Daughter of Moloka'i: A Novel by [Brennert, Alan]

I really enjoyed this. I always like Brennert.

(I have a problem with your 100 characters rule--the entire point of my reviews is that they are short.)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Daughter of Moloka’i, examines both the leper community and the Japanese internment camps that were located in Hawaii. I really liked the historical information. The book is so well written it was hard for me to put down. I highly recommend it. I was provided an ARC of this book by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a saga that will capture the attention of any reader who likes quality writing. The characters and situations are so well researched and written, at times I forgot I was reading fiction. The story ranges from 1917 to 1970 and follows a little girl taken from her parents because they had leprosy. We learn about Japanese and Hawaiian customs and culture and the hardship of the Japanese relocation camps..

I was brought to tears many times while reading Daughter of Molokai. The writing is so good, I was totally immersed in this fascinating story. Whatever I say about this book cannot adequately express my love for it. I congratulate Alan Brennert for writing an outstanding story.
I received an Advanced Reader's Copy from St Martin's Press through NetGalley for the purpose of review. The opinions expressed are completely my own. #Daughter of Molokai #NetGalley

This book is beautifully written. This is the first book I read by this author so I have not yet read the first book Molaka'I but certainly plan to read it in the future. I fell like I really got to know the various people involved. I can tell you it's an emotional book. Quit a few times I had tears in my eyes. I also learned a lot of things I was not aware of. I did know about the Leprosy colony having read the books on Father Damien and was aware of the Japanese interment camps in the US but did not realize the open hostilities toward the Japanese population in California prior to World War II.
Knowing the current attitude towards the emigrants from South America it should not have surprised me. We never seem to learn from history.
This book is hard to put down because you become so involved with the little girl as she survives the years in the orphanage. Her adoption by a Japanese couple that with their sons made her feel a welcome member of the family. The move to California. Getting married and starting her own family. The years of been in the Japanese interment camps were you not only see the anger but also the solidarity of the people living in a very difficult situation. Later on we see her still been able to establish a 22 year long relationship of getting to know her birth mother. This book brings to life both the Japanese and Hawaiian cultures. I found this a very rewarding read so I highly recommend this book even if you haven't read the first one yet.

The relationship between these two women,the life travel she went on because she couldn't stay with her mom. The chain of events in history that happened,the horrid of camps,it's so worth the reading time!! The things you learn is such a wonderful thing!! Didn't read the other book but this made me want to read the series..

While this is a stand alone book, I would encourage anyone interested in reading this to read Molokai first. In this sequel, you follow the story of Rachel's daughter, Ruth. Ruth is taken away from her parents at a day old so she doesn't get infected with leprosy. This is Ruth's story. We meet Ruth as a young child, half hawaiian, half Japanese, in an orphanage in Hawaii and travel with her to California. We live her life with her through the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the effects it has on the Japanese Americans living in California. I learned a lot about a sad time in America's history. I would recommend this book to all historical fiction lovers, it's so well done.

Daughter of Moloka’i is the story of Ruth, the daughter of two leprosy patients in Hawaii who is involuntarily removed from her birth parents and eventually adopted by a Japanese couple. This book is a follow-up to Moloka’i , which I hadn’t read, but I didn’t feel like I was missing any crucial information by not reading the first book. This is a beautiful, poignant read that features the full gamut of life – sadness, happiness and plenty of routine daily moments, while interweaving Hawaiian and Japanese culture. Ruth faces the challenges that many of us do in our lives, but the book focuses on two challenges most of us don’t have to face – being a child wanting to be adopted into a loving family, and the internment of her and her family because of their Japanese heritage during World War II. This whole book is told well, but the time when Ruth’s family had to leave their homes and businesses to live in internment camps is told so well that you can’t help but feel angry at the injustice done to this group of people because of their ancestry. I really enjoyed this story!

I've enjoyed all of Brennert's books. This was good as well, but not quite as good as the other two. Moved a little slow at points, although as I'm pages away from finishing I'm kind of sad for it to end. Alan develops his characters so well. You feel like you really know them. I'm sure this book will be successful.

