Rating: 
Summary: An incredible story with a wide range of emotions
Review: I visited Molokai and the Kalaupapa peninsula in 2000. This book is a must-read for anyone who has been there, plans to go there, or even is just interested in it. This book brought back all my memories of that visit. It truly is "sacred" ground for Hawaiians.
The author captures all of the emotions, stories, and cruel ironies of those unfortunate people who contracted this terrible disease. Rachel sees her family torn apart, faces constant discrimination, and sees her emotions ride a never-ending rollercoaster as one after another of her friends die of Hansen's Disease. The suffering these people felt is unimaginable and the emotional pain of being forcibly separated from their families is horrific. But the story is uplifting, as Rachel and the others find ways to be happy with what little they have, take pleasure in helping others, and are always hopeful of a cure which thankfully, eventually came.
Rating:
Summary: An extraordinary epic of a little known time and place
Review: I've been a fan of Alan Brennert's ever since I read Kindred Spirits and Time and Chance, but he's outdone himself with his new historical novel Moloka'i and has again proven himself to be a masterful storyteller. This is a poignant story that I knew very little about-Hansen's disease (a.k.a. leprosy) and the Hawaiian people. Rachel, the main character, is a lovable, spunky Hawaiian girl who is banished to a leper colony in the late 19th century. Her life there, though difficult, is also filled with adventures, friends, love, and hope. The story spans nearly 80 years (from the 1890s to l970s) and is full of twists and turns I never expected. At times I laughed out loud and at times I cried. I always cared about the people. I couldn't put the book down and was sorry when I finished it. It's rich in universal emotions as well as Hawaiian mythology, culture, and history. Fast-paced, full of warmth, humor, tragedy, and characters so real and affecting that I fell in love with them all. I now want to go to Moloka'i to see where they lived. Moloka'i is a masterpiece of narrative skill, empathy, and brilliant prose, and it honors people who lived not only with a terrible disease but also with dignity and humanity. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.
Rating: 
Summary: A Hawaiian leper's sad, vibrant life
Review: Lepers are the shunned center of Brennert's Hawaiian novel. Protagonist Rachel Kalama is five when the story opens in 1891 Honolulu, the year the last Hawaiian king dies and its first and only queen ascends the throne for a brief reign. Rachel's uncle Pono is chased down by the Health Inspector and taken away - a leper - and Rachel is warned to tell no one. But soon a sore appears on Rachel's leg and then her foot. Though her mother desperately hides the signs for a year, the disease is discovered and Rachel, too, is snatched from her family. Though reunited with her uncle, Rachel is subjected to dehumanizing medical examinations and can see her family only through a barrier. Pono is taken away again, this time to the leper colony of Kalaupappa on the island of Moloka'i. Rachel is only seven when she follows him, though their reunion is brief and she is sent to live in the Catholic dormitory with the other girls. The families left behind are also ostracized, for their association with lepers. Thus far the story is heartbreaking, and bewildering for Rachel, but slowly she begins to adapt to a new life. Though every step forward seems accompanied by another catastrophe - the death of a playmate, loss of contact with her mother, more death - this is not a litany of woe. Brennert paints a vivid picture of a community struggling for normalcy, as people do. Rachel (who has the milder form of Hansen's disease, leaving her comparatively healthy for years) forms friendships, knows joy, marries. Brennert's meticulous research charts the changes in the colony and in Hawaii, as the American presence grows larger. Improvements are made in living conditions and treatments; new experiments provide new hopes - usually dashed. Missionaries strive successfully against the old "pagan" ways while Rachel, brought up a Christian, learns about her own culture from Pono's new woman, who becomes a surrogate mother (though her influence is resisted by the colony's Catholic nuns). This is a novel about life amidst overwhelming obstacles and a novel about the disease itself - its mythology, its mystery and the growing triumph of medical knowledge during the twentieth century. Its fascinating subject and sympathetic characters combine in a gripping story.
Rating:
Summary: Richly Written Tale
Review: Moloka'i is the joyous journey of a spirited 7-year-old girl who is banished to a Hawaiian leper colony. The author conjoins history, mythology, happiness, heartache, and affliction with a deft hand. Regardless of the dire subject the story steadfastly stays upbeat and uplifting. A wonderful read.
