Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

It wasn't hard to choose the theme of this month's meeting, after briefly considering another tribute to grossness in the Heartsick style i.e. lady fingers or something equally tasteless and disgusting, we decided to have a huge Hawaiian Luau. Bethany and I both wished we could really go big and dig a pit to roast a pig but we decided to be happy with something smaller. We ended up with a smorgasbord of authentic dishes including: a Cheese Tray with Sour Baguette and Honeycomb, Maui Onion Dip, cut fresh papaya, pineapple and coconut, fresh veggies, Hawaiian Style Pulled Pork Sandwiches with grilled pineapple, Huli Huli Chicken, Poi, Fresh Green Salad with Plums and Pecans, Fresh Fruit Salad, Haupia with Pineapple, and Blue Hawaii to drink. For dessert we had white cake with pineapple filling and coconut frosting and Orange Coconut Bread Pudding with Macadamia Nuts.

Bethany's backyard was the perfect setting for our little soiree with the sparkling pool, swaying palm trees and woven palapas. The night was mild and breezy with tropical colored lanterns hanging in the trees. Bethany had tropical plates and napkins with a pretty hibiscus print and fruity colored goblets complete with little umbrellas piercing maraschino cherries and chunks of pineapple. Everyone got to choose a lei upon entering the party. So, the ambiance was perfect and the mood was set for a fun evening. This meeting was different because the husbands had been invited to mingle and play poker. We also welcomed back some charter members for the evening.

The bookies segregated for dinner to talk about the book. We chuckled over the irony that this was our most festive book club yet and it was dealing with some of the most depressing subject matter we have read so far this year. The book was generally well-liked and the conversation was lively.

IF YOU HAVEN'T READ MOLOKA'I, READ NO FURTHER - I AM GOING TO SPOIL THE END.

Everyone was glad to have read this book. The subject matter was interesting and the characters were well written. Each of us was heartbroken over Rachel's separation from her family. Then to add insult to injury, she wasn't even allowed to stay with her Uncle who already lived on Moloka'i. Rachel's life, however, turned out to be the best of the worst so to speak. We were happy she had found love and was able to bear and love a child however briefly. While she lived a long life it was hard to know that she outlived the other leprosy patients she had grown up with. Bethany thought it was interesting that the man Rachel ended up marrying was so different from the joking, fun loving men (her father and her uncle) she had known as a child. We all hated the part of the book where Rachel's husband was killed and thought that it was overkill on the "white man is bad" theme. We didn't object to the tragedy, only the way he died. We thought any other way would have been more acceptable. I thought it was obvious foreshadowing when Rachel tells the children the legend about Maui and how he gauged out the huge bat's eight eyes and then she gauged out the eye of Crossen during the fight between him and her husband, Kenji. We loved that Kenji told Rachel that both of their skin tests had come back positive, even when his hadn't, so that he could stay with her. We wished Rachel would have learned about her husband's lie after he died, so that she would know how much he loved her.

We all loved Catherine the nun and wished we had learned more of what happened to her after Rachel left Moloka'i. Diane said that she understood why Catherine had come back to the island from her visit with her family in New York. It was to be with Rachel, the daughter she never had. We liked that the author showed Catherine's struggle with her religion and God. It made her so much more human than if she had been a pious nun throughout the whole story.

We talked about Rachel's belief that her mother had abandoned her. We were glad when her sister Sarah told her that her mother had thought Rachel died quickly because leprosy had taken her son Kimo so quickly and that she had grieved for her loss until the day she died and even asked to be buried facing Moloka'i so she could see her baby Rachel everyday. We were glad Rachel contacted her daughter Ruth in California and built a relationship with her. Most of us thought it was an unnecessary tangent for the author to have written about the Japanese internment camps.

One of the questions at the back of the book asked whether we thought of Leilani as a man or a woman. We all agreed that we viewed that character as a woman. It was ironic that in the end it was the leprosy that truly made her so. She said it best when she said,"I asked God to make me a woman and He gave me leprosy".

On a personal note: I admit that I went into this book with a bias toward liking it because I knew that my mom had liked it so well. I would recommend reading this book, it was definitely worth the read. I found it to be heartbreaking, informative, interesting and inspirational. It challenged what I thought I knew about leprosy and the fear and stigma that went along with it. It made me consider what I would do as a mother if I was faced with similar circumstances. All around it turned out to be a great Book Club book for both food and discussion.

If I missed anything, chime right in! I can only remember so much after 2 or 3 (okay 4 or 5!) Blue Hawaiis...