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Waimea Summer
Written by John Dominis Holt, this important novel explores two cultures merged in the life of the protagonist. This young boy finds himself on a ranch in Waimea, trying to make sense of the differences in class and peoples as he himself realizes the great divide between the Western and Native Hawaiian identities that he comes from.
195 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1976
7 people are currently reading
280 people want to read
About the author
John Dominis Holt
15 books2 followersJohn Dominis Holt IV (June 4, 1919 – March 29, 1993) was an American and Native Hawaiian writer, poet and cultural historian. In 1979, he was recognized as a Living Treasures of Hawaiʻi for his contribution to the Hawaiian Renaissance.
Descended from Hawaiian royalty and European ancestors, Holt navigated the competing claims of pedigree and genealogy in postcolonial Hawaii, once declaring,
His monograph On Being Hawaiian (1964) contributed to an understanding of Hapa-Haole (white and Hawaiian ancestry) identity and the potential of the multiethnic Hawaiian community.
Holt’s creative works include the play Kaulana Na Pua—Famous Are the Flowers: Queen Liliuokalani and the Throne of Hawaii (1971), the novel Waimea Summer (1976), and the short story collections Today Ees Sad-dy Night and Other Stories (1965) and Princess of the Night Rides and Other Tales (1977). He also wrote about the history of Hawaii in works such as Monarchy in Hawaii (1971), The Art of Featherwork in Old Hawai’i (1985), and his own life story, Recollections: Memoirs of John Dominis Holt, 1919-1935 (1993).
Holt was publisher of Topgallant Publishing Company, a trustee of the Bishop Museum, and an avid supporter of Hawaiian writers, artists, and culture. He died in 1993.
Descended from Hawaiian royalty and European ancestors, Holt navigated the competing claims of pedigree and genealogy in postcolonial Hawaii, once declaring,
“I am, in depth, a product of Hawaii—an American, yes, who is a citizen of the fiftieth State, but I am also a Hawaiian; somewhat by blood, and in large measure by sentiment. Of this, I am proud.”
His monograph On Being Hawaiian (1964) contributed to an understanding of Hapa-Haole (white and Hawaiian ancestry) identity and the potential of the multiethnic Hawaiian community.
Holt’s creative works include the play Kaulana Na Pua—Famous Are the Flowers: Queen Liliuokalani and the Throne of Hawaii (1971), the novel Waimea Summer (1976), and the short story collections Today Ees Sad-dy Night and Other Stories (1965) and Princess of the Night Rides and Other Tales (1977). He also wrote about the history of Hawaii in works such as Monarchy in Hawaii (1971), The Art of Featherwork in Old Hawai’i (1985), and his own life story, Recollections: Memoirs of John Dominis Holt, 1919-1935 (1993).
Holt was publisher of Topgallant Publishing Company, a trustee of the Bishop Museum, and an avid supporter of Hawaiian writers, artists, and culture. He died in 1993.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 9, 2019
A coming of age story set at a specific time in Hawaii's history--at the dawn of the 20th century, after the Great Mahele (land divide) but before statehood--Waimea Summer follows hapa-haole (Hawaiian and European ancestry) teenager Mark, who is sent by his family in Honolulu to stay with relatives in Waimea on the Big Island for the summer. This trip harkens back to the Hawaiian tradition of hanai, in which relatives help to care for and raise the children.
The story unfolds in Waimea, among the big ranch owners, and Waipio Valley, historically a stronghold of Native Hawaiian culture. By transporting serious, thoughtful, observant Mark from the big city, Honolulu, the author sets up a series of competing storylines about what it means to be Hawaiian and those storylines converge and clash in Mark. His haole paniolo uncle (descendant of landowners who lost their property) derides him for believing in Hawaiian "superstitions," while his Hawaiian uncle writes him letters, offering a gateway into a way of seeing, being that is not typically haole. Mark looks haole but understands and speaks some Hawaiian. His struggle is against the either-or-ness that the outside world seems to demand of his dual heritage.
