Hula: A Multigenerational Tale of Tradition, Culture, and Dance Unfolding in the Heart of Hawai'i―Get Lost in the Pages of This Captivating Summer Read

by Jasmin Iolani Hakes

Named a Best Book of the Summer by Harper's Bazaar and ELLE “Stunning…an intricately built novel that spans decades, moving in and out of a collective voice, while also telling Hi’i’s deeply personal and devastating story of trying to find her way.” – Los Angeles Times “A full-throated chant for Hawai'i. ... It’s impossible to come away unchanged.” —KAWAI STRONG WASHBURN, author of the PEN/Hemingway award-winning Sharks in the Times of Saviors Set in Hilo, Hawai’i, a sweeping saga of tradition, culture, family, history, and connection that unfolds through the lives of three generations of women—a tale of mothers and daughters, dance and destiny. “There’s no running away on an island. Soon enough, you end up where you started.” Hi'i is proud to be a Naupaka, a family renowned for its contributions to hula and her hometown of Hilo, Hawaii, but there’s a lot she doesn’t understand. She’s never met her legendary grandmother and her mother has never revealed the identity of her father. Worse, unspoken divides within her tight-knit community have started to grow, creating fractures whose origins are somehow entangled with her own family history. In hula, Hi'i sees a chance to live up to her name and solidify her place within her family legacy. But in order to win the next Miss Aloha Hula competition, she will have to turn her back on everything she had ever been taught, and maybe even lose the very thing she was fighting for. Told in part in the collective voice of a community fighting for its survival, Hula is a spellbinding debut that offers a rare glimpse into a forgotten kingdom that still exists in the heart of its people.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Historical, Contemporary, Book Club, Literary Fiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published May 2, 2023

Reviews

[Yusuf Van Gieson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Im not sure how this book will read for someone who isn’t Hawaiian but I think it does a painfully good job at capturing the rage, the hurt, the damage and heartache that comes from a people having the heart of their land and culture stolen from them. The lengths that they will go to fight for it, the impossible choices presented to them, the overwhelming weight of screaming for generations but never being heard. That same fight continues to this day, as long as our people take breath.

Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness”, but also meaning “The sovereignty of the kingdom continues through our righteousness”.

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hula is the language of the Heart. Therefore the Heartbeat of the Hawaiian People.

---King David Kalakaua

And so begins the debut novel Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes, a beautiful and sweeping saga of tradition, culture, family and history that unfolds through the lives of three generations of women. But at the heart of this beautiful novel was the tale of mothers and daughters set on the Big Island of Hawaii in Hilo. It is not only also the history of the islands and the Hawaiian people and their stolen paradise, but it also is the history and significance and the beauty of hula in their lives. There is also the history of Hawaiian Sovereignty movement and how it is reflected in the lives of these three women and blood quantum laws putting forth that they never gave up sovereignty to their lands to the United States. Culminating in the Apology Act, adopted by both houses of Congress, it was signed by President Bill Clinton on November 1993.

"Hilo, Big Island's heart. Land of the kanilehua rain, the mists from which the red lehua flowers drink. Hilo, our curse and our blessing."

Hi'i is the youngest of the legendary Naupaka dynasty, the only daughter of Laka, once the pride of Hilo. Hi'i was the granddaughter of Hulali, the Hula matriarch on the Big Island. But the Naupaka dynasty was in jeopardy with silences, disappearances and long-held secrets. And Hi'i dreams of healing the rifts within her family by following in her mother's footsteps by becoming the next Miss Aloha Hula. I found the powerful story of the Hawaiian people and the Naupaka dynasty a most enjoyable and riveting book. While it is in part an incantation, it is also a rallying cry of the Hawaiian people. Hula is a lovely ode to a stolen paradise and its people as one explores Hawaii's tortured history to its fractured present through the lives of the Naupaka family.

On a personal note, I have long been fascinated with the history of Hawaii, largely because our daughter-in-law, a haole, grew up on the islands since the age of three. Her mother is an artist who strived to bring not only the tortured plight of the Hawaiian people, but also their inner beauty and ceremony to life in her art.

"Our veins run deep, our song louder than their noise. Roots too deep to extract. That's the thing about hula. Burn your books, rewrite your history, build walls, plant flags. Hula is written within the swirls of our feet. It's our umbilical cord, our pulse. Our battle cry, our death rattle, our moment of conception. The chants are archived in the stars. Hula is the heat rising from within our volcanoes. It is the pull of the tides, the beat of the surf against our cliffs. It is our hair, our teeth, our bones, our DNA."

[Cayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of this novel read like narrative nonfiction. That’s the best way I can describe it. Lacking dialogue but covering lots of rich history, mentioning the Bayonet Constitution and Hawaiian Home Act of 1920 (I think also referred to as the Hawaiian Home Awards), which I had no idea about! I will be googling for weeks!

While reading, I thought: this could be shorter. Overall, though, I couldn’t deny the beauty of the writing and the importance of this story. I would gladly read another book by Hakes.

[Helen | readwithneleh]

Some tough questions about a book I thought I loved, but now feel incredibly uncomfortable with....

First, I want to say I really loved the audiobook for HULA. The narration by Mapuana Makia is gorgeous and truly enhanced my reading experience of the book. In fact, it is the reason why I loved this book so much. What fell short in print—the ambitious task of including Hawaii’s history of colonization within a saga about three generations of Hawaiian women all the while also tackling racism and familial expectations—felt digestible and beautiful.

I also loved that I was reading a book set in Hawaii about its history and the authentic Native Hawaiian experience. Or so I thought. What I believed to be an own voices story, I quickly learned that the author, while born in Hawaii, is not a native Hawaiian. To be fair, she never claims to be, only that her family has been there for generations. And one of the MCs, the daughter Hi’i, struggles with identity and feeling like an outsider, the same issues the author had to deal with herself. So in this sense, the book feels very authentic to the author’s experience. That is something I, as a reader, cannot take away from her nor would I want to.

What I can do as a reader is take responsibility for my own actions. I was recommending this book as an own voices story, especially because we see so few NH and PI literature and I was so excited about it. That’s on me. I should’ve done my research, so I can accurately manage my own expectations as well as share information and recommendations responsibly. (But to be fair, this was being marketed as OV story AND is on a lot of AANHPI lists, so the assumption she is NH is not a leap.)

I am not here to police identities and determine what stories can be told by whom. As someone who is part of the Korean diaspora, I know identity is extremely complicated. I also know firsthand how it feels to be an outsider. However, as a critical reader and as a book reviewer, I have to note that this book’s core and essence is about the Hawaiian experience. And because of that, I cannot help but ask some questions…

Why did this book feel like it was marketed as an own voices Native Hawaiian story? (I am not the only one who felt this, especially during this month celebrating ANHPI Heritage.) How would a native Hawaiian feel reading this story? And borrowing this thought from a Hawaiian author/creator I know, does proximity to a land give you permission to write about its history, culture and people? Would this novel even be in my hands if it was written by a native Hawaiian with darker skin?

I have questions but no answers. So, where does that leave me? You? Us, as readers? I believe there is an important story here, especially for the Hawaiians that have always felt in-between. I also believe there can be incredible harm in the way a book is marketed that erases, dehumanizes and steals from the people the book is about. I don’t believe this is being done intentionally with HULA. And I am not Hawaiian, but I felt the book honored Hawaii’s culture and heritage all the while educating me on its history, a stolen land from its people. But the question is (and ones that NHs are always asking when their culture and history is stolen, marketed and profited from), does she have the right to tell their story?

[Rae | My Cousin’s Book Club · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actual rating: 2.25 stars ⭐️⭐️ - I really wanted to like this more...

There were many things I liked about this book but sadly, not enough to overcome the things I didn't like. I probably wouldn't recommend this to anyone in particular. I was drawn to the book because of my visit in the past to Hawaii and having family and friends live there who told me about the struggles that Native Hawaiians have gone through since becoming apart of the US.

What I Liked: Hi'i, Laka and Hulali's story was what I enjoyed the most. Getting to know each character had me completely engaged. I found myself wanting to know more about who each of the characters were, what drove their actions, more of their thoughts and why they responded to many scenarios the way they did. Linking each of their history while showing how their mother/daughter relationships developed really tied it all together. Overall, their stories felt like it was missing a chunk of detail to really keep me into the book. I didn't feel any character development between them and hated how Hi'i essentially just had to deal with the pain and anguish she went through without ever addressing this with her mom and grandmother...

What I Didn't Like: A large part of the book focused heavily on the history or Hawaii and what happened between the US and Kingdom of Hawaii. This was so hard to keep up with and read and just felt completely dry. While I was frustrated with this part, I had to push through to get back to the main plot of the story. I also very much needed a dictionary for A LOT of the Hawaiian words. Some of them I could use context clues to figure out what was going on but many times I just read over it with no clue as to what it meant. This made the book feel longer than it is and also took me wayyyy longer to finish.

