Melal: A Novel of the Pacific

by Robert Barclay

On Good Friday, 1981, Rujen Keju and his two sons come face to face with their complicated inheritance--one that includes years of atomic testing and the continued military presence of the U.S. in the Pacific. In this highly original work of history and adventure, novelist Robert Barclay weaves together characters and stories from mythological times with those of the present-day to give readers a rare and unsparing look at life in the contemporary Pacific.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, The World, School, Indigenous

312 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a gritty novel, and yet also sweet, with elements of fantasy and adventure. The story takes place on Good Friday, 1981. Rujen Teju, a Marshallese man who works at the sewage treatment facility on the island of Kwajalein, home to the US army base, is having an unrelentingly terrible day. Meanwhile his sons, Jebro and Nuke (named after the bomb), set off on a fishing expedition to visit their ancestral home island of Tar-Wōj, which has been declared off-limits by the US army. And just beyond the limits of human awareness, the hero Ņoniep attempts to cajole the trickster god Etao into helping him defeat the demons who would destroy humanity.

It's a complicated storyline and it doesn't seem like it should work. Rujen's story is depressing realism, his sons' a thrilling adventure, and Ņoniep's and Etao's in the realm of mythology and fantasy. Yet the three threads are woven together almost seamlessly, and together approach a gripping climax that had me glued to my chair even though it was late and I knew the baby was going to wake me up at 6am.

This review is an excerpt from a longer review on my blog, Around the World in 2000 Books.

[Margaret Baechle · Rating 5 out of 5]

INCREDIBLE!!! I loved this so much

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A decaying and polluted setting, supernatural figures, heroes, and intense moments throughout the book, Melal has all the elements of a good Gothic novel. With the overlap of Marshallese culture in the aftermath of the nuclear tests and coming to terms with racism and colonization in addition to all the Gothic elements, I thought this was a great story. On researching I found that though the author abridged it, the mythology was accurate, and to me personally that was a great touch.
The story of Melal primarily comes from the viewpoints of the Marshallese and it felt relatable in some ways like Rujen dealing with the condescension and hostility as he tries to explain a part of the culture that Americans feel is horrific and wrong. I liked as well the portrayal of different views and positions of the characters: Rujen who is fine with the American base and laws and even admires them, Jebro who is someone still knowledgeable about his roots, Nuke who is mostly dissociated from their culture and only knows life under the Americans. There were some moments of levity too from the trickster Etao and Rujen's nephew Lazarus.

[Roderick Vincent · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read the book three times. I'm a sucker for a sea adventure novel. This novel has one of the greatest life and death conflicts out in the open seas. "Melal" is a story set in the Kwajalein Atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Rujen is a Marshallese native living on the small, filthy island of Ebeye who is shipped in to work on the pristine American island of Kwajalein each day in order to support his family. Deeply conflicted, he is a man seeking to save his heritage. His sons, Jebro and Nuke (a fallout child from the Bikini nuclear tests) set out on a fishing expedition on a rickety skiff. Soon they encounter Americans out in the open sea. This book is a discovery into a universe and culture you never knew was out there. It is currently being adapted for a film called "Fallout" which can be found here:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fallou...

Heavy hitters are involved with this one such as Paul Atkins.

[K's Bognoter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overraskende vellykket roman fra Marshalløerne i Stillehavet, som kombinerer samtidsrealisme og kulturkritik med mytologiske elementer, grænsende til fantasy.Overraskende vellykket roman fra Marshalløerne i Stillehavet, som kombinerer samtidsrealisme og kulturkritik med mytologiske elementer, grænsende til fantasy.

Læs hele anmeldelsen på K’s bognoter: https://bognoter.dk/2018/12/02/robert...

[Devon DeRaad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the best book I have ever read. The ability to weave a cutting critique of colonialism into a richly beautiful human story with a separate supernatural plot line, and tie all of them neatly into a bow in a single novel, simply took my breath away.

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marshall Islands

"In the days following his wife's death he did not talk or eat or leave the house, and twice he had tied then untied a rope into a noose."

"Bravery is half of what a young man needs in life."

"Land means a great deal to the Marshallese. It means more than just a place where you can plant your food crops and build your house, or a place where you can bury your dead. It is the very life if the people. take away their land and their spirits go also."

"He could speak two languages, while most Americans he knew could speak only one."

"He had, after all, his own issues to deal with, not the least of them being that nagging uneasiness he felt about some distress, some mystery, which it seemed he didn't have wither the ability or the will to face."

"If you are smart, you will lead your group of souls back to the island of their ancestors, the islands of their children, and their children to come. Tell them to be kind, to take an interest in things and to help people."

