The design and UX isn't done, Rob and Abbie, okkurrrr! 😌
paul_cornelius's review against another edition
5.0
Throughout House of Pride, especially with the leper stories, the reader can see the dramatic influence London's earlier journey to Hawaii, chronicled in his The Cruise of the Snark, had upon these short stories. Scenes and phrases are virtually lifted from that earlier memoir. As for the stories themselves, the collection is brief and can be read in one sitting. But its imagery is memorable. The plots are terse and tightly structured. And London produces the most melancholy moments with just an implication as to their eventual development, leaving the resolutions to be played out in the readers' minds.
London did well to capture Hawaii at a moment that its Americanization was becoming complete. He knows the history of the Islands. And he understands the motivations of the people who arrived, the missionaries and traders, and the sense of loss of the native Hawaiians, who were overwhelmed with the immigration of Americans, British, Japanese, and Chinese.
If the impact of London's own earlier work is obvious on this volume, so, in turn, does the influence of London's Hawaii seem to play on later authors. Notably, James Michener. Michener must have been familiar with London's tales, for his own mammoth novel, Hawaii, not only is embedded with the themes and stories that London first explored but also shares something of the same viewpoint towards the various peoples who inhabit the Islands.
London did well to capture Hawaii at a moment that its Americanization was becoming complete. He knows the history of the Islands. And he understands the motivations of the people who arrived, the missionaries and traders, and the sense of loss of the native Hawaiians, who were overwhelmed with the immigration of Americans, British, Japanese, and Chinese.
If the impact of London's own earlier work is obvious on this volume, so, in turn, does the influence of London's Hawaii seem to play on later authors. Notably, James Michener. Michener must have been familiar with London's tales, for his own mammoth novel, Hawaii, not only is embedded with the themes and stories that London first explored but also shares something of the same viewpoint towards the various peoples who inhabit the Islands.
nelsonminar's review against another edition
2.0
Mixed bag. Too many stories about the leper colony. Not enough evocation of Hawai'i the place.
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