My mom and her family are from Hawaii and I am half haole so this book really hit home for me. I have never read a book that I related to this much. It was so cool that this author included so much history on Hawaii and hula. And I love that she included so much Hawaiian language and Hawaiian pidgin slang. With that said, I hope readers that have no knowledge of Hawaii or hula, will learn but I do think it would be hard, not knowing the meaning of some things that were mentioned in the book. But I absolutely loved the stories and the characters. This author did a great job!!

Part family drama, part history of Hawaii, this is a great story. I learned so much about. he history of the hula and the history of Hawai'i. I highly recommend this book for lovers of history!

Lots of history, tradition, and culture highlighted in this story. I loved the setting but had a difficult time connecting to the characters because of the way this story is written. There was just too much information and it was so long that I found my mind wandering for most of the story. I enjoyed the historical portions about the takeover of Hawaii but the contemporary story was not for me. I eventually gave up at about 60%.

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!

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.

This book was one of those rare pieces that touched my soul. Having lived in the islands for 10 years, this beautiful story brought me back. The story revolves around three generations of women and their struggle to find their identity, their home, and their relationships with each other. Told in the third person omniscient, I felt like the islands were narrating the story, sharing their thoughts, and binding them across time with those of their ancestors.

Hula is not the theme of the story, but something that binds the women together, no matter their views on everything else. The author has done a fantastic job of sharing the struggle of the Hawaiian people and the islands themselves. Hawai’i has such a rich and troubled history, and I feel that every American at least, should understand how the 50th State came to be and the results to the Hawaiian people and culture.

This is a beautiful story that will stay with me, and I will take its lessons with me the next time I visit.
I anxiously await Ms. Hakes next work.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Hula is a love letter to Hawaii and its people. It's a sweeping, powerful, multigenerational family story set against the US's colonization of Hawaii and its continued exploitation of the land at the expense of native Hawaiians. It's about history, tradition, culture, about voices that refuse to be silenced. It's about community, family, mothers and daughters, and what it means to belong. The scope of this book is truly impressive.

Jasmin Iolani Hakes's writing is breathtaking, although at times the narrative gets bogged down in the details. Still, the importance of Hawaii's culture and history commands the reader's attention.

I think this is an essential and eye-opening read. I am certain that this story will stay with me. I'm thankful to HarperVia and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my review.

Thank you for a chance to preview this book. I'm sure many patrons will love this unique and informative read. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

This book was informative and written with much care. I love multi-generational storytelling but I really struggled to get through this book. I think I got lost in the weeds - so many details, so much to keep track of. I definitely look forward to reading more from this author but was not quite as engaged by this book as I was hoping.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC of this novel. 4/5 stars.

I picked this up for a variety of reasons, but primarily because of the cover and knowing I needed to read more Hawaiian and Indigenous literature. It did take me a while to get into the groove of how the story is structured, since it moves through time in a nonlinear fashion and tells the story of Hawai'i and the family through three different voices (three generations) while also including pieces where it's an omniscient narrator telling the story of Hawai'i itself.

I did appreciate how it told the story through the different generations, and I felt connected to Hulali, Laka, and Hi'i through the story and how they repeated patterns but also broke generational patterns. I really, really appreciated the story though for detailing the impacts illegal occupation had (and still have) on Hawai'i and the native, rightful owners of the land. While it does have a large emphasis on Hula, it's used to tell stories and how one demonstrates their identity in Hawai'i. It does not detail the true, sacred nature of Hula and the author is clear on not wanting to give away anything that belongs to the natives.

I did go into this novel with a basic background of the illegal occupation and colonization of Hawai'i, but it does a phenomenal job of telling the true history and the resulting legacy and dismissal of Hawaiian identity and the desecration of Hawaiian land. Highly recommend for anyone, but especially those who have not read into Hawai'i or the last impact of American occupation, colonization, and capitalism.