[Val · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read several books where the life of Pacific islanders is changed by contact with the outside world, but where they usually manage to keep a love of their home island as a kind of paradise. These islanders are removed from their island, forbidden to return, dumped on another island in concrete blockhouses surrounded by imported rubbish and dead coral, then forced to become sewage treatment workers or maids at minimum wage by the occupying colonialists. It is not slavery, but it is not all that different to it.
The story concerns a man and his two sons, a sea voyage and some mythical spirits. The author skillfully blends the ancient legends of adventurous seafaring Micronesian history with the depressing present. Unfortunately it is the depressing present which left the strongest impression.

Edit to change 'Polynesian' to 'Micronesian'.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/...

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a couple of times to get into this book, but when I finally did, it was actually hard to put down at times. The focus is on a Marshallese man and his two sons, and their life on their small island under the restrictions of the U.S. government. Intertwined with their story are mythological characters, one being somewhat mischievous, the others actually fairly grotesque.
This is definitely not a romantic or happy book of the Pacific. I did wish for a little more when I reached the end, feeling like there were some things I wanted to know "what happened next."

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really interesting book about the South Pacific -- a region I know little about. I would highly recommend it.

[Tiff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Got this book from a great friend/professor Keith Camacho...great read about the situation in the Marshall Islands with an overtone of magical realism.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting book on the Marshall Islands. I would recommend this book.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bored me out of my goddamn mind. I only regained consciousness when the words 'frigate bird' showed up.

[Jodi & Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the insight into a lesser known part of the world

[Virginie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading the world in books: Marshall Islands.

[Queen.Hagamuamua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great humor and its the one book that made me fell in love with reading.

[Kara Hisatake · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by a non-Marshallese who lived on Kwajelein for most of his life, about the Marshallese people (I believe), Melal is a novel usually introduced as "highly original" and one that stays true to an understanding of both the Pacific and the Marshallese people. Please know this will contain spoilers.

The novel weaves together several narratives--

(1) Good Friday in 1981 for Rujen Keju, a sewage worker on Kwajelin but originally from Tar-Wōj (people were removed due to U.S. bomb testing) and living on Ebeye. He has a journey of decolonization through the novel, from being pretty subservient to the Americans to realizing how subservient he was and how condescending and superior many Americans acted, to a reclamation of his own self and agency.

(2) Simultaneously, Rujen's sons, Jebro and Nuke, set out to visit the forbidden Tar-Wōj to reconnect with both their grandfather's spirit who died there and to see their ancestral land, with some ancestral practices. Their story intersects with that of 3 American boys as they are all fishing in the same waters, the American boys cause their boat to sink and leads to them almost drowning, but a few glimmers of tentative friendship are made.

(3) They mythical story of trickster Etao and the dwarf who lives on Tar-Wōj, Noniep, is told, as Etao's adventures unfold, Noniep has a mission to connect and save Jebro, as he is a representation of how Tar-Wōj and Marshallese culture lives on, as someone who is respectful of the old ways and does not buy into the modern American ways (many boys are mentioned as committing suicide because they have nothing to live for). Noniep is also fighting the demons coming for Jebro and his family.

This novel gives you insight like none other into what it means to be Marshallese, even now, and what it means to live under an American base and a Compact of Free Association. In this way, it's devastating to see what American culture and military can create.

[Shawna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is Good Friday 1981 in the Marshall Islands where Rujen Keju and his sons Jebro and Nuke are all having a really bad day. Meanwhile, there is also a supernatural fight going on between good and evil.

I first had to read this book for a class in college and thought I forgot all about it until I started to reread it. This book shows how bad the Marshallese were treated by Americans and how they kind of just had to make the most of what they had.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Global Read 142: Marshall Islands

This book was absolutely gutting. Like you think you know how terrible the US's foreign policy is, but this is just a whole other level. The story is really engaging, anxiety provoking and upsetting. I learned a lot about the Marshall Islands but didn't feel like the book was overly pedantic. The mythology plotline was interesting but I think it took away a little bit from the main story.

[Lawrence Coates · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent time in the Marshall Islands when I was in the Coast Guard. I found this novel. which blended traditional beliefs with the contemporary situation of the Marshallese, to be enlightening. I wonder what will happen to the atoll nations of the Western Pacific with climate change.

[Daniel Sanchez Ojalvo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must insist Goodreads needs half stars.

This is a very particular narrative that interweaves a very real and culturally significant story of a Marshallese father and his sons and a mythical story of demigods. And it fucking works. 4.6

[Natalie]

Read for school

[Shane McClendon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book

[Bookclub · Rating 2 out of 5]

read 2,2,4,2,1,2

[Amelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Postcolonial lit book #4