What it means to be Hawaiian is the heart of the novel and it was something John Dominis Holt grappled with during his own life. In many ways, this was an autobiographical novel. And it is as touchy a subject today as it was when he wrote this.
If you are not familiar with Hawaii's history, you can still enjoy this novel and relate to Mark's cultural duality. I think especially today, as the world becomes more blended, more and more people will find themselves in stories like this that Native Hawaiians have experienced for generations. However, there are some things here that are specific to Hawaii and you will get a deeper reading out of it if you are from Hawaii or well-versed in its history and culture.
The story unfolds in Waimea, among the big ranch owners, and Waipio Valley, historically a stronghold of Native Hawaiian culture. By transporting serious, thoughtful, observant Mark from the big city, Honolulu, the author sets up a series of competing storylines about what it means to be Hawaiian and those storylines converge and clash in Mark. His haole paniolo uncle (descendant of landowners who lost their property) derides him for believing in Hawaiian "superstitions," while his Hawaiian uncle writes him letters, offering a gateway into a way of seeing, being that is not typically haole. Mark looks haole but understands and speaks some Hawaiian. His struggle is against the either-or-ness that the outside world seems to demand of his dual heritage.
What it means to be Hawaiian is the heart of the novel and it was something John Dominis Holt grappled with during his own life. In many ways, this was an autobiographical novel. And it is as touchy a subject today as it was when he wrote this.
If you are not familiar with Hawaii's history, you can still enjoy this novel and relate to Mark's cultural duality. I think especially today, as the world becomes more blended, more and more people will find themselves in stories like this that Native Hawaiians have experienced for generations. However, there are some things here that are specific to Hawaii and you will get a deeper reading out of it if you are from Hawaii or well-versed in its history and culture.
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May 27, 2020"Waimea weather has the power and violence of the volcanic peaks, the luxuriance of the wet upland forests: an atmosphere too rich, too dramatic for the human scale."
From WAIMEA SUMMER by John Dominis Holt, 1976.
1930s summertime: Mark, from the city (Honolulu) goes to visit his family on the Big Island (Hawai'i). His family, once landowning aristocracy with ties to the royal Hawaiian family, now works as ranchers / paniolos in Waimea, in the northern part of the island, in the shadow of the Mauna Kea volcano.
This bildungsroman novel is a quiet look at Mark's explorations of both the Hawaiian landscape, and his own identity as hapa haole, Native Hawaiian and European ancestry. Coming from Oahu, and the "big city", he has mixed feelings about his family members as "cowboys", "rednecks", country people.
Classism and colorism are explored here, as well as the use of language as cultural identifier. Some spots were unfortunately cringe-worthy, with depictions of native Hawaiian speech patterns and appearances. I'm not sure of his intention here - his own exploration of "otherness", or 1970s mentality on race and identity?
Holt was a prominent mid-century writer and is noted for leading a "Hawaiian Renaissance", writing several discourses on Hawaiian identity, fictions with this theme, etc. This book felt very autobiographical.
A distinctive sense of place and time: years before 1959 US statehood, but an annexed territory, there is strong nationalist sentiments by some characters of the book, and as it was set in the 1930s, many of the older adults recall the monarchy and various gifts and decrees granted by Hawaiian kings and queens on their family.
The book crystallizes a moment and place in time.
From WAIMEA SUMMER by John Dominis Holt, 1976.
1930s summertime: Mark, from the city (Honolulu) goes to visit his family on the Big Island (Hawai'i). His family, once landowning aristocracy with ties to the royal Hawaiian family, now works as ranchers / paniolos in Waimea, in the northern part of the island, in the shadow of the Mauna Kea volcano.
This bildungsroman novel is a quiet look at Mark's explorations of both the Hawaiian landscape, and his own identity as hapa haole, Native Hawaiian and European ancestry. Coming from Oahu, and the "big city", he has mixed feelings about his family members as "cowboys", "rednecks", country people.