This is a story about found family and culture that is lost and found again. It is heartbreaking and eye opening. It took a cultural story I had a modest understanding of from a very whitewashed perspective and opened my eye to the story told by those whom it impacted. At the center is the story of a family and how this cultural story shapes the story of three generations of their family as well. Hula is beautiful and yet so sad but still hopeful.

That is not to say that it was an easy book to read. I will be honest, it took me a bit to get into. The writing style was different than I was used to. The pacing and weaving of the story took a bit to adjust to. I also found the Hawaiian Pidgin hard to understand at parts and wondered if a glossary should have been included. I even found myself having to look a few words up to clarify. Towards the end of the book, my perspective changed though. As I read, my understanding grew and the words that were used in different contexts throughout, gave me a hard one understanding. In some ways, that is part of the beauty of this book. You have to work for it and it is a book that is worth the investment.

There is such a beautiful story here and unfortunately I liked it well enough. A lot just seems unnecessary and I wish it got to where it was going quicker. I love most of the characters and that’s always a major win for me.

This ambitious book weaves the history of Hawaii and the history of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement with the story of multiple generations of women in Hilo. Through fiction, Hakes explores the question of what makes someone Hawaiian. This is a book that should really resonate with Native Hawaiians and other people who are from Hawaii. (I was teaching in Hawaii when "Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers" was published and the pull that book had on my students will always remain with me. I think this book will do something similar.) For readers with limited background on Hawaii, this book will be a lot to digest. Hakes writes dialogue in Hawaiian Pidgin English with no translation or interpretation so this will also prove challenging. The story is heartbreaking yet wonderful so for those readers who are up to the challenge, they will be rewarded.

Thank you Harper Via and NetGalley for an eARC of Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes.

What a wonderfully written book that captures the history and language of Hawai'i. The book tells its story through three generations of women intertwined with Hawai'i's history and their relationship to each other, to family, to their culture. Even more, it allows to show the pain and hardship that native Hawai'i's had to face from outsiders as they took over their land and religion etc., It is not something that you learn in school, it is not something widely discussed and the honesty of the history is beautifully written. The novel does start off slow, but it picks up in a way that your swept into the story and the connections. I highly recommend this debut novel and cannot wait to purchase when it hits the shelves.

A compelling story that weaves one Hawaiian family's history with the history of Hawai'i as a sovereign nation and colonized place, using the practice of hula as a through-line to connect everything. I loved that the story was told in third person plural, lending a "Greek chorus" feel to the narration. This is a book you need to take your time with, to let the words wash over you and sink into your bones.

3.75. This was a really strong debut and I loved how the central focus of this novel was the history of Hawai'i. This book will for sure make some people uncomfortable, but I think that this is a very important story to be told, as this history is not common knowledge for most Americans. I love a family saga and this one did not fail. I did feel as if there were some loose threads and the story could have been more concise at times, but overall, I really enjoyed this novel.

I wanted to like this book. I love Hawaii and its history but I found that the use of the Hawaiian language was messing with me.
The story was good but I just stumbled over the words and that frustrated me.

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.

📚 Hula by Jasmin Iolani Hakes 📚

Thank you to harper via, libro fm and netgalley for the advance copy of this book.

Wow. This was a beautiful and heavy book. It tells the story of three generations of women interwoven with the history of Hawaii. Each one is the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter and each face a lot of pressures related to keeping the family home, and passing on cultural knowledge to the next generation. The relationships between them all are fraught with pain, misunderstanding, and passion.

I learned a lot about the taking of Hawaii by the US, and the issues around the land held in trust by the government for native Hawaiians. The issues around what makes a Hawaiian a Hawaiian were explored really well through the characters, and the colonial definition being done through blood quantam was examined and eviscerated. The different philosophies on activism in the community were also explored through the characters, with one wanting to work within the US government system and another character wanting to tear it all down. Then the personal stories of each character were heartbreaking as well, and I found myself alternating between yelling at the characters in my head to "just talk to each other!" and also understanding how such big rifts can come about in a family. I highly recommend this novel.

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.