This is a sequel to the novel Moloka'i about the leper colony that Hawaiian residents were exiled to until the 1940s. I'm not sure this novel would completely stand on its own since a great deal of my interest was in what happened with characters in the first book. Having said that this novel does a great job of covering the Japanese internment camps that Americans were forcibly removed to from the western coast of the United States. Sadly the rising blame and prejudice focused towards a minority group highlighted in the book certainly rings true today. (ARC/NetGalley)

I thoroughly enjoy good historically accuracy fiction and Brennart does not disappoint. Finding this companion novel to Moloka’i was a joy and I couldn’t wait to get started. I found the characters come to life as I followed Ruth from an orphanage where she was placed because her mother had leprosy and had to give her up. She was eventually adopted by a loving Japanese couple with four sons. As time progressed, you get a wonderful glimpse into their culture and values. Especially heart rending was their removal to a Japanese internment camp during World War ll. I felt like I was walking through the experience with them and have a much better understanding of those dark days in American history. Eventually Ruth’s mom re-enters the picture and I couldn’t wait to see what would happen. Brennart has such a good feel for relationships and emotional integrity between his characters. I was not disappointed - my expectations were met.

I received this book via the publisher and Netgalley for an honest review.

Molokai was a favorite book of mine. I learned so much history from that book. I was excited to see a sequel written. Again I learned so much history. I was glad to revisit the subject and hear about Ruth's story. My patrons will enjoy this book. I think it will be a favorite of the year.

A well written story that I was drawn into from the very start.

First off, this is the first book by this author that I have read. I didn’t read the prequel to this book, Moloka’i. It isn’t necessary to be able to understand and enjoy this book. But, I will definitely be going back to read it just because I loved this story so much.

Daughter of Moloka’i is Ruth’s story. Ruth was born on Moloka'i to parents who had leprosy. She was brought to a convent in Honolulu where she would have a chance at a better life. From an early age, Ruth struggles with being half Hawaiian and half Japanese. When she is adopted by Japanese parents, she is brought up with their culture. Ruth and her new family move to California to help on her uncle’s farm when she is five years old. It turns out to be a big mistake. They are faced with racism as soon as they arrive. The story follows Ruth through her school age years, marrying and having children. And, just when things seem to be going good, Pearl Harbor is bombed. Ruth and her family are sent to live in internment camps. After the war ends, everyone is allowed to leave the camps and resume life, even though they don’t have a clue what they will do after losing everything they had. Ruth also learns who her birth mother is and meets her. She learns more about her Hawaiian side of the family and their culture, and with what it was like for her mother living in Kalaupapa, the leprosy settlement on Moloka’i.

This is a story of love, loss, triumph, tragedy and overcoming the odds with dignity. This book is so well written, I could easily visualize the scenes. It is one story that will stick with me for a long time. I highly recommend it.

Thank you St Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked the historical information in this book. The history regarding the Japanese internment camps and the lives the Japanese-Americans led before the war and after they returned from the camps was really interesting. I had no idea the camps were so large and served as small towns. But I think the book jumped around from period to period. Ruth's childhood was fascinating, but the book glossed over most of her adult life and then took a left-turn with the story of her birth mother. Also, there were a number of typos and grammar mistakes.

Alan Brennert’s books are insightful and touching. Following his previous Hawaii books, Daughter of Moloka’i, explores both the leper community and Mainland Japanese and internment camps. Following Ruth’s life was a beautiful way to cover this time period and how history impacted personal lives.

I love Brennert’s subject and writing style, and can’t wait for more.

It was wonderful to pick up with Rachel and Ruth from the first book in this series - Moloka'i. I was impressed by the research that went into this book as it covered a lot of topics and a lot of years. When you read everything condensed into one book such as this - you realize how much things have changed and then again how so many things are still the same.

