John Tayman

3.5 stars

Hawaii held a “leper colony” for over 100 years. For a long time, people with leprosy were thought to be very contagious, so from the mid 1800s in Hawaii, they were separated out from the rest of the general public and sent to live in Molokai with other people with the same disease (now called Hansen’s disease). The place was run by a board, with a superintendent on site, but for the first while (over years and a few different superintendents), it was not run well. People didn’t have proper shelter and not enough food. Some people lived the majority of their lives there, and when it finally came time to shut the place down, there were many who didn’t want to leave – where would they go? Would they even be able to support themselves and how would other people treat them?

I found some parts more interesting than others. Some of the biographical info on some of the people who ran the place was not nearly as interesting, I thought, as the patients who were there and the details about their lives (before and) there. The book was quite detailed, and I sometimes did find it plodding. The font was small and it did take a long time to read. Overall, though, I am rating it “good”.… (mais)

I had such high hopes for this, as a non-fiction supplement to the excellent historical-fiction book [b:Moloka'i|3273|Moloka'i|Alan Brennert|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1401829578s/3273.jpg|3303291] I just read.

Early on the book had promise. John Tayman gives you a lot of details on the establishment and very early years of the colony, which the novel was only able to touch on briefly. I thought I was prepared for the horrors of this place having read the fiction version. I was so wrong. Details of human experimentation (the patients knowledge and/or consent of course not a consideration), and the horrific treatment of those who were dying were just appalling.

Throughout the book there are lots of personal stories - of the colonists, their various caretakers, doctors and overseers. But this is kind of where it ended up bogging down for me. While I like the individual stories, as a whole the book seems to me to be a case of having lots of descriptions of individual trees, but nothing about the forest they're in. I like a closer examination of the social and political culture in my non-fiction.

This book doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. It's not really just a biography of a place - there's too much that takes place elsewhere - like the Leprosy Hospital in Carrville, Louisiana. And though it does cover the high points, it's not enough to be quite a biography about the Leprosy disease.

In the end, there didn't seem to be any common thread throughout the book that helped pull the story forward and tie all the ends together. Instead it was a boring chronology of the events pertaining to the colony, leprosy treatment and Hawaii. If that's something you like in your non-fiction, then I think you will like this. As for me, it puts me to sleep!… (mais)