Review by New York Times Review
THE MOST PECULIAR PLACE on this planet, as I see it from my vantage point in Wales, is the 50th state of the American union, the Pacific archipelago called Hawaii. Everything about it is peculiar. Its capital, Honolulu, is one of the remotest big cities on the face of the earth. Its geography is weird, consisting as it does of some 130 assorted islands and atolls, scattered across 1,500 miles of ocean. Its history is spectacularly unexpected, beginning with mass immigrations of Pacific canoeists and culminating in the virtual extinction of an American fleet by several hundred Japanese airplanes. Its indigenous culture is a marvel of intricate legends, faiths, musics and superstitions, and its native written language is a prodigy of alliterations. The novelist Susanna Moore (the author of two previous nonfiction books about Hawaii) handsomely contributes to all this with the unworthily titled "Paradise of the Pacific," which sounds like a tourist brochure. Her book is in fact an astonishingly learned summation of the Hawaiian meaning, elegantly written, often delightfully entertaining and ultimately sad. It is concerned with the fate of the indigenous people of the place since their first contacts with the world at large around the end of the 18th century. The Hawaiians already governed themselves as a unity, island rivalries having lately been settled by the emergence of a monarchy under Hawaii's founding father, Kamehameha the Great, who had 22 wives and was said to move "in an aura of violence." They were already being affected, though, by influences of the West, from gonorrhea to Christianity, and these were famously first exemplified by the arrival on their shores, in 1778, of the Yorkshireman James Cook, who was for years popularly supposed to have been eaten by them. He was not, but even in 1823, Moore tells us, missionaries from New England thought the Hawaiians looked half-beast, half-human: "Do they not form a link in creation, connecting man with the brute?" Well, then as now, they were certainly unusual. As I understand it, their society was rigidly structured, from patricians to untouchables, within a severe sort of universal code of conduct and relationship called kapu, with frightening penalties and threats of human sacrifice. They had no written language, and they honored an immense assortment of gods and miscellaneous spirits that inhabited, for example, reptiles, stones, canoes, strange noises, planets, mists and the insane. What with innumerable curses and spells flying back and forth all day and night, as Moore observes, life must have been horribly confusing. No wonder the missionaries were taken aback, especially perhaps when they learned that all ranks of Hawaiians went in for a cheerful sport of temporary wife-swapping. But anyway, if healthy minds in healthy bodies was a New England requirement then, at least chieftainly Hawaiians, though frequently corpulent, were impressively fit. They were handsome and tall - even the women were often more than six feet - and they had marvelous white teeth. They were keen on outdoor sports, too: sled-racing, rat-hunting with bows and arrows, mock battles and, above all, surfing, which like everything else was firmly ritualized. By 1827 the regent of this strange domain was Queen Kaahumanu, whose name meant Cloak of Bird Feathers, and who had been converted to Christianity. She was a widow of the founding father, and guardian of his young successor, and so far had things changed in her kingdom in her time that she personally paid for the printing of 3,000 copies of the Sermon on the Mount, in Hawaiian. Thus she presided over, to use Moore's words, "the fears and fantasies of a culture." She was hefty, liked flying kites, smoked a pipe, drank brandy she got from an obliging Spanish shipdeserter and was generally averse to the company of women. But during her regency the Hawaiians became far more familiar with visiting Westerners, as countless whalers and trading ships began to arrive from several foreign countries. Missionaries multiplied too, and grew in confidence and persuasion so successfully that before she died Kaahumanu was able to end, specifically by her own example, the omnipotent restrictions of kapu and its innumerable rules of ritual. With her death and its disappearance, it seems to me from a sometimes bemused reading of this book, old Hawaii fell into languishment too, and never quite recovered. On the one hand, the missionaries proved immensely capable in bringing Western styles and standards to the islands; on the other hand, Western materialism overwhelmed the old myths and mores, expressing itself not only in the dubious behavior of drunken beachcombers, but in cosmopolitan immigration, in capitalist development of many kinds and eventually in annexation by the United States of America. The hereditary monarchy survived, almost in parody, until 1893, but gradually Hawaii became less Hawaiian, as