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Moloka'i [Kindle Edition]

Author: Alan Brennert | Language: English | ISBN: B002H8ORMU | Format: PDF, EPUB

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Young Rachel Kalama, growing up in idyllic Honolulu in the 1890s, is part of a big, loving Hawaiian family, and dreams of seeing the far-off lands that her father, a merchant seaman, often visits. But at the age of seven, Rachel and her dreams are shattered by the discovery that she has leprosy. Forcibly removed from her family, she is sent to Kalaupapa, the isolated leper colony on the island of Moloka'i.

In her exile she finds a family of friends to replace the family she's lost: a native healer, Haleola, who becomes her adopted "auntie" and makes Rachel aware of the rich culture and mythology of her people; Sister Mary Catherine Voorhies, one of the Franciscan sisters who care for young girls at Kalaupapa; and the beautiful, worldly Leilani, who harbors a surprising secret. At Kalaupapa she also meets the man she will one day marry.

True to historical accounts, Moloka'i is the story of an extraordinary human drama, the full scope and pathos of which has never been told before in fiction. But Rachel's life, though shadowed by disease, isolation, and tragedy, is also one of joy, courage, and dignity. This is a story about life, not death; hope, not despair. It is not about the failings of flesh, but the strength of the human spirit.

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• File Size: 852 KB
• Print Length: 400 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0312304358
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; Reprint edition (April 1, 2010)
• Sold by: Macmillan
  
• Language: English
• ASIN: B002H8ORMU
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray:
  Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,271 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #58
    in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction > American
  • #60
    in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > United States
• #58
  in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction > American
• #60
  in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Historical Fiction > United States

One day as a young adolescent, while browsing at the library, I came across the book Miracle at Carville by Betty Martin. This book, which told the story of the author's diagnosis of leprosy in her 20's, also described the years she spent receiving treatment for this disease at a hospital in Carville, Georgia. Of the many books I have read since then, few have made as much of an impression on me as this title. When I learned about the sequel, I immediately rushed to borrow No One Must Ever Know and felt the same way about this title too. Recently I chanced upon the book Moloka'i by Alan Brennert and recognized the name of this area in Hawaii that was a former leprosy colony. I immediately had to read this book, and while no longer an impressionable adolescent as I once was, this book again filled me with compassion and love for the people who lived and suffered from this life threatening and alienating disease.
In the late 19th century surrounded by the beauty of the islands of Hawaii, 7 year old Rachel Kalma lives an idyllic live surrounded by family members who adore her. While her father travels the world for his job, Rachel listens attentively to her father's stories and hopes one day to see the places her father vividly describes to her. Although there are some in their area who contract leprosy and are removed from the surroundings like Rachel's uncle, nobody ever thinks this disease will affect Rachel. Then she begins to show signs of a lesion which doesn't' respond to any of he mother's ministrations or medicine from the doctors. Eventually the authorities receive word that Rachel may have this disease and when they investigate Rachel, her families fears confirmed, she must leave her family to live among other lepers.

This gripping novel is based on the author's serious research into the history of the Kalaupapa colony for suffers of leprosy (Hansen's disease) on Moloka'i. Brennert focuses on the human tragedy, both of individual sufferers and of their families who, suffering guilt by association, were ostracized by their neighbors and employers. But he also emphasizes the personal triumphs of these patients, recognizing their dignity and celebrating their achievements. Though a leper colony can never be free from profound sadness, Brennert avoids turning this novel into a ten-hanky tearjerker, focusing instead on the lives the patients create for themselves and on their attempts at normalcy.
Rachel Kalama, the main character, is a typical 5-year-old growing up in a loving family in Honolulu when her mother first sees a sore on Rachel's leg which will not heal. Although she keeps Rachel's condition a secret for a year, Rachel is eventully seized by the health inspector, who receives a bounty for capturing her, and sent to a secure Honolulu hospital. A year later, she is sent to Kalaupapa, on Moloka'i, and her isolation--at the age of seven--is total. The "family" she develops in Kalaupapa, her friendships with other young children, and her refusal to let the disease (or any of the nuns) control her spirit make her life bearable, and the reader will admire her pluck even while dreading what her future holds.
Yet Rachel is one of those in whom the disease develops very slowly, and her story continues through her teen years, her marriage, and well beyond.

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