Thank you to Netgalley and HarperVia for the ARC version in exchange for an honest review.

[Ashley McMullen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hula is an multi-generational story that dives into mother-daughter relationships, dysfunctional families, the history of a place and how it can make or break a community, and colonization and racism and the negative impact that has on native populations. The book is called Hula, but it's not really about the art of Hula, rather the themes of the art form are tied to larger themes throughout the book.

What I really liked about the book was: a) how the writing did an incredible job of setting the place. It was beautiful in its descriptions and honest in its portrayal of the big island of Hawai'i and beyond. We as readers really got an understanding of the anger, hurt, and betrayal of native Hawaiians as they tried to navigate and survive in a post-colonial Hawaii; b) the way the author used history to put this story into perspective, including the sacred practices woven in with the art of hula.

Why I rated this three stars: 1) I thought the book was simply trying to do too much. While I just said that I appreciated the author adding in so much Hawaiian history, she also added in so many other side stories that the book felt a bit chaotic and the overall impact of the book struggled to come through. I think, if she would have dedicated to write either a much longer book or pared down the storylines and wrote a much shorter book, the impact could have been there. And then 2) if you come from a dysfunctional family, there are some big triggers here (which was the case for me). A lot of the family drama, when it comes to a head, feels almost out of context because we don't get to know the characters in a way that makes the drama make complete sense. So, a lot of the lack of communication and lack of taking responsibility for their actions made me dislike the characters rather than sympathize.

Overall, a great book though that I think a lot of people will find interesting and hopefully will open their minds to learning more about Hawaiian history and culture. Thank you to NetGalley and HarperVia for giving me advanced reader access in exchange for an honest review. Hula by Jasmin 'Iolani Hakes publishes May 2, 2023.

[Sheena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hula follows three generations of women in Hawaii. It explores identity and belonging - almost like a coming of age novel. It’s also culturally rich and there is so much history as well. I thought it was beautifully written however, there were times where I felt it was a little too long. Regardless, I do think the story is important as there’s not many Hawaiian authors or stories out there. The cover is also absolutely beautiful.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book!

[Ipek (ipekreading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was love at first sight and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it! I mean how gorgeous is that cover? But beyond that, this was a beautifully written novel that was a pleasure to read/listen to. Despite what its name might suggest, the book isn't about teaching hula. Instead it explores the recent history of Hawaii, identity and belonging, motherhood and community through 3 generations of women.
The thing I loved the most about this book is probably how nuanced the characters were in their backgrounds and stances on what it meant to be Hawaiian and parts of their communities, what they thought was best for their home and how to achieve it.
This novel was a great reminder of the oral histories and identities erased by colonization and how much hard work is involved to get them back. I can see a lot of tourists picking this up when they are headed to a Hawaiian vacation and I hope it'll serve as a great reminder on the fact that there is so much more to Hawaii than being a tourist destination and on what is appropriation vs. appreciation.
I loved the narration by Mapuana Makia and I thought she enhanced the experience of this book so much!
Thank you so much to HarperVia and for the ARC and gifted finished copy and LibroFM and Harper Audio for the ALC of this gorgeous novel.

[Taury · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes tells of the complexities of Hawaiian culture, history, and identity. The story is set in Hilo, Hawaii, and spans multiple generations of the Hawaiian Navarro family. The primary character is Hi'i, a coming of age girl who is struggling with the expectations placed on her by her family and her community. She is trying to find her identity in a community she feels different from.

The author does a great job researching heritage, belonging, and the importance of personal and cultural identity. Through Hi'i's we learn about Hawaiian tradition, the importance of hula as a cultural expression, and the ways in which the past continues to shape the present.

Hakes’ takes the reader through the Hawaiian landscape, allowing the reader to visualize the island's natural beauty to life while also showing the complex social and political issues. The novel tells about the effects of colonization, the loss of native language and traditions, and the struggle to reclaim and preserve a unique cultural identity.

At times the story lags and drags on. At times goes backward to pick up a different narrative. This can be confusing.

[BethFishReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel pushes back the curtain to show us just a part of what remained of traditional Hawai'i in the late mid-century, just before the huge onslaught of tourism and commercialism that make up most of the state today.

The novel focuses on the women of the Naupaka family of the Big Island. Though the women's lives collectively span the 1900s and beyond, the core of the story is set in the 1960s and 1970s, when political, economic, and culture change charged the air.

