivating sequel to one of my favorite books, and St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. Daughter of Moloka’i is the follow up to Alan Brennert’s Moloka’i. It is not necessary to read the first book, as this one stands alone beautifully.

Ruth Utagawa was born to a Hawaiian mother and a Japanese father. We follow her life from an orphanage that took in the children of lepers, to her adoptive Japanese family and as she marries and has her own children. She experiences predjudice and discrimination as a “hapa”, or “half.”

With the advent of WWII, Ruth and her family are forcibly torn from their home and taken to a Japanese internment camp. Brennert’s prose conveys the indignity, fear and anger that pulsed through those unjustly held. You can feel the heat that builds both in temperature and emotion within the factions of those imprisoned.

Through each part of her journey, Ruth is looked over by a strong woman - a nun, her adoptive mother and her mother-in-law. But there is one important woman still a mystery - her birth mother., After so many challenges, will Ruth be able to survive the one that awaits her when she opens a letter not intended for her?

Daughter of Moloka’i is a captivating read. I highly recommend it.

I loved this book! Great read learned alot of history of Japanese/Hawaiian culture and how baldly our government treated these immigrants and American born children of them. Story keeps you interested throughout.

I am absolutely speechless! I loved this book as much as, if not more, than Moloka'i.

This is the story of Ruth Utagawa, her life in the orphanage, her life as an adopted daughter of the Watenabe's, her 4 year life in a Japanese internment camp, her life meeting her mother Rachel and so much more...

This is the story before the story Moloka'i or is it a companion or is it a prequel? It doesn't matter and you don't have to read Moloka'i to enjoy and understand this story. All I can tell you is to run, don't walk and pre-order this today. (release date is set for February 2019)

I laughed, I cried, I shared in happiness and joy, I shared in all the anger and injustice throughout. This book is an absolute must read!

My thanks to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for this advanced readers copy.