And now for something completely different…
Here is a book review I wrote for the Brewster Ladies Library on Cape Cod, one of my favorite vacation hang-outs.
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Unfamiliar
Fishes, by Sarah Vowel
William Zinsser,
the late non-fiction writer, editor and teacher, wrote: “Ultimately, the
product any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who
he or she is. I often find myself reading with interest about a topic I never thought
would interest me… What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his
field.” Sarah Vowel with “Unfamiliar Fishes,” her study of Hawaii’s fortunes
from 1819, when the first boatload of New England missionaries left Boston
Harbor for the Sandwich Islands to save the heathen, through to annexation in
1898, illustrates Zinsser’s point. Encouraged by a friend to read Vowel, I had
no interest in Hawaii, but “Unfamiliar Fishes” was the volume handed to me.
From the first pages I knew I was in for a fun voyage.
A caveat: Vowel’s style and structure are unconventional.
Vowel wears her politics on her sleeve – or perhaps more accurately on her hard
drive. As early as page 3 she shows her colors, describing the annexation as “a
four-month orgy of imperialism” that gobbled up Puerto Rico and Guam in
addition to Hawaii and included the invasion of Cuba that resulted in American
control of Guantanamo Bay. As for the
book, there are no chapters, no headings, no index. Instead, Vowel unfolds her
narrative over 233 pages with occasional section breaks throughout, weaving
into the 19th-century history her personal observations of modern
day Hawaii and vignettes about her research.
Nevertheless, the dominant
focus is the decades of conflict between the native population with its royal
families and the sons of the white missionaries who ultimately “dethroned the
Hawaiian queen,” handing Hawaii over to the United States. Indeed, some natives
who were on the scene when the first missionaries arrived foresaw the
conclusion. Vowel quotes David Malo, the native Hawaiian historian who became a
Christian minister and died in 1853:
If a big wave comes in, large and unfamiliar
fishes will come from the dark ocean, and when they see the small fishes of the
shallows they will eat them up. The white man’s ships have arrived with clever
men from big countries. They know our people are few in number and our country
is small, they will devour us.
With warm sympathy she portrays the doomed
dynasty of the Kamehamehas, I through V, their passions and also their flaws. With
considerably cooler sympathy she tells her tales about the Doles, the Richards,
the Binghams, the Gibsons and the Thurstons.
The differences
between the “small fishes” and the “large and unfamiliar fishes” were profound.
An expansive people comfortable with sensuality vs. a Puritan people pretty
much uncomfortable with everything. A deep love of nature for its own sake vs.
an attitude that natural resources exist solely to be exploited for the benefit
of man. A society willing to ask its members to chip in when monetary resources
are needed vs., in Vowel’s words, “upper class white guys…exceedingly touchy
about taxation.” Vowel depicts all of the clashes with engaging scenes, often
filled with drama and almost always ending in tragedy for the “small fishes.”
Along the way
Vowel also shares some surprising (at least for me) information. The first
newspaper west of the Rockies was published in Hawaii (though it lasted only
one year). The British government supported Hawaiian independence and welcomed
Hawaiian royalty to London. A private missionary school, founded in 1839 by Juliette
and Amos Cooke (who had not gone to college) so “the children of chiefs will be
taught,” was sending its graduates off to Williams and Harvard by 1868. Punahou became a world-class school
and still sends its graduates off to the mainland, including one Barack Obama,
who went on to Occidental College and then Harvard Law School.
If you happen to
share Vowel’s politics, this book will be a delight. If you happen to lean more
to the right, but have been known to happily spend a long evening with a highly
opinionated but also highly intelligent friend, someone you consider a worthy adversary
who regales you with entertaining and enlightening stories, this book will also
be a delight.