Classism and colorism are explored here, as well as the use of language as cultural identifier. Some spots were unfortunately cringe-worthy, with depictions of native Hawaiian speech patterns and appearances. I'm not sure of his intention here - his own exploration of "otherness", or 1970s mentality on race and identity?
Holt was a prominent mid-century writer and is noted for leading a "Hawaiian Renaissance", writing several discourses on Hawaiian identity, fictions with this theme, etc. This book felt very autobiographical.
A distinctive sense of place and time: years before 1959 US statehood, but an annexed territory, there is strong nationalist sentiments by some characters of the book, and as it was set in the 1930s, many of the older adults recall the monarchy and various gifts and decrees granted by Hawaiian kings and queens on their family.
The book crystallizes a moment and place in time.
November 14, 2011
I liked this book so much more than Jack London's "Tales of Hawaii."
It is a novel, so you have much more space to get involved with the characters. Still, at less than 200 pages I easily flew through this coming-of-age story in one sitting, flying from Honolulu to Los Angeles...
Honolulu-born Mark gets sent for a summer with his uncle Fred, a ranch hand on the highlands of the Big Island in Mauna Kea's shadow. The family home he finds there is decrepit, possibly haunted, and Mark quickly gets dragged into the strange and sad, solitary life of his widower uncle and young neices and nephews. There are a few small voyages of discovery--riding horses into the mountains to harvest oranges, chasing wild bulls, and finally a trip to the mystical Waipio Valley [we've hiked there!]--as well as one big party, the loss of virginity, and one significant death. All this in a mixed-race, mixed-culture setting, at a changing time in Hawaii's history.
It is a novel, so you have much more space to get involved with the characters. Still, at less than 200 pages I easily flew through this coming-of-age story in one sitting, flying from Honolulu to Los Angeles...
Honolulu-born Mark gets sent for a summer with his uncle Fred, a ranch hand on the highlands of the Big Island in Mauna Kea's shadow. The family home he finds there is decrepit, possibly haunted, and Mark quickly gets dragged into the strange and sad, solitary life of his widower uncle and young neices and nephews. There are a few small voyages of discovery--riding horses into the mountains to harvest oranges, chasing wild bulls, and finally a trip to the mystical Waipio Valley [we've hiked there!]--as well as one big party, the loss of virginity, and one significant death. All this in a mixed-race, mixed-culture setting, at a changing time in Hawaii's history.
April 20, 2021
I found this title on a list of 50 best/most important books about Hawai'i; it was the one that stood out as YES, that's the one I'm going to read while I'm on the Big Island, and I think it was the right choice. First of all, it's almost impossible to get ahold of. None of my usual sources had it: Libby, amazon used (well, only paperbacks for $199), academic library or e-book sources. Except I could check out an e-edition digitized from the Boston Public Library from archive.org. And the 2 week pdf I could download to a device was riddled with missing pages. Like every tenth, 11th and 12th page was just not there, so I had to alternate (while on the plane--reading the online reader worked fine, but was tethered to a laptop and wifi) with the other e-book version which OCRed text, which is ugly to read and also riddled with scan errors.
Next, this book is basically 25% in Hawaiian. Like half the dialogue is in Hawaiian, which is sort of awesome, but also my vocabulary tops out at about 15 words. I got the keiki, the 'ohana. I learned about akua and other spirity words, and in the middle it got so intense that I started doing Duolingo Hawaiian to try to help myself out. The intensity of the syncretic 1920's (30's? There were CCC camps mentioned? But also Prohibition?) Hawaiian society described, including obsessive, pervasive genealogical descriptions of barely fictionalized Great Ranching families (Stevenson = Parker of Parker Ranch, owning 10% of the Big Island at one point), definitely dropped me into a very unexpected and unfamiliar milieu. One that I surely missed a lot of the fine points of, but then that overwhelming tumult of detail I couldn't understand also sort of feels like the point?