I have so many thoughts about this novel, which are colored by own experiences of working and living in the state in the late 1970s. Most of my friends and coworkers had been born and raised in Hawai'i and were of a variety of cultural backgrounds. Talk around the lunch table and at weekend get-togethers often turned to hula, indigenous rights, land and housing, gawking tourists, and the destruction of special and significant places throughout the islands.

Based on my brief insider-outsider status, *Hula* gets everything right. And why wouldn't it? The author grew up in Hawai'i during this time of change.

Other important themes covered in the book are mother-daughter relationships, fitting in, cultural traditions, and governmental white supremacy (male WASP and white Catholic political, religious, and economic leaders know what's best for everyone and also know best how to loophole their way into getting whatever they want).

Lest you think *Hula* will be too heavy for you, rest assured that there's family, friend, and relationship drama to carry the reader along.

Whether you've vacationed in Hawai'i, dreamed of visiting Hawai'i, worked in Hawai'i, or grew up in Hawai'i this is a must-read novel.

The audiobook was performed by Mapuana Makia, who did a brilliant job. Thanks to her Hawai'ian background, her pronunciations and cadences and natural-sounding pidgin brought the characters alive. Her understanding of the material increases the listener's connection to the emotional core of the story as well as the importance of the broader themes.

Note that the print book ends with a list of resources, especially focusing on land rights and sovereignty. For more information about hula, see the *National Geographic* article "The Surprising History of Hawai'i's Hula Tradition." (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/tr...)

Thanks to the publishers (and Libro.fm) for review copies in various formats.

[Cookie · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️½

This was nearly a four star read for me. The first third of the book dragged a bit and I felt the book was a bit scattered. It was an ambitious book, threading in a lot of Hawaii's history and the history of hula into the characters' journey. I think if the book was pared down or simplified a bit, I would have liked it more.

But I did really like it. Keep in mind, I read mostly romance and so non-romance books are a little more difficult for me to love. This historical fiction novel has a lot to offer readers and I think many will enjoy this one. It's seeped in the rich and layered culture of Hawaii and I really enjoyed deep diving into the island life. I loved the spirituality of the story and how the characters tied their experiences to the earth and to their heritage. This book was beautifully written and I am in awe of Jasmine Iolani Hakes' ability to weave such an intricate story with meaningful themes.

This was an impressive debut novel and I look forward to reading more work by this author.

If you have an opportunity to listen to this book, I highly recommend it. Hearing how the Hawaiian words and names were pronounced helped me really get into the story. I also appreciated hearing the accents and cadence of Hawaiian pidgin.

⚠️: war, miscarriage, child abandonment, partner abuse, cancer, death of a spouse, incarceration

I received a complimentary audiobook from libro.fm.

[Ming · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a difficult but compelling and poignant read. I found it difficult due to the consistent amount of wrenching emotions--sadness, anger, frustration, interminable frustration and invalidation. The three women, three generations, (well actually five, #1 & #5 are more minor characters, relatively) represent the struggles of Hawai'i and the kanaka maoli, the term that native Hawai'ians use to refer to themselves. They experience disappointment, dashed hopes, trauma and tragedy over and over. Happiness, joy and steady uneventfulness are fleeting at best and only lead to some awful event. (Last night, after reading 70-85%, I couldn't sleep soundly. Today, I decided to finish this during the daytime so I could have more settled rest tonight.)

The perspective alternates between 1st person (plural) and 3rd person; and this often contributed to an arm's length feel. The "we" is a collective family (or ancestors or community), a timeless and all-seeing entity. But I found this voice the most distant although they conveyed much information, often in some ghostly tone. (In the beginning this voice had a sacchariny, cloying feel to it in a few passages. It was almost as if they were pretending to be mystical.) I experienced the characters' points of view, as recounted or as described, as removed and at times cold or robotic. But I add here that between the 70-85%, there were several moments when I was choked with emotions and tears (e.g., when Laka goes to a different halau. Another very poignant scene occurred earlier, when Hi'i danced during a storm.).

This book provides a socio-political overview of Hawai'i, beginning around the time of the US overthrow of the sovereign island nation till about 1990's. The contrast and tension between those who accept (begrudgingly) the role of the US and OHA and those who unapologetically/righteously reject the US government takeover and maintain the sovereignty of Hawai'i are clearly depicted here. The issues of blood quantum, identity, belonging, and obviously, settler colonialism are lived by the characters and intimately and relentlessly inform their lives, decisions, and aspirations.