I loved the overall story of the book as the author intertwined the family stories and the history but at times I was felt that the history overtook the families story as there was so much detail - some of which I didn't feel added to the story.

A lovely read rich with emotion and learning! Thanks to Net Galley for the chance to read!!

Ruth was given up so a baby. Her mother had leprosy and was banished to Moloka'i. There they prepared to live out their lives. No cure for leprosy had be discovered yet. Ruth grew up in a convent with other parentless children. When she was five she was adopted by a Japanese family. Ruth had a Hawaiian mother and a Japanese father. Now she would be raised in a traditional Japanese family. Her family moved to California to help her adopted father's brother in his plantation with his strawberries and grapes. At this time there are prejudices against the Japanese. After Pearl Harbor, it was even worse. The Japanese people living in America were sent to internment camps. Everything the had owned houses and land was taken from them.
If nothing else the family does get closer and weather the hardships together. It isn't until 1988 that the Japanese were apologized to and laws changed.
This a wonderfully written story of mother's and daughters. Forgiveness, strength, determination and loyalty. I learned so much history. There were events I never knew occurred. Excellent, Excellent read!

Loved this book. It is just as good as Molaki and Honolulu which I loved..
This writer has the gift of making you believe his characters and I love learning about the Islands

This was a very well written story with many diverse multidimensional characters. It told of a dark period in American history that is often overlooked and seldom explored or taught in classrooms.But the story goes beyond that to a family of Japanese and Hawaiian descendants and the life they lived and loved through the many emotional upheavals experienced that became part of their everyday existence. They became survivals in the face of adversity. They were forced to gaman...and they did.
Daughter of Moloka’i was a great read and such be included in school libraries and especially in the WWII supplemental reading lists.

First of all, thanks so much to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this. I must say that I absolutely adored Moloka’i! This one, however, just didn’t blow me away like the first book did. That being said, it still was a good story! Just for some reason I connected more with the story in the first book and truly felt for the characters in that story. I had my share of tears shed in Moloka’i, but not so much in this one. 3/5 still means I enjoyed it though! I am happy there was a sequel to elaborate more on what happened to Rachel’s daughter.

This story is the sequel to Moloka'i and tells the story of Ruth, the daughter of Rachel Kalama who was forced to give up her child because she was quarantined for leprosy (for most of her life).

We first meet Ruth when she is taken to an orphanage at the age of 3 where the nuns will raise her for another 2 years before she is adopted by a Japanese family, Taizo and Etsuko Wantanbe. We follow Ruth as she learns Japanese traditions, somehow never really fitting in and wondering why she was given up by her birth mother. The secret is for the Watanabes to know, but not to share with their adopted daughter. Eventually the family moves from Hawaii to California where they settle on the farm belonging to Jiro, Taizo's brother. But all is not what it seems as racism runs rampant in the small town and the Japanese are all but segregated. With the advent of WWII and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the family has no choice but to leave and resettle into several interment camps. Life is cruel there, yet they and other Japanese families live as best they can, first at Tanforan and then resettled again at Manzanar Relocation Camp. Finally, near the end of the war these families were given their freedom. I think this was the most difficult section of the book to read, and a terribly sad part of our U.S. history.

The years forge ahead with Ruth's marriage, her two children and a better life as she settles into Japanese traditions, not remembering her childhood in the orphanage, until one day a letter comes addressed to her. A letter that opens up questions and hopefully answers, a letter from her birth mother. Their reunion lasted 22 years, with both Rachel and Ruth helping to heal each other and form a bond as mother and daughter...Ruth explaining, she has two mothers, her birth mother and the mother who raised her.

This book is stunning, told eloquently as it draws you in...I became so engrossed and nearly finished it in one day! Alan Brennert is a wonderful writer and actually there are not enough words to thank him for his talent and sharing it with us.

As a passing note, reading the chapters about the interment camps gave me much food for thought. We are a country of many ethnic and cultural backgrounds, this is what made us. Then you ask yourself, "how could this happen?" The answer (if there is one) is not quite as easy as you think!

My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.