Hawaii (novel)

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Hawaii is a novel by James Michener published in 1959. Written in episodic format, like most of Michener's works, the book narrates the story of the original Hawaiians, who sailed to the islands from Bora Bora, the early American missionaries and merchants, and the Chinese and Japanese immigrants who traveled to work and seek their fortunes in Hawaii. The story begins in the ninth century C.E. and ends in the mid-1950s.

Each chapter explores the experiences of different groups of arrivals. The point-of-view changes with each chapter, although, as the novel nears its end, these points-of-view change and coalesce rapidly.

[edit] Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1966, the book was made into the film Hawaii, starring Max von Sydow and Julie Andrews. The movie focused only on the book's third chapter, From the Farm of Bitterness, which covered the settlement of the island kingdom by its first American missionaries. (The movie's feel-good ending is not consistent with the content of the novel.) A 1970 sequel, The Hawaiians (starring Charlton Heston), covered subsequent chapters of the book, including the arrival of the Chinese and Japanese and the growth of the plantations.