The difficult mother-daughter relationships among the three main characters are heartbreaking. Each woman conducts herself with the best of intentions or acts according to some profound need. Yet, many moves or actions inflict some pain or cause some disruption. This intergenerational, matrilineal dynamic reminds me of A Bridge Between Us and is wrenching in how each character, unintentionally, must repeat a hurtful relay.

Hula dance plays an important role but as a device or a language of sorts. It's a seminal way to demonstrate the sovereignty or the very identity of the Hawai'ian people. I was awed by the author's descriptions of hula and the experiences of "being in" hula. I can assuredly say that these are the most poignant passages in the book. They're searing and magical.

I appreciated the intricate plotting as it presented and revealed information or events carefully. It had a Rashomon effect. You'd see one side, then another which is completely different.

In addition I appreciate how Hawai'ian cosmology and/or mythology was presented. It was not heavy handed and didn't feel like an "explanation."

Hawai'ian words are used often and with a few but often almost no contextual clues. I totally support this practice as I have in other books. I'm grateful that I know enough words to know the meanings and how they represent the people themselves. Interestingly, the author uses English words to cleverly and clearly communicate new meanings. Tourists are called "Interrupters," for instance.

I'd recommend this title and I look forward to this author's future works. Please see my numerous highlights--many of these passages are gorgeous, poetic and affecting.

Many say that writing is a political act. I agree. I also think reading is a political act. For instance, I celebrate having read only authors of color this calendar year. And while reading Hula, I thought about how the government of Israel is escalating its oppression of Palestine, something that has occurred for more than 70 years, and is now committing genocide. Like Hula, the issues of belonging, identity and community are at play.

[Victoria Larkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to Love this book, I really did. The cover is stunningly beautiful and I was excited about the concept of this book however it fell very flat for me.
I think my biggest problem with this book was that it felt as if there was no editor. We jumped around in time a lot which was really confusing and there seem to be really no real structure within this book I felt like most of the plot happened at the very end which I did enjoy.
But overall, I felt like information was just thrown at us instead of unfolding with us as readers.

[theliterateleprechaun]

“Hula wasn’t just something you did for a couple hours a week. You didn’t just take lessons. You became it. To be a real hula dancer, your skirts were always on, in one way or another.”


Hula is written in Hawaiian pidgin and is the story of how three generations were shaped by Hawaiian history. Ulu, Hulali and Laka fiercely defend their culture ~ they come from a proud family of hula dancers and teachers. When Laka is voted Miss Aloha in the 1960s and leaves the islands it’s a shock to the Naupaka family. When she returns with her daughter, Hi’i and enrols her in rigorous hula training it stretches the family bonds; not only is she a stranger, but her skin is a different colour and they question if the hula is in her DNA.  


Despite not totally enjoying this book, I did appreciate an introduction to the sacred discipline of the hula, the lush descriptions of the islands and the descriptions of the Naupaka family gatherings. The pacing and the pidgin were hurdles I couldn’t get over. 


I did appreciate:

“Hula is written within the swirls of our feet.. It’s our umbilical cord, our pulse. Our battle cry, our death rattle, or moment of conception. The chants are archived in the stars. Hula is the heat rising from within our volcanoes. It’ is the pull of the tides, the beat of the surf against our cliffs. It is our hair, our teeth, our bones. Our DNA.”


This book will have a lasting impression on me and not because I enjoyed it, but because the hula we see on tv/commercials or in Hawaiian hotels is not the hula the Hawaiians learn and practice. I’ve appreciated watching our Hawaiian ambassador on the ship as she is deeply entrenched in this sacred cultural practice and it shows. 

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hula tells the story of several generations of mothers and daughters in the Naupaka family. The Naupaka family is known for it’s contribution to hula and to preserving the culture and rights of Native Hawaiians. Laka never met her mother’s standards - all that was important to her mother, Hulali, was focusing on Hawaiian culture and rights. Immediately after Laka won the Miss Aloha competition, she fled the big island, severing all ties with her family. When she returned with her infant daughter, there is no reconciliation with her mother. Hulali is not accepting of her new granddaughter because she believes her new granddaughter is white and does not meet the blood quantum to be considered “Hawaiian.: As the child, Hi’i, grows up, we see her experience life feeling like an outsider and the rifts within her family continue. With the way the story is told, the reader actually gets 2 coming of age stories - both Hi’i and her mother, Laka. Intertwined through all of this is the history of the Hawaiian kingdom, and the fight for sovereignty. I thought that the way Hakes pulled all of this together was masterful - it never felt like an info dump and the impact of the historical events on the day to day life of the Hawaiian people was woven in. The political and cultural topics explored, including the lasting impacts of colonialism, as you see Hi’i’s experiences and the tension and disagreement between Laka and Hulali rang true to the story being told. Excellent novel.

[A_Stylish_Bookworm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you @libro.fm for a copy of this audiobook. I have so many thoughts on this book.

Here's what I loved about this book:
- the narration was great from the pronunciation of Hawaiian words to the pidgin English that was used
- this was a great book with history of Hawaii and what the colonization did to the Hawaiians
- the idea of family vs ohana

Here's what I didn't like about it:
- the 3rd person POV, it didn't make me feel invested in the story
- the amount of history and lack of conversation in the first half of the book

Overall, this was a great fictional story with a lot of historical aspects of Hawaii.

[Christina (Confessions of a Book Addict) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laka returns home to Hilo, Hawaii with a new daughter in tow and it makes her mother, Hulali, question the baby's parentage. The baby is too "white" in her family's eyes to be Hawaiian. Hulali is part of the native Hawaiian movement and she takes this seriously, especially after all Hawaii has been through and the USA's role in this. As Hi'i, Laka's daughter, grows up she realizes she doesn't quite fit in and has never been fully accepted in her community. She has grown up with rumors following her every move and by now, she is used to it. Hi'i shows an interest in learning hula as he mother and grandmother were important figures in the community for continuing the Hawaiian tradition of Hula; in fact, her mother was Miss Aloha Hula. As she learns Hula and expresses the rich Hawaiian history through its storytelling, it becomes even more obvious to her that she never really felt a part of all this. She has so many questions. What happened when her mother left Hilo and why is there a rift between her mother and her grandmother? As her grandmother pressures Laka to share Hi'i's birth certificate to prove her lineage, more secrets unfold. Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes is an important historical novel that not only covers Hawaii's tumultuous history but also captures the heart of its people.
Read the rest of my review here: http://www.confessionsofabookaddict.c...

[Athena A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

complicated feelings about this book in a kukui nut shell…

pros: Hawaiian pidgin english, mo’olelo, and many nods to Native protocol & political history that I grew up learning in the islands (helped me share more of my upbringing w/ my partner who read alongside me)

cons: pls google author BEFORE reading! makes me want to delve into a list of Native Hawaiian and Pasifika authors ASAP to recenter on proud indigenous voices/narratives (as opposed to what feels a lil R.F Kuang’s Yellowface, Kamehameha Schools 2003 controversy murky to me)

all proceed$$$$ of this tbh skillfully-written novel should go to Native Hawaiian reclamation projects as reparation !!!! (as it uses intergenerational family trauma, community tragedies, indigenous land sovereignty movement histories, and racialized state-policing/control plotpoints to progress the narrative that could have been written from lived experience instead of fictionalized to this extent, esp. at this length!)

[Jasmine Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

It was honestly a bit hard for me to follow the story for the first half of the book. It took me a while to get in the groove with the storytelling and I felt the ending came hard and fast.

I loved learning so much about hula and the history of Hawaii. Like so much of the colonized around the word, their history is so rich and so layered which is heartbreaking to watch it slowly taken away over time. I appreciate the message(s) of Hula. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking and honest.

[Io Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this! Apparently I'm a sucker for multigenerational family dramas about women and their relationships with each other set against historical backdrops, because they never miss, but even through that lense this was great. The writing is beautiful, the characters are believable, I got teary eyed a whole lot of times, and only some were out of sadness. I don't understand how the general consensus is that the book should be shorter - the cyclical nature of the relationships is the entire point, and instead of repetitions, we get variations of similar situations and how the women deal with them. I love reading books written by authors who obviously care so so deeply about the themes they tackle (which is also supported by the extensive explanation and further reading list at the end). I think this might be my fav book I've read this year, actually.

[Nicole Kamai · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have complicated feelings regarding this book as someone who is of Native Hawaiian descent (my grandfather was close to 100%).

When I first picked up this book after reading some great reviews, I believed the author to also be Native Hawaiian. Maybe that was my fault I assumed, but Hula was also highly marketed as an OWN voices novel.

What I liked:
-the history. I’m glad that the history of Hawaii is starting to be more widely acknowledged and known.
-the characters were complicated and nuanced
-the fight for Hawaiian Land Rights and Hawaii as a whole

What I didn’t like:
-the story of mothers and daughters felt super negative to me along side the important story of Hawaii and everything we are still fighting for. I would have love to see some joy in the novel named Hula.
-the novel was poorly written and disjointed. You can jump around in a novel and make it cohesive. But I found myself flipping back through chapters to see if I missed something for a majority of the book.
-it tries to hard to be literary, but the book ended up being more telling then showing (which is not bad in the right context, the telling just didn’t work for this novel and it’s overall voice.

