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“From
a Native Daughter: Colonialism & Sovereignty
in Hawai‘i”
“From
a Native Daughter exposes and analyzes
how colonialist and racist attitudes
toward Hawaiians and their culture are
still at work in (Hawai‘i). Trask's
analysis provides a moral and political
rationale for Hawaiian sovereignty.”
—Honolulu
Advertiser, June 27, 1993
“Trask’s
book is truly groundbreaking. It challenges
the distortions
and stereotypes
about happy Hawaiians… As a result of
this powerful manifesto, Trask stands out among
the women leading the resistance movement.”
—The
Bloomsbury Review, September-October, 1994
“In an ocean of
polite compromise, Trask says what people
think, and successfully challenges
the assumed moral and cultural superiority
of the settlers in Hawai‘i.”
—Pacific Islands
Monthly, December, 1993
“Light
in the Crevice Never Seen”
“Haunani-Kay's
is a poetry so particular in its lament
for what is lost, in its litanies for the
dead family members, for the desecrated
land, in its outraged catalogue of crimes
against life—that it is no stunted polemic,
but a deep and
accurately documented cry from the heart.”
—Eleanor
Wilner, from introduction to the 1993 book,
originally a review for Calyx
Books, publisher. “Haunani-Kay Trask carries us on a path that
begins with the violence of dispossession
and stolen lives, and takes us through
that plundered world into a present where the
women gods rise up, strong and resilient,
where life is defended “with a spear
of memory.”
—Linda Hogan,
1993 review for Calyx Books, publisher.
“Haunani-Kay
Trask's unprecedented poetry book distills
what the remarkable
woman
represents in the islands—political activist, feminist,
and Native Hawaiian.”
—Honolulu Star-Bulletin
review, July, 1994
"Known
as an early advocate of Hawaiian sovereignty,
and a vocal critic of American
colonization
of the Islands, Trask's poetry fleshes
out her politics with history and myth,
memories
and loved ones from her own life.”
—Honolulu Advertiser,
August 20, 1994.
“Night
is a Sharkskin Drum”
“It is
a celebration of the land and sea, the
ancestors
and
their gods...The eloquent
poetic sharing is set against a background
of the expected rage...against the prostitution
of her people, culture and language...but
in a form, this time, that is as rhythmic
and regal as hula.”
—The Honolulu
Advertiser, October 11, 2003.
“The experience
of reading this collection is nothing short
of swimming in fire… Night is a Sharkskin
Drum is a testament to Trask's poetic mana.
With
these
poems, she shows us once more that despite
the ugliness she has seen, the ugliness
that has pierced her, stabbed her, wounded
her… there
is beauty still.”
—Sia Figiel,
Samoan writer, review for University of
Hawai'i Press, 2002
“The poetry
is beautiful and brutal, subtle and direct,
courageous and respectful—but
most of all, it is honest. The poet's deep
and profound love for her country and people
is central to the work.”
—Reina
Whaitiri, Maori critic, review for University
of
Hawai'i Press, 2002
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