Melal
A Novel of the Pacific
University of Hawaii Press
On Good Friday, 1981, Rujen Keju and his two sons come face to face with their complicated inheritance—one that includes years of atomic testing and the continued military presence of the U.S. in the Pacific. In this highly original work of history and adventure, novelist Robert Barclay weaves together characters and stories from mythological times with those of the present-day to give readers a rare and unsparing look at life in the contemporary Pacific.
An absorbing, original read
A first novel that left me dazzled ... All the characters—the Marshallese, the members of their spirit world, and even the Americans—are well developed and deeply, sensitively drawn
Barclay is a first-time novelist who simply got it right.... Melal is a powerful and at times heart-wrenching novel that should appeal to a wide range of readers interested in the region today.
It is wonderful to have a novel of the Pacific, of people firmly rooted in the past and present of the great ocean, its atolls, islands, homes, and spiritual homelands. This is a wrenching story of people—voiceless, powerless—as they attempt to survive the horrors of nuclear testing, relocation, Western arrogance and domination. It is a good story with robust characters-some real and contemporary, others mythical and ancient—and an important book.
What separates this novel from others, even highly respected ones, is its extraordinary descriptive mastery.... This precise and vivid evocation of experience is what writing has been about from the beginning. In all respects, this is a superb book.
