Thanks!!
Ok, I'm not sure this will work or that anybody cares but here goes.
Here is a synopsis of the book Honolulu by Alan Brennert (credit goes to his website):
Honolulu is the richly imagined story of Jin, a young “picture bride” who leaves her native Korea—where girls are so little valued that she is known as Regret—and journeys to Hawaii in 1914 in search of a better life. Instead of the prosperous young husband and the chance at an education she has been promised, Jin is quickly married off to a poor, embittered laborer who takes his disappointments out on his new wife, forcing her to make her own way in a strange land.
Struggling to build a business with the help of her fellow picture brides, Jin finds both opportunity and prejudice, but ultimately transforms herself from a naive young girl into a resourceful woman. Prospering along with her adopted city, which is fast growing from a small territorial capital to the great multicultural city it is today, Jin can never forget the people she left behind in Korea, and returns one last time to make her peace with her former life.
I thought we could try and "discuss" the book in the comments section of this post. I don't like to get all english teachery so I thought we could just focus on our thoughts, feelings, opinions about the book.
Here we go . . .
11 comments:
I really enjoyed this book! It educated me about a period in history I knew little about AND it was well written.
hey! im here!
well, good I don't feel as much of a dork!!! did you like the book?
i did. i actually read and finished it like 2 weeks ago so my memory is fuzzy. i think my brain has been fried by spending too much time with my children.
but i really loved it. usually i only like trashy books but it was really refreshing to read a non trashy book and actually enjoy it! i found it sooo sad though what they had to live through. really makes me appreciate what i have!
I also finished it long ago and have read many books since then so my memory is fuzzy too. But I couldn't believe how oppressed women were in Korea.
and also the horrible feeling of being deceieved by the men. but i was also impressed by how the women stuck together. and they worked so hard! and followed their dreams. i cant imagine how hard it must have been but i bet it was also so fulfilling. okay but i cant remember for sure but i think i was wondering...wss the main character real? because that guy joe who was killed was a real person, right?
I don't think she was real and I think joe was based on a real person but wasn't the actual person. our generation doesn't understand the meaning of that kind of hard work and existing on so little-just a few dollars a week. It really is a book about hope, how something that started so sad and had the potential to get worse, instead was so positive.
I feel like I am showing up late to the party... The last book I read was before I delivered my baby. I would love to join the bloggity blog book club, but I have not found the time to read, hardly have time to blog. But this book seems interesting. I love books about powerful women. Can you find another book along that theme that is not too long of a read? Maybe then I would join.
I've never heard of this book! I love to read, but i like chick lit type of stuff. I have enough drama and suspense in my life!!
i'm working o nthe book, I am so sorry i'm late!
ok, ok, I am here now, I am sorry, and no one if going to see this but I don't care- I just finished the book 5 minutes ago (better late than never :)?)
Anyway, I loved the book, thank you so much Elisha! I was also struck with how hard all of the women worked and what they had to go through.
I also love learning about other cultures and other time periods. I never knew how Hawaii came to be a part of the United States, so that was new to me, although not suprising in it's brutality.
I totally thought Mr. Noh was going to kill either her, her husband, or one of her children, so I was very relieved that the author got rid of him 3/4 of the way through the book.
The way think I didn't like was the way that he tied it all up in the end and made everyone live so happily ever after. Even though it's so nice- it made it so unbelieable.
thats it, so sorry I'm late, PLEASE PLEASE do this again!
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