Review
WL Rating
This is a good selection of stories from Jack London that pull from his experiences while sailing around the Pacific aboard the boat he built, The Snark. Originally published in books and periodicals from 1911 to 1919, these stories cover the typical cast of characters found in Hawaii at the turn of the century: haoles, Chinese and Hawaiians. Most of the stories are entertaining in their own right, but many of them also toss in a moral or two for good measure. London clearly communicates the origin of leprosy in the islands, directly blaming the haoles for importing infected Chinese to do the work that the local Hawaiians wouldn’t perform themselves. Stories like the Sheriff of Kona and Koolau The Leper are great, but sad reading as you watch the local population trying to come to terms with the horrors of being sent to Molokai. London also pulls liberally from age-old Hawaiian and Polynesian myth in stories like The Whale Tooth and The Water Baby. Overall, this is easy reading with only a few duds in the mix. Good island reading. (September 2008)
Tales of the Pacific - Jack London