It seemed to just trail off in every direction, leaving me sort of in an achy fog of post-colonial, lingering Hawaiian mysticism (MUCH talk of kahunas and whether they [still] have powers or not), and so. much. First Families of Hawai'i stuff. Like honestly, so aristocratic and obsessed with lineages and marriages at times that Jane Austen could also have authored a Hawaiian novel. Only hers would be funny where this one is sort of Bildungsroman-Gothic.
I also learned that apparently Hawaiian men are overwhelmed with tears, love and other emotions all the time. Interesting.
Next, this book is basically 25% in Hawaiian. Like half the dialogue is in Hawaiian, which is sort of awesome, but also my vocabulary tops out at about 15 words. I got the keiki, the 'ohana. I learned about akua and other spirity words, and in the middle it got so intense that I started doing Duolingo Hawaiian to try to help myself out. The intensity of the syncretic 1920's (30's? There were CCC camps mentioned? But also Prohibition?) Hawaiian society described, including obsessive, pervasive genealogical descriptions of barely fictionalized Great Ranching families (Stevenson = Parker of Parker Ranch, owning 10% of the Big Island at one point), definitely dropped me into a very unexpected and unfamiliar milieu. One that I surely missed a lot of the fine points of, but then that overwhelming tumult of detail I couldn't understand also sort of feels like the point?
It seemed to just trail off in every direction, leaving me sort of in an achy fog of post-colonial, lingering Hawaiian mysticism (MUCH talk of kahunas and whether they [still] have powers or not), and so. much. First Families of Hawai'i stuff. Like honestly, so aristocratic and obsessed with lineages and marriages at times that Jane Austen could also have authored a Hawaiian novel. Only hers would be funny where this one is sort of Bildungsroman-Gothic.
I also learned that apparently Hawaiian men are overwhelmed with tears, love and other emotions all the time. Interesting.
May 21, 2023
I have so many thoughts after finishing "Waimea Summer" by John Dominis Holt. Originally published in 1976, Dominis Holt wrote of a young teenager who goes to stay with his father's cousin. To give a sense of time, Uncle Fred and Mark's father became friends as young men during the last days of the monarchy so the current time in the book is early 20th century.
The story opens with Mark waking up after a couple of days of being Waimea and at Uncle Fred's home and suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Mark is part Native Hawaiian but it is his English side that allows him an easy life in Honolulu so while he looked forward to the stay in Waimea, it has hit him that he may not be ready for it.
That is, more or less, the plot of the story which was also serving as a sort of memoir for Dominis Holt who has a lot in common with his young lead character.
My short review is that I really enjoyed it. It was evocative of a time, of a place, and of a people that has faded. It has uncomfortable points but not everything read is meant to be comfortable. That said, I can understand why some might not be able to latch on to the story but I really liked it.
The longer comments are that for myself, as a part Native-Hawaiian who grew up around older relatives who still remembered the older Hawaiian ways as a natural routine, the story hit in ways that I did not expect. I do think that the author's main goal was to record, in story form, what he remembered and recalled as a hapa-haole growing up in a Hawaii that was transitioning and how it makes one think on what it means to Hawaiian/Polynesian in a 'modern' Hawaii.
That issue exists today and I feel it within myself and I'm not young anymore. The narrative, the place, the time and the people that populate this book are fascinating to me. It is almost like a ghost story.
The uncle lives in a home that was once grand but is starting to show its age. There is friction between his uncle and his uncle's brother-in-law who has remained after his sister passed away. Dominis Holt really captures the suspicion that existed between Hawaiians, mixed Hawaiians and haoles. It was, to be put it nicely, an uneasy co-existence. He also brings to life activities that are not the same as today. The community events where people gathered together and one would hear the gossip and the stories about everyone.
When the summer winds down, Mark knows more about who he is on his Hawaiian side and he is proud of it, but I do like that he is still a teenager so when it ends, it feels a little uneasy where the push-pull is still there as an elder wants him to stay so he can be taught more. I really like where Holt leaves it in a sort of open-ended state because the story really wasn't over.
