Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

Ok, first let me just start out by saying how much I love the cover of this book. Yeah, yeah, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover (I TOTALLY DO!!), but come on - this cover is gorgeous. I seriously want to lick it. I think it's beautiful. I'm practically in love with it.



Moloka'i by Alan Brennert
384 pages
Finished 10/25/07












Done gushing about the cover now.

I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but before reading the book, I wasn't even entirely sure lepers were real. Yeah, there, I said it. How did I not know? I have no idea. I had always just heard stories about them, or had seen them briefly mentioned it books, and it was always about how body parts were just randomly falling off. Clearly not very accurate. So, when I started reading this book, I really wasn't sure if this was based on a true place, or what. Of course, once I got done reading the book, I did a ton of research on Hansen's disease, because I'm nerdy like that.

So, back to the review, and I must say - I adored this book as much as I adore the cover. I absolutely loved it. I think it was beautifully written, well researched, and an overall very compelling story. I was very drawn in to the characters, and I loved how the book spanned Rachel's lifetime.

I am a champion crier, so it didn't surprise me (too much) that I cried a little in the book. One of the parts touched me so much I marked it with a piece of paper (literally the first time I have ever done that). It was the part where Rachel's father Henry was leaving her after his first visit to the Island, and as she hugs him, she cries and says, "I need you all the time!" It just sounds like something a child hurting would say - it makes me teary just thinking about it.

Seriously, I loved, LOVED this book. One of my all time favorites.

No surprise that I gave it five stars.