Rating:
Summary: Molokai
Review: Molokai is a sweeping narrative that pulls together all the elements that make a compelling story--characters who come alive with Brennert's descriptions and whom the reader truly comes to know and care about; a setting that is exotic to most; an historical perspective that is well researched; and a plot that keeps moving with twists and turns to hold the reader's attention right until the end. There is a message in Molokai of hope and kindness and endurance that refreshes and inspires.
Rating:
Summary: An uplifting tale about a serious subject
Review: 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. Separated from her family except for occasional visits by her father and the company of her afflicted uncle, Rachel must make a new life for herself surrounded by an unusual cast of loving people. Adversity strengthens her as she comes to know the kind sister who cares for her, a fellow leper who hides a dark secret and the love of a good man whom she marries and even becomes a mother. By the end of this book, we weep with Rachel as friends die and cheer for her when she is able to fulfill some of her dreams. But the best part for me was that these were no longer characters in a book but people who I considered good friends, so vividly were they portrayed by the author. Told over six decades, Moloka'i tells the gripping story of adversity and the triumph of the human spirit. As I neared the end of the book I couldn't help but think of how we once viewed AIDS sufferers isolating them in many of the same way lepers were also once isolated. The author has written a compelling book and one worthy to take its place among other titles on this subject like Betty Martin's books and The Samurai's Garden by Gail Tsukiyama.
Rating:
Summary: Not a "debut novel"
Review: The description calls this book a "sweeping debut novel," but that's inaccurate. At least 10 years ago, Alan Brennert wrote one of my favorite twist-in-fate novels, "Time and Chance," in which a man gets to trade places with an alternate version of himself and see how his life would have turned out if he'd made different choices.
That book was so marvelous that I'm eager to read "Moloka'i," and I encourage readers of this book to seek out "Time and Chance."
Rating:
Summary: Fifty Years on Molokai
Review: This amazing story caught me up in the first few pages. We meet seven-year old Rachel Kalama, youngest child in her Honolulu family. When she is discovered to have a small leprous sore on her leg, Rachel is snatched from the bosom of her family and sent first to be "cured" in the Kahili hospital in Honolulu. After a year in Kahili, she is then sent to the Kalaupapa leper colony on Molokai. The story of Rachel and her new family on Molokai is beautiful, inspirational and very uplifting.
Character development is very strong in this story. The figure of Sister Catherine Voorhies was perhaps my favorite of the whole story, as she deals with her own personal demons as well as her own doubts of "Why does God give children leprosy?" This story is so wonderful as Rachel and her new-found 'ohana (family) rise above their disease and find dignity and love in their isolated home.
Simply one of the most moving and enjoyable books I've read in a very long time.
Rating:
Summary: Molokai Magic
Review: This book has it all: historical interest, a magical setting in the Hawaiian islands, a wonderful story, interesting characters, emotional depth, and a spiritual message. What more could one want! Rachel's story, as well as those of her friends and family, is told with compassion and clarity but without the cloying sentimentality one might expect in a tale of the residents and workings of a leper colony. The book is beautifully written and in the end leaves the reader filled with hope for humanity. Read this book; you will be uplifted.
Rating:
Summary: "Will anyone remember these girls, other than you and me?"
Review: 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. Through her, Brennert shows the history of the settlement, the history of treatment for Hansen's disease, and the history of Hawaii itself, including the seizure of the Queen and the annexation and colonization of the islands by the American sugar barons (events which clearly parallel Rachel's story). Brennert enriches his novel by incorporating events described in real documents and journals into his story, from its lawless, "wild West" atmosphere at the outset, to its final development as a "home" for the people who live there. He memorializes many real people among the fictional characters, including Robert Louis Stevenson. Though there is melodrama and sentimentality here, and Rachel's life at Kalaupapa may be more rosy-colored than it was in reality, the emotion flows naturally from the subject and the author's desire to present the full historical record. Few readers will remain unchanged by Rachel's story. As one character says, "How we choose to live with pain, injustice, or death...is the true measure of the Divine within us." Mary Whipple
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