Again, I feel like the author is writing for a specific audience. The dialect is old-style local pidgin that isn't even spoken much today. He drops in Hawaiian where sometimes there is a translation but sometimes not. I was surprised what I did pick up. I guess I remember more from my grandma and great grandma and Hawaiian languages classes that I had realized, but I can only imagine what another reader, unfamiliar with the dialect and language, might feel like.
Anyway, long commentary but the main point is that I really enjoyed the book. It was surprising to me in the memories that brought back even though my Hawaiian lineage is much different from the author and protagonist.
The story opens with Mark waking up after a couple of days of being Waimea and at Uncle Fred's home and suddenly feeling uncomfortable. Mark is part Native Hawaiian but it is his English side that allows him an easy life in Honolulu so while he looked forward to the stay in Waimea, it has hit him that he may not be ready for it.
That is, more or less, the plot of the story which was also serving as a sort of memoir for Dominis Holt who has a lot in common with his young lead character.
My short review is that I really enjoyed it. It was evocative of a time, of a place, and of a people that has faded. It has uncomfortable points but not everything read is meant to be comfortable. That said, I can understand why some might not be able to latch on to the story but I really liked it.
The longer comments are that for myself, as a part Native-Hawaiian who grew up around older relatives who still remembered the older Hawaiian ways as a natural routine, the story hit in ways that I did not expect. I do think that the author's main goal was to record, in story form, what he remembered and recalled as a hapa-haole growing up in a Hawaii that was transitioning and how it makes one think on what it means to Hawaiian/Polynesian in a 'modern' Hawaii.
That issue exists today and I feel it within myself and I'm not young anymore. The narrative, the place, the time and the people that populate this book are fascinating to me. It is almost like a ghost story.
The uncle lives in a home that was once grand but is starting to show its age. There is friction between his uncle and his uncle's brother-in-law who has remained after his sister passed away. Dominis Holt really captures the suspicion that existed between Hawaiians, mixed Hawaiians and haoles. It was, to be put it nicely, an uneasy co-existence. He also brings to life activities that are not the same as today. The community events where people gathered together and one would hear the gossip and the stories about everyone.
When the summer winds down, Mark knows more about who he is on his Hawaiian side and he is proud of it, but I do like that he is still a teenager so when it ends, it feels a little uneasy where the push-pull is still there as an elder wants him to stay so he can be taught more. I really like where Holt leaves it in a sort of open-ended state because the story really wasn't over.
Again, I feel like the author is writing for a specific audience. The dialect is old-style local pidgin that isn't even spoken much today. He drops in Hawaiian where sometimes there is a translation but sometimes not. I was surprised what I did pick up. I guess I remember more from my grandma and great grandma and Hawaiian languages classes that I had realized, but I can only imagine what another reader, unfamiliar with the dialect and language, might feel like.
Anyway, long commentary but the main point is that I really enjoyed the book. It was surprising to me in the memories that brought back even though my Hawaiian lineage is much different from the author and protagonist.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 8, 2026
"What is it like to be a Polynesian in Todayʻs Hawaii?" is read on the back cover of the Novelʻs 2nd Edition. Holt sets out to encapsulate such an experience in this coming-of-age story for hapa-haole Mark Hull who stays for a summer with his family on Hawaiʻi Islandʻs Waimea sometime between the 1920s - 1950s. While there he lives as the Kuaaina do, riding with Paniolos and encountering the Hawaiian paranormal all whilst lightly reflecting on the cultural intersection between his white and hawaiian identities.
Mark is a funny teenager, who despite constantly wishing he were back in his comfy Honolulu, knows his genealogy so well that he manages to endear himself to every person of the "old ways". Strangely, Mark never expounds upon or deeply reflects about any of the events that occurs around him and their possible significance, so much so that when asked about what it means to be rooted in Hawaii, Mark admits "Some of this stuff is too deep for me". It is this lack of reflection that made the story fall a little flat for me (thought it has given a little to theorize about). Itʻs a shame because the other characters and side plots are rife with intrigue (especially the contrast of Cousin Fred and Julian)! If you are expecting this novel to be a scrupulous meditation on being mixed Hawaiian in a modern Hawaii, this is not that.
