I first read Honolulu, by Alan Brennert, several years ago, and this is the novel that sparked my interest in Hawaii. Before reading Honolulu, my picture of Hawaii was hulu, surfing, the last Hawaiian queen, and mainland American honeymooner, I didn’t realize quite the influence of Japanese, Korean and Chinese immigrants on Hawaiian life. This got me reading a lot more about Hawaii… as usual.

Jin, nicknamed Regret in a family who prefers sons, leaves her village in Korea and makes her way to Hawaii with the other picture brides. They’ve been promised to Korean men, but that’s just about the only thing that’s true about their husbands-to-be. Jin dreams of prosperity and romance in Honolulu, but her husband isn’t exactly a prince. She also dreams of earning enough money to rescue Blossom, a little girl promised as a small wife to Jin’s brother, and bring her to Hawaii. Although Jin has years of hardships and challenges in her new home, the story is ultimately  uplifting and filled with the ohana spirit. Her Korean picture-bride girlfriends, Hawaiian Joe and Esther, and their complicated family, Jin’s second husband and children (spoiler alert!), and even her Japanese neighbors are all part of her ohana by the end of the novel.

I loved the mix of exotic, beautiful Hawaiian landscape and Jin’s personal adventures. Sure, it’s a land of sunshine and bright flowers, but Jin’s lot is working in the pineapple-canning factory or sugar cane fields. I also bookmarked basically every place where Jin went to eat, and some of them are still around.