Overall, it becomes a question of who gets to tell what story. As someone who is native Hawaiian, I think I would have loved this book if instead of focusing on a Native Hawaiian family, focus on a family who are locals to Hawaii, have relationships with the people, and are allys to Native Hawaiian causes.

Like I told my husband, four stars for the historical context and two for the story. And no, that doesn’t make it a three star book.

[Noelle N · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a society where culture can be stolen as easily as a piece of bread, we need more books like Hula! I think that the people of the islands in the Pacific have been overwrought by so much colonization that it’s become so difficult to get anything beautifully authentic, even for the natives. There is so much pressure on them to keep the rituals/ traditions alive, like what Hi'i experiences. Beyond that, we get insight into her family's past and the mysteries hidden away in order to survive the present. The colorism faced within their own people is something holding her back as well, and is something I'm familiar with in my own culture. The difficulty of trying to belong in a world that will always see you as second class. This story covers so many important themes, all while following the path of the Naupaka family; past, present, and hopeful future. We get to see how their generations remain connected with the help of hula. For anyone not into the interspersed native speech, you must not be truly interested to learn more about the culture this portrays. I think it's beautiful that, for once, the language isn't treated as out of place or inconvenient, but as regular as the English everyone is expected to know.

[Chloe · Rating 5 out of 5]

i loved the narration style of this book! just a really beautiful story about heritage and belonging and generations of mothers and daughters

[Sasha (bahareads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't read a book about Hawaii that I haven't enjoyed YET.

Books about family expectations and dynasties are my niche. Learning about Hawaiian history, whether through fiction or non-fiction, always hurts. My heart hurts for a people who can't control their land or government. I always reflect back on Hawaii and Puerto Rico to remind myself that the US is not a benevolent saviour but a colonising empire. The POVs that allowed readers to see the takeover of Hawaii from the point of the people, and the desire to keep Hawaiian culture alive made this book so so special.

The complicated mother-daughter relationship in the Naupka dynasty should be attractive to many readers. The backstory relationship between Hulali and Laka, when shown, is so so sad. Love is there but duty is more prevalent than love. Duty to help Hawaii and further the family line is so ingrained in Hulali from her matriarch that that's all she knows. All of the characters are real and complex. None of them shines out as "good" and "bad." They are all complicated. I understand Hi'i need to be accepted by her mother and grandmother. The drive to be accepted by her indigenous society though she appears like a colonizer is woven through the narrative.

The multiple POVs allow readers to see from all the women's points of view. I wished the backstory with Hulali and Laka was towards the beginning, as well as Hi'i's birth story. It would have helped my frustration between the characters and their actions, which were seemly stupid at times.

I enjoyed how Hakes shows that being Hawaiian does not necessarily mean you look fully Hawaiian. Seeing how miscegenation and blood quantum comes into play with the colonialization of Hawaii was fascinating. I'd never heard of the blood quantum laws in Hawaii before, so that was something new for me. The blood quantum conversation in the book made me want to study it more.

Hakes had a whole bibliography at the end which was incredible!! I love historical fiction with other sources/resources for you to read. There are numerous things in this novel that can be triggering like war, miscarriage, child abandonment, partner abuse, cancer, death of a spouse, incarceration etc so be wary.

[Morgan Rohbock · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐ and it made me 😭
No spice!

"Hula is written within the swirls of our feet... You can steal a kingdom, but the kingdom will never belong to you."

How do I even start to describe the complex beautiful emotions I felt while reading this book? Written to focus on a mother and daughter relationship, Jasmin also encapsulates the relationship these two women have with their community of Hilo, Hawaii and that is equally as interesting in thinking about Hawaii's history of being essentially forced to join the US.

Jasmin weaves together the complexities of Hawaiian politics, mythology, society, blood quantum and family life to create this beautiful story that I know will stay with me for a long time. I learned more from this book than any other book this year and while the pacing was sometimes slow and disconnected, I think that was truly based in my own ignorance or Hawaiian culture. This is by far one of the most thought provoking books I've read all year.

Also, why do I know more about Greek and Roman mythology but pretty much nothing about Hawaiian mythology?!

Note: After reading, I learned this author is not Native Hawaiian but did grow up Hilo. This book does center on the outsider feeling of growing up in Hawaii while not being native Hawaiian for the daughter which is extremely authentic but the native Hawaiian characters here are not own voices, as I previously thought.