The writing however is very smart at times and does read distinctively Hawaiian, capturing aspects of the Hawaiian literary voice that is clearly familiar and fully in respect to Hawaiian and local heritage. My visits to the greater Waimea area always left me feeling nostalgic about a by gone time and I felt that same yearning, as if transported to that time and place, reading Waimea Summer.
I also cannot separate the story, however, from the context of its time and author. Despite at times wanting more from the novel, I recognize that it came into being during the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 70s, a time when the modern Native Hawaiian literary voice was coming into being. Thus it seems that the book has become a literary set-piece and amassed a reputation that at times expects too much from its story. Had I read this during its original publishing date I surely would have gotten a different experience. I am very happy to say that in 2026 there are many options within Hawaiian literature and I do still recommend this to any reader in Hawaii.
Mark is a funny teenager, who despite constantly wishing he were back in his comfy Honolulu, knows his genealogy so well that he manages to endear himself to every person of the "old ways". Strangely, Mark never expounds upon or deeply reflects about any of the events that occurs around him and their possible significance, so much so that when asked about what it means to be rooted in Hawaii, Mark admits "Some of this stuff is too deep for me". It is this lack of reflection that made the story fall a little flat for me (thought it has given a little to theorize about). Itʻs a shame because the other characters and side plots are rife with intrigue (especially the contrast of Cousin Fred and Julian)! If you are expecting this novel to be a scrupulous meditation on being mixed Hawaiian in a modern Hawaii, this is not that.
The writing however is very smart at times and does read distinctively Hawaiian, capturing aspects of the Hawaiian literary voice that is clearly familiar and fully in respect to Hawaiian and local heritage. My visits to the greater Waimea area always left me feeling nostalgic about a by gone time and I felt that same yearning, as if transported to that time and place, reading Waimea Summer.
I also cannot separate the story, however, from the context of its time and author. Despite at times wanting more from the novel, I recognize that it came into being during the Hawaiian Renaissance of the 70s, a time when the modern Native Hawaiian literary voice was coming into being. Thus it seems that the book has become a literary set-piece and amassed a reputation that at times expects too much from its story. Had I read this during its original publishing date I surely would have gotten a different experience. I am very happy to say that in 2026 there are many options within Hawaiian literature and I do still recommend this to any reader in Hawaii.
April 9, 2022
This book is about Mark, a young man from Honolulu who spends the summer with family in Waimea, a town on another island. We see Mark's worldview develop, as he is transported from his life in the city to a ranching town full of cowboys and country people. The main question driving the story is this: What does it mean to be Hawaiian? Mark is faced with this question, as well as his mixed heritage of being both European and Hawaiian. In Waimea, he has a Hawaiian uncle and a haole uncle, both with their own views and opinions, and this difference helps to outline and highlight some of the larger conflicts going on in Hawaiian society at the time.
I really liked this book!! I think part of it is because it's set in Waimea, which is where I'm from. (It's actually why I chose this book as a reading.) It was so fascinating to read a depiction of an older Waimea. I have some memories of this sort of Waimea, when it was colder and greener and had fewer houses and people, but it has changed so much in recent years. Reading this made me really sad and homesick, but also really happy because I've never read a book set in Waimea! The question that Mark struggles with is a question I have also asked myself, and I still don't know if I've found a fulfilling answer, but it was nice to read a book where I can relate to the main character on such a specific level.
I really liked this book!! I think part of it is because it's set in Waimea, which is where I'm from. (It's actually why I chose this book as a reading.) It was so fascinating to read a depiction of an older Waimea. I have some memories of this sort of Waimea, when it was colder and greener and had fewer houses and people, but it has changed so much in recent years. Reading this made me really sad and homesick, but also really happy because I've never read a book set in Waimea! The question that Mark struggles with is a question I have also asked myself, and I still don't know if I've found a fulfilling answer, but it was nice to read a book where I can relate to the main character on such a specific level.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 14, 2021
This book stirred up a lot of emotions for me, mostly because fictional parts of my family make their way into the book toward the end.