incomers outnumbered indigenes, democracy displaced feudalism and English became the lingua franca of the archipelago. Never mind. Hawaii (governor: David Ige, Democrat) remains sufficiently peculiar still. If citizens of Hawaiian stock today number less than 10 percent of the population, the ancient language lingers among enthusiasts, in academia and in officialdom, and of course in the inescapable tourist greeting of "Aloha!" They are surfing still at Waikiki, Kamehameha the Great still stands in majestic effigy outside the Honolulu courthouse, and it is at least a tribute to the extraordinary past when the chorus line on late-night TV breaks into a rousing hula. It is hardly the real thing, though (the dance was brought to earth, some say, by an androgynous sister of the volcano goddess Pele). Better to switch it off, ring for a Mai Tai and read this most moving evocation of a historical prodigy. JAN MORRIS is the author of some 40 books of travel, history, memoir and fiction. She is Welsh and lives in Llanystumdwy.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [August 23, 2015]
Review by Booklist Review
Born of volcanic violence, the Hawaiian Islands have perpetuated that literal upheaval throughout their tortured and tumultuous history, most notably during the late eighteenth century, after generations of internecine rivalry resulted in gruesome battles for tribal supremacy. Though often stereotyped as a tranquil, peace-loving people, in reality, the native islanders were bloodthirsty warriors led by valiant, vain, and vicious leaders. Like most isolated societies the closest landmass is 2,000 miles away Hawaiians lived, and died, by a complex, ever-changing web of rules and taboos dictated by the pagan gods they worshipped and according to the whimsy of the reigning chiefs. Things did not improve when Western explorers and Christian missionaries discovered the islands, bringing with them both disease and demands that Hawaiians replace one set of strict codes of behavior with another. Moore's comprehensive history of this oft-misunderstood culture relies extensively on the journals of sailors, explorers, missionaries, and islanders themselves, offering a direct and authentic glimpse into a paradise that was frequently anything but.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Novelist and memoirist Moore (The Life of Objects) takes inspiration from her childhood in Hawaii to craft an insightful history of the archipelago, from its first wave of settlers in the 6th century through its annexation by the U.S. in 1898. She focuses largely on the tumultuous years following Capt. James Cook's 1778 discovery of the islands and how contact with the outside world disrupted everything. As cultures clash, several major narratives emerge. The first is the effect of trade and commerce: "The chiefs acquired new desires, which demanded a different kind of labor from their people." Though island culture was transformed through industry, it was radically upended with the introduction of Christianity: "The fixed world of the Hawaiians, governed by a hereditary ali'i and priesthood with a distinctive system of kapu [taboo], suddenly became one of flux, if not chaos." Moore is honest about the peculiarities of the old ways-"to be Hawaiian before the overthrow of the old gods in 1819 was to live in an unending state of terror"-and she's equally upfront about the devastation wrought in the aftermath. This is a fascinating and well-balanced look at how a unique culture came to be and the heartbreaking manner of its end. Illus. Agent: Stephanie Cabot, the Gernert Agency. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Moore delves once again into the subject of Hawaii, a setting that has served as a backdrop for several of her novels (The Whiteness of Bones; My Old Sweetheart, etc.). The author's memoirs Light Years: A Girlhood in Hawaii and I Myself Have Seen It: The Myth of Hawaii provided looks at life in Hawaii beyond the tourist haunts and staged luaus. With this latest offering, Moore digs deep and delivers a thoroughly researched account of Hawaii's distinct culture and history. Of note are the examination of traditional religious beliefs and the introduction of Christianity and Western ideals to the islands, the unification of the area under one monarch, and, finally, the annexation of Hawaii by the United States. VERDICT Moore's background in storytelling radiates throughout this work, creating a quick- paced and well-crafted narrative. Highly recommended for the armchair historian and those intrigued by Hawaiian history, maritime exploration, and the history of Christian missionaries. For readers with a continued fascination in the development of the Hawaiian Islands, perusing Julia Flynn Siler's Lost Kingdom might also prove a rewarding endeavor. [See Prepub Alert, 2/23/15.]-Crystal Goldman, Univ. of California, San Diego Libs. © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
