Hawaiʻi

by Mark Panek

A nine-term U.S. senator and political patriarch is dead, leaving Hawai'i at a crossroads: crumbling public education at all levels, a crystal meth epidemic, and class divisions so deep that even State Senator Russell Lee has to scramble to avoid eviction from his family's dream home. When an illegal gambling debt puts him further in the hole, Russell's only way out is to go all in, joining forces with an up-and-coming developer, an underworld kingpin, and a Chinese casino magnate.  Their goal?  To sway an electorate easily distracted by UH football into rolling the dice on the biggest legislative gamble in the state's history. Russ lays it all on the line in a battle that pits him against the "anointed" Democratic party favorite, an entrenched anti-development movement, and the long-lost righteous Hawaiian blood-brother he must convince to join him in the name of helping his people. From the summit of Mauna Kea to the crowded shores of Waikiki, from the State Capitol to the seedy backstreets of Honolulu, Mark Panek leaves out nothing in this scathing portrait of 21st-century paradise.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

568 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2013

About the author

After graduating from Colby College over twenty years ago, Mark Panek arrived in Hawai'i on a one-way ticket with $500 and a surfboard. A year later he stepped off the plane in Tokyo similarly underfunded in search of fame, fortune, and fluency in Japanese. Letters home depicting his subsequent adventures on an around-the-world trip eventually led him into a graduate program in creative writing, where he produced his first book: a biography of Hawaiian sumo champion Akebono, which the Japan Times has called "the best sumo biography in English." His second book, "Big Happiness: The Life and Death of a Modern Hawaiian Warrior," won the 2012 Hawai'i Book Publisher's Association's award for excellence in nonfiction. His debut novel, "Hawai'i," which takes on the legacy of James A. Michener in no-holds-barred Tom-Wolfe-ian fashion, has been called "our Bonfire of the Vanities" by the Honolulu Weekly. Panek was recently honored with the Elliot Cades Award for Literature.

Reviews

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess I am in a minority in that I thought it was just an okay book. I made it through the entire book but it felt like the author was trying too hard to use fiction to expound upon the social ills of Hawaii and didn't include enough of the good about the people or this place that keeps both he and I here. He stereotypes everyone in the novel so badly that the characters all seem to fall flat. We needed to get to know the main character a lot better, and story lines didn't always interconnect well.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A huge novel in the classic Tom Wolfe tradition of The Right Stuff, Mark Panek's newest book, Hawai'i, a novel, covers it all. If you live or have ever lived in Hawai'i you'll recognize nearly everything, from the characters to the lives they lead and the situations they find themselves in. If you don't live here, read it instead of Michener! Cannot recommend this book highly enough.

[Daniel Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

The scope of this book is incredible, its characters believable, and it message vital. If you ever wanted a book that takes you past the post card and tourist commercial image of "Paradise," and gives you a backstage pass to see the struggles facing modern Hawaii, this is the one.

[Derek Lynch · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to learn more about the island & found this book on my own. I should’ve checked before to see that it was written by a white dude from the mainland. There were a handful of great scenes (I love Ikaika’s characterization.... but then his eleventh hour character transformation? Bye) and I guess it was informative in terms of contemporary Hawaiian cultural & social issues, but hooooly shit. This is....not it.

It’s wayyyyy overwritten and could’ve been 100-200 pages shorter, it’s misogynistic as all hell (truly every single woman in the book is one dimensional, described in objectifying & sexist & demeaning language, and plainly treated as sex objects throughout. Plus there’s only, like, 4 or 5 women in the book to begin with!) The ending provides no clarity whatsoever in terms of any of the main characters. There’s no resolution. It’s just incredibly frustrating. I kept reading to find the “hook” & I never got it.

Anyways, as I’ve said before, I haate writing negative reviews. It is incredibly hard to write a book & Mark Panek should be commended for that! This just wasn’t it for me.

[Nancy Cook Lauer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5. (Liked it). A probably factual and rather cynical novel based on race relations and political corruption on O'ahu is portrayed in Panek's 2013 book. Panek's "Hawaii" is funny at times and includes a lot of representations of gang activity, the influence of major developers and the constant internal struggle the state has with casino gambling proposals. Unfortunately, the themes to me are predictable, the characters unlikable and the book at 551 pages too lengthy. Still, it's a great fictional introduction for those unfamiliar with Hawaii who find the nonfiction tomes "Broken Trust" and "Land and Power in Hawaii" a bit too dense for casual reading.

[Natalie Self · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting. Devastating. Will grab you and not let you go.

Everyone who visits Hawaii should be required to read this book. A fictional development project is the subject of this multi-character illustration of how money makes things happen in colonized Hawaii. The story goes about how you might expect with a sharp turn towards the end that makes it impossible for the reader to do anything other than acknowledge our collective devastating impact on Native Hawaiian communities.

[Andrew O'Riordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Mark Panek is inspired, incisive, relentless. He tears the veil off of the sanitized version of Paradise, and substitutes his polymath and hard-eared view of this modern Hawaii. I can only hope he will keep working to tell these honest stories of our unique rainbow society, so we may all know each other better, for real. Thank you Mark Panek!

[Deborah Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried to like the book, having been raised in Hawaii, but I couldn’t. Political novels have to be well written for me to find them intriguing - even Hawaiian politics. I also found there to be too many characters to keep up with. And all the ‘inner monologues’ they had were just wearing my patience out.
Not my kind of book, even if it’s about Hawai’i.

[Paul McBride · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow what a book. Hawaii as it is today, described from various viewpoints. The author critically defines, skewers, and criticizes every stereotype perfectly.
This book is definitely not on the chamber of commerces recommended reading list.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was thrilled to see a novel about modern Hawaii. But, disappointed in it's execution.

[Paige Kilian · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learned more about the history and culture of Hawaii reading this novel than I did reading non-fiction history books.

[Spike Gomes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A corrupt yet charismatic Hawaiian politician with big dreams and an even bigger gambling debt.
A middle aged Hawaiian crime lord looking for a way to maintain his prestige and possibly go straight.
A young local-Japanese public school grad looking to outmaneuver all the prep-school grads into becoming a real estate dealer and political fixer.
An anti-development toenail-Hawaiian Hawaiian Studies Professor looking for a way to get his academic tenure while still remaining dedicated to noble causes.

These four main characters slam together in a glorious car wreck of money, political power and corruption along with many others set against the paradisaical settings of Hawaii. It was really fun seeing so many fictionalized versions of real life figures in Hawaii dragged out and lambasted for all they're worth.

I'm really surprised that a mainland malihini academic like Panek was able to nail the reality of life in Hawaii so completely and honestly. Underneath the whole aloha and tourism vibe is the byzantine relations of race and class, of people just scraping by while others give up the ghost and leave the land their ancestors are buried in and helped build. The bread and circuses of football, religion, MMA, sex, drugs and easy money. The paralyzed hopelessness of those who stay, and the well-meaning and patronizing concern of outsiders who flood in, in awe of the beauty of the land and the history of the people even as they crowd and price out the locals.

Some say that this book is reminiscent of Tom Wolfe's novels. While there is biting social commentary and irony, it lacks Wolfe's sense of humor and more importantly his deft use of prose. I found the writing to be a bit clumsy and self-conscious. More telling than showing in a lot of places. Still, the power of the storytelling stands out. Maybe some might find this novel to be cynical and hopeless, everyone is compromised in some way or another, and the only really noble character is a broken husk at the end. Still, it's pretty much the truth. You just live day by day, knowing the storied past and hoping the present comes to pass if not in your lifetime, but in the lifetime of your descendants.

[Mary Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

My, my have things changes since James Michener finished his novel Hawaii. The melting pot he envisioned is more lumpy that smooth. In this current day novel, a Hawaiian State Senator with a gambling addiction, is seeking to become governor.
His campaign advisor and mover-shaker is a skinny Japanese-American who grew up in the public school system. This man is a real estate developer by day and a fancy restaurant waiter by night. He saves his tip money to invest in and flip condos. But being an invisible waiter also allows him to eaves drop on political and investment gossip.
A third important character in this diverse grouping is a 3% Hawai'ian who unfortunately was blessed with non-Hawaiian blonde haole looks. He teaches Hawai'ian studies at the University and is a champion of the native population.
The fourth important character is a Hawai'ian gangsta.
This melting pot is stirred and stirred with the characters influenced by outside sources and each other. Many past follies inflicted on the Islands are brought up and the current issue is casino gambling.
If you have visited this beautiful place you will recognize many of the places that you only saw through tourist eyes before. The book concludes with a wonderful cultural experience, The Merry Monarch Festival.

[Mark Patton · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I hadn't seen Mark Panek's name on the cover, I would have assumed I was reading a Tom Wolfe novel. Maybe Panek is even more scathing and cynical than Wolfe, but the style and character of the book reminds me of A Man in Full and others by Wolfe. Why this book has not gained wide attention is beyond me. Maybe it is because it presents a side of Hawaii that people don't want to consider. I had never heard of the book until I stumbled upon it in "the westernmost independent bookstore in the US" on Kauai, and even there, both salespersons suggested that it somehow picked up where Michener's Hawaii ended. Nothing could be more remote from the truth. Michener and Panek do not belong in the same sentence, despite my having just placed them exactly there. While visiting Hawaii, I began to wonder if coming of age here results in a more brutal shock than for people on the mainland since so much of the lifestyle seems to focus on ease, beauty, beaches, the sun, etc., and yet if one looks around, there don't appear to be many potential jobs outside of the service industries in a place that is terribly expensive to live. The darker side, presented by Panek, answers many of my questions.

[Gail Baugniet · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I started to read this book, I raved about the story line and research involved in getting everything to ring true, include local pidgin and the shady side of politics as well as the rail controversy. The book is over 500 pages, though, and by the time I hit about page 350, I had had my fill of corruption, the exaggerated gang-banger mentality, the equal opportunity dissing, and the 5-0 action.

The writing is excellent. The research left little to chance. I recommend the novel to anyone interested in learning a bit more about the seedier back side of the Islands. Just remember to bring your super-sized container filled with grains of salt.

[Shawna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think it's ironic that a book about the Hawaiian struggles against stereotypes, development, and outsiders is written by a white guy from the mainland. However, Mark Panek has done an amazing job with capturing how locals actually speak and putting it down on paper.

[Patty Abrams · Rating 3 out of 5]

A state senator in Hawaii decides to run for governor. You definitely have to know the local references and a lot of the book is spoken in pidgin.

[Karen]

GF