On purpose, this book is not written for a mainlander (such as myself) or pure outsider. Its written from a perspective that assumes you’re already in the know of Hawaiian history. My spotty understanding of the history got me through, but I didn’t feel compelled until I found my namesake amongst the characters. While reading, I was reminded of the time I tried to read the bible and got stuck on the family lines in Genesis. This made me apprehensive to care too much about the main character’s familial ties, which likely caused me to miss out on the poetry of identity and the subtlety of supernatural that Waimea Summer is praised for. Maybe ill revisit it again later in life.
On purpose, this book is not written for a mainlander (such as myself) or pure outsider. Its written from a perspective that assumes you’re already in the know of Hawaiian history. My spotty understanding of the history got me through, but I didn’t feel compelled until I found my namesake amongst the characters. While reading, I was reminded of the time I tried to read the bible and got stuck on the family lines in Genesis. This made me apprehensive to care too much about the main character’s familial ties, which likely caused me to miss out on the poetry of identity and the subtlety of supernatural that Waimea Summer is praised for. Maybe ill revisit it again later in life.
April 7, 2021
This book is about Mark, a hapa haloe from Honolulu who goes to spend the Summer with family on the big island. While he 's there he works on a ranch and has to get used to a life very different from what he's used to in the city. He also has to get used to race and class conflict as non-Hawai'ian characters have a lot of problems with the Hawai'ian characters. He learns a lot about Hawai'ian culture, his identity and the islands.
The novel was cool because it told an interesting story and had a lot of good history. The setting shaped the story and added substance as we got to see what lie was like in Hawai'i in the 1930's, and we get to experience it all through the eyes of a teenager. It was in English but used a lot of pidgin and some Hawai'ian.
YALO
The novel was cool because it told an interesting story and had a lot of good history. The setting shaped the story and added substance as we got to see what lie was like in Hawai'i in the 1930's, and we get to experience it all through the eyes of a teenager. It was in English but used a lot of pidgin and some Hawai'ian.
YALO
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 7, 2023
YALO Lit Circle
This was an extremely quick and interesting read. I was able to finish it in one sitting and felt I learned a little more on the history and culture of the Hawaiian Islands and the divison of cultures between so many Hawaiians. I really liked it and though the story was compelling.
This was an extremely quick and interesting read. I was able to finish it in one sitting and felt I learned a little more on the history and culture of the Hawaiian Islands and the divison of cultures between so many Hawaiians. I really liked it and though the story was compelling.
February 5, 2019
A classic coming of age tale with important descriptors to give a still valid pulse on the culture of the Big Island, especially the Kohala region. Very easy to sympathize with Mark. He belongs but he really doesn’t.
November 12, 2019
A haunting description of old Hawai’i, long gone. Well worth a read by hard-core Hawai’i fans.
November 16, 2020
Like a Hawaiian Sound and the Fury without the sexual intrigue. I couldn’t get into it.
January 1, 2022
Liked this book more for understanding Hawaii in a certain place/time/perspective, than for the story itself.
March 8, 2022
*4.5 stars*
Waimea Summer is fleeting and impactful. Though sometimes frustrating, I ate every last word up.
Waimea Summer is fleeting and impactful. Though sometimes frustrating, I ate every last word up.
Read
July 7, 2022i'd reread this. if i could get a paper version. the adode digital editions version was a little rough, and for me, this would be better enjoyed as an actual book.
September 24, 2025
I found it virtually impossible to get into the plot of this book, which was quite slow. It likely would have been better with more knowledge of Hawaiian culture and language.
October 10, 2012
i read it for english, and we discussed it in class for a LONG time. i think thatʻs why i liked it though. if we hadnʻt had so much discussion on it, then i probably wouldnʻt have understood it let alone liked it. but i encourage anyone whoʻs hawaiian to try it out.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews