I finished this book (on CD) last week, and I wish I could still be following the life of Jin. I have to be careful when listening to audio books like this, because they often cause emotional responses, like crying, from me while I'm driving! There was also a part which caused me to feel quite queasy and I had to turn it off while I finished my drive to work that day.
My point is, that this is a very good book and, as I have just mentioned, I can prove it by how much it affected me so emotionally. I laughed, I cried, I felt her pain so much that it made me squeamish!
The book starts in the late 1800's in a small village of Korea. The Japanese empire has taken over, and Jin's family struggles to keep strong in their Korean traditions. This means that girls have almost no worth in society. Their role is to feed the men and maintain the household. They are not permitted to attend school or even to learn to read.
Jin feels trapped and oppressed. She sneaks away to learn how to read from a family friend. Soon she finds out about Picture Brides and how this could be a way for her to escape to America and perhaps attend school. She is 15 years old when she signs a document sealing her to be the wife of Mr. No, a Korean man in Hawaii.
I won't spoil the rest of the story, but it was extremely captivating. There were several times I stayed in the car a few minutes after I had arrived at my destination, so I could listen to a little bit more of the story.
I have read Molokai, by the same author, and I loved that one as well. Alan Brennert is very thorough in his historical facts and provides beautiful descriptions of Hawaii and what life was like on the Islands during the turn of century. In the case of this book - Honolulu - he focuses on the turbulent lives of Asian immigrants and their struggles in Hawaii at this time. It's fascinating and informative. I can't believe what Jin had to overcome and her story is amazing and profound. It is a fictional novel, but I can't help but wonder that this story surely happened to some young Korean woman somewhere in Hawaii at this time.
Grade A. Five Stars!
I've looked at both of these books in Barnes and Noble and almost bought Molokai a few months ago. They looked like good stories, but I had never heard anyone talk about them and ultimately didn't know if it would be $15 well spent. Now I know! I'm going to see if the library has them!
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