Honolulu is a novel about a young Korean girl named Regret who traveled from her native country to Hawaii in 1914 at age 17 as a "picture bride." She has dreams of being able to go to school and make something of herself. Together with several other young women, they boarded a ship to meet their handsome young husbands, only to find once they land in Hawaii that the prospective grooms are not what they seemed. Regret discovers that her husband is much older and, instead of being a prosperous businessman, is a drunken laborer.
After being abused by her husband, Regret runs away to Honolulu, where she now calls herself Jin and begins to make a new life.
Honolulu is the story of Hawaii after the islands became a US territory. It describes the difficulties of Native Hawaiians and Asians as the white began to take over and govern the islands. Many of the characters in the latter portion of the novel are historical figures.
4 Stars
Read: October 20, 2014
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