[Kim Zoot Holmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a strange suggestion for this book: If you have no knowledge/connection of/to Hawaii's culture or history - then I suggesting LISTENING to the audiobook for at least half of the story because hearing the words spoken as they're intended is integral to the story. BUT! Then I suggest you read the last 25% or so so that you can also see how everything is spelled. And definitely read the author's notes at the end.

As usual, my ADHD complicated some of my reading with the changing POVs but in the end I stuck with it and appreciated it. Reading is so funny because while I have no personal connection to stories of heritage and cultural and tradition and family, I found it all easy to understand. But then I felt INCREDIBLY connected to complicated mother/daughter relationships and how baggage and demons from another time can interfere with healthy relationships in some families. So part of the story was me reading from the outside and learning and embracing the character's stories, but part of it was me on the inside feeling the pains of the conflicts deep in my soul.

[Malia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this was an ambitious book! I have so much respect for Jasmin ʻIolani Hakes for managing to weave Hawaiʻi's history, various factions of the sovereignty/Kingdom movement, color and culture clashes, and messy family dynamics into one novel. Her writing style felt like the push and pull of the ocean and I could practically taste the salt on my lips. Stunning descriptions and visuals.

I received an advanced copy of this book to give an honest review of.

[Gloria Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was interesting learning about the history of Hawaii. However, this book was all "telling not showing." The timeline was sporadic and the switching between voices gave me a whiplash feel. It was hard to keep everything straight and care for the characters.

Thank you Libro.fm for the advanced listening copy of this book!

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️½

Listened to this on audiobook, narrated by Mapuana Makia.

This was an absolutely fascinating read. I knew next to nothing about the Kingdom of Hawai'i prior to picking this up, and wow - I mean, I shouldn't be surprised at how US treated Hawaii, considering our track record with colonization and what I know of the horrors Native Americans have been (and still are) subjected to. But damn, it still hits hard every time.

Hula did an excellent job illustrating the frustration, heartache and rage of watching your kingdom being taken from you by colonists, of seeing the dirty tactics they're using to disempower your people, of trying to find an effective way to fight back when they keep changing the rule book - and everything else that gets caught in the crossfire: the strain this puts on families and friendships, the scars and fears that get passed down between generations, the nuanced balance of perpetuating and protecting your culture.

I thought this was most effectively explored through Hi'i's and Laka's narratives, which in part portray the cycle of perpetuating hurts and generational traumas between mothers and daughters, while still maintaining nuance in how each individual is impacted by the aftershocks of colonialism on a personal level. In particular, the novel does a fantastic job demonstrating how complex, difficult and painful it can be to approach the question of being "Hawaiian enough" to engage in the culture, all because of the blood quantums system the US introduced. I'm going to be thinking about this for a long, long time.

The one place I had difficulty with Hula is just that I think the story could have been told as effectively with a lower page count. Especially towards the end, it felt like we were rehashing content we'd already gone over in depth, and it just felt like it would have benefited from being shorter.

Mapuana Makia's narration was excellent and added a lot to my enjoyment of the novel.

[Sigrid A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I moved this book up my TBR to mark Asian American Pacific Islander heritage month, and I'm glad that I did. The novel is both a messy family story and a history of Hawaii, including the US imperialism leading to annexation and the contemporary sovereignty movement, through the lens of Hula. The narrative alternates between a mythic voice that reaches into Hawaii's past and a storyline that alternates between three main female pov characters from the same family, but representing three generations. Because so much contextualizing is needed (at least for someone with little background knowledge like myself), the story doesn't fully take shape for a while. But it all works, and leads to an ending that rejects easy answers, but still feels like a resolution.

One of my favorite aspects of the book is the omniscient narrative voice that positions the assumed reader as an outsider who is being educated about Hawaiian culture, but not let into its secrets. When Hi'i attends her first hula class, the narrator knowingly calls the reader out for expecting to be taught all about hula as a tradition. No, insists the narrator, the reader will get enough to know its importance, but no unearned cultural insight. I appreciated this as part of the bigger conversation about reading diversely and the pushback by poc authors who refuse to write novels as zoo exhibits for a predominantly white reading public. As a white reader, I learned a lot from this novel, but I also appreciate the limitations of what I can or should expect to be "taught."

Apart from that, Hula is also a well written and crafted novel. I enjoyed it immensely.

Thanks to Edelweiss and Libro.fm for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.