# Michener's "Hawaii": island reaction at the time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/micheners-hawaii-island-reaction-at-the-time/435369 "2008-01-28T22:09:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/micheners-hawaii-island-reaction-at-the-time/435369/1 "2008-01-28T22:09:12Z")
I’m currently rereading James Michener’s _Hawaii_, and enjoying recognizing some of the places now that I’ve visited three of the islands. I can’t help but wonder how people in Hawaii reacted to this novel when it was first published. He seemed to try to treat situations fairly, but surely a lot of feathers were ruffled, particularly those of the big plantation families. Does anyone have any memory of it all went down at publication time? It was the late 1950’s, so maybe not first-hand memory, but maybe there are references to public reaction I can check out. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/micheners-hawaii-island-reaction-at-the-time/435369/2 "2008-01-29T00:17:30Z")
It was quite the scandle. If I remember correctly, he was basically driven off the island. Years later a person I know exchanged letters with him and even though both of them shared experiences (at different times) on the Hawaiian islands, that was a topic that was never mentioned. I understand he truly loved Hawaii but after the book came out he was persona non grata. I remember he was even castigated on the floor of the Hawaiian legislature. I imagine there are tons of stuff written about it. There were still bad feelings about him the decade so later when I was there. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/micheners-hawaii-island-reaction-at-the-time/435369/3 "2008-01-29T00:25:09Z")
Wonderful book though, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/micheners-hawaii-island-reaction-at-the-time/435369/4 "2008-01-29T00:41:31Z")
[QUOTE=TV time] Wonderful book though, isn’t it? [/QUOTE] You bet. I can’t put it down, even though this is the third re-reading. That’s a shame about Michener’s persecution. I had a feeling that that many wealthy and powerful people wouldn’t stand for his probing about in delicate areas and writing about them. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/micheners-hawaii-island-reaction-at-the-time/435369/5 "2008-01-29T01:02:40Z")
My experience was that it wasn’t just the powerful and rich but the common man too. You mentioned that you had been to the islands so you know how possessive the locals can be of their heritage. I remember mentioning something about Michner when I was living there, and a shop owner literally spat at the hearing of the name. Another time I casually brought up something during a poker game and an uncomfortable silence followed and I was hard pressed to keep any positive feelings going. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/micheners-hawaii-island-reaction-at-the-time/435369/6 "2008-01-29T01:22:16Z")
[QUOTE=TV time] I understand he truly loved Hawaii but after the book came out he was persona non grata. I remember he was even castigated on the floor of the Hawaiian legislature. [/QUOTE] Really? That’s awful. I read the book again recently and was blown away with it. What exactly did they object to? ---
**Author:** ![chique](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@chique](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chique)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/micheners-hawaii-island-reaction-at-the-time/435369/7 "2008-01-29T02:13:48Z")
I haven’t read it in 10 or 12 years and I may be misremembering, but IIRC one of the themes is that Native Hawaiians were ignorant, poor people who were in need of a good conquering, and he wrote some very negative things about Queen Liliuokalani (the head of state when Hawaii was “annexed”). And that was in addition to including society gossip in the book. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/micheners-hawaii-island-reaction-at-the-time/435369/8 "2008-01-29T02:19:23Z")
Wasn’t the queen Irish? Lilly O’Killarney. d&r