SBBC - Honolulu by Alan Brennert

Honolulu by Alan Brennert (ISBN 978-0312-36040-5)

Book Genre: Historical Fiction

Summary: In search of a better life, Jin, a young “picture bride”, leaves her native Korea and journeys to Hawai’I in 1914. Much to her dismay, Jin is married off to a poor laborer who beats her, forcing her to make her own way in a strange land. Struggling to build a business, Jin finds opportunities and prejudice, but ultimately transforms herself from a naïve young girl into a resourceful woman in a great metropolis. But Jin can never forget the people she left behind in Korea and returns to make peace with her past.

Swap details: I've set the sign-up date for about three weeks from now to give folks time to pick up a copy and read it a bit (if you wish) before you decide to join this swap, but you can start reading whenever you'd like. For this swap, you can either hand-write or type and send (via snail mail) the answers to your questions. Please use your best judgment. If it elicits a yes or no, please answer it with at least one complete sentence. I would say most questions should be answered with a minimum of a few sentences. The purpose is to create a dialog, a discussion about the book - with your assigned partner, perhaps you will be in touch via e-mail, or private message or through the forum as part of a larger group, or you just want to see what someone else thinks about what we've read. If you only answer yes or no, it doesn't really leave room much room for a discussion.

Category 1 (answer all 6 of these questions for your partner)

1. Have you ever read this book before? Did this book fall in the usual genre of books you read?

2. As an overall experience, how did you feel about this book? Did you enjoy it, hate it, did it make you irritated, angry, sad, did you find it easy to read or did it take you a while to get into, was it entertaining, annoying or something else entirely?

3. Did you have a favorite part of the book? Describe what it was. If you didn't like the book, please tell more about why.

4. Would you recommend this book to others?

5. On a scale of 1 to 10 (one being low and 10 being high), how would you rate this book?

6. Does this book remind you of others you have read? if so, recommend a book that has some likeness in your opinion (even if the likeness is not apparent). Please include the title, and author and a brief description about the book, or why it reminded you of this one.

Category 2 Please pick 5 of the following questions (below) to answer with the above questions. These questions are taken directly from the discussion guide on readinggroupguides.com. Please be honest in your answer and use constructive criticism. You can choose to answer more questions below, but you must choose a minimum of 5. If there is something not asked in the questions that you'd like to share, please feel free to discuss that too.

1. How do you feel about Jin’s decision to leave Korea? What might you have done in her place? How do you regard the various decisions she made after learning the truth about her fiancé in Hawai'i?

2. How would you interpret the poem by Hwang Chini on page 26 within the context of the novel?

3. Korea and Hawai'i were both small countries, in strategic locations, that came to be dominated by more powerful nations. In what other ways were the Korean and Hawaiian societies of the time both similar and different?

4. Compare and contrast the lives of a Korean kisaeng and an Iwilei prostitute.

5. How does the author weave real people and events into the lives of his fictional characters, and how do they contribute to your understanding of Jin’s circumstances? If you were already familiar with any of the historical figures, how do you view them after reading the novel? For example, the author is uncertain of May Thompson’s fate in real life --- what do you think she might have done after leaving Honolulu? What do you think about the Governor’s decision to commute the sentences of Lt. Massie and the others convicted in Joe Kahahawai’s death?

6. How have Americans’ attitudes toward immigrants changed --- or not changed --- since the 1900s?

7. The biography Passage of a Picture Bride describes its real-life subject as having a “positive outlook and broad-mindedness, unusual traits among Korean women” of that time. How does this statement apply to Jin and her fellow picture brides?

8. What binds Jin and her “Sisters of Kyongsang” together, other than the kye? What purpose do they serve in each other’s lives?

9. What is the significance of the patchwork quilts not just to Jin’s life, but to the life of Hawai'i itself?

10. At the end of the novel, Jin says “Hawai'i has often been called a melting pot, but I think of it more as a ‘mixed plate’ --- a scoop of rice with gravy, a scoop of macaroni salad, a piece of mahi-mahi, and a side of kimchi. Many different tastes share the plate, but none of them loses its individual flavor, and together they make up a uniquely ‘local’ cuisine. This is also, I believe, what America is at its best --- a whole great than the sum of its parts.” What do you believe? What is gained and what is lost --- both in Hawai'i and in the U.S. as a whole --- in becoming a multicultural society? How might this be particularly relevant to Native Hawaiians?