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The Descendants
Now a major motion picture starring George Clooney!
Matthew King was once considered one of the most fortunate men in Hawaii. His missionary ancestors who came to the islands were financially and culturally progressive—one even married a Hawaiian princess, making Matt a royal descendant and one of the state's largest landowners. But now his luck has changed. His two daughters are out of control—10-year-old Scottie has a smart-ass attitude and a desperate need for attention and 17-year-old Alex, a former model, is a recovering drug addict. His thrill-seeking and high-maintenance wife, Joanie, lies in a coma after a boat racing accident, and will soon be taken off life support. The King family can hardly picture life without their charismatic mother, but as they come to terms with this tragedy, their sadness is mixed with a sense of freedom that shames them—and spurs them into surprising actions.
Matthew King was once considered one of the most fortunate men in Hawaii. His missionary ancestors who came to the islands were financially and culturally progressive—one even married a Hawaiian princess, making Matt a royal descendant and one of the state's largest landowners. But now his luck has changed. His two daughters are out of control—10-year-old Scottie has a smart-ass attitude and a desperate need for attention and 17-year-old Alex, a former model, is a recovering drug addict. His thrill-seeking and high-maintenance wife, Joanie, lies in a coma after a boat racing accident, and will soon be taken off life support. The King family can hardly picture life without their charismatic mother, but as they come to terms with this tragedy, their sadness is mixed with a sense of freedom that shames them—and spurs them into surprising actions.
283 pages, Hardcover
First published May 15, 2007
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About the author
Kaui Hart Hemmings
10 books518 followersI'm the author of The Descendants, House of Thieves, The Possibilities and Juniors, a YA novel. My next novel, How to Party with an Infant will be published August 9 2016. Visit my website:
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,674 reviews
April 6, 2016
I have always had a soft spot for books written by women from the point of view of a male character. I find them endearing. Men writing as women can often be a little unconvincing, with lots of lines like, ‘I jogged up the steps, my breasts bouncing lightly under my summery blouse’, or, ‘Suddenly, my period started.’ Women writing as men do not make these sorts of mistakes; you don't get things like, ‘I marched into the bathroom and urinated fiercely, remaining standing throughout,’ although I half-suspect that Grey by EL James is full of that kind of thing. But it's easier for them isn't it – thanks to the historical preponderance of male writers, women have plenty of exposure to how men think, whereas many men still find women a total mystery.
Why am I talking about this. I don't know. The Descendants does have a male narrator, a convincing one, though that is not the most interesting thing about the way the story's told. An expansion of one of Hemmings's earlier short stories, the novel is a bittersweet family drama played out in Hawai‘i, about a father trying to reestablish his relationship with his daughters after their mother is hospitalised. Still, the choice of narrator is an interesting decision, since the more conventional way to tell this story, perhaps, would have been to make it a classic coming-of-age tale from the point of view of one of the girls.
The tone is set by the admirably opinionated opening line:
The sun is shining, mynah birds are chattering, palm trees are swaying, so what.
Not all of the prose that follows is quite so sparky, though. As is often the case with books that try to reproduce the ‘numb’ feeling of dealing with a tragedy, the results can feel a little flat, and this isn't helped by the present-tense narration – not a technique that I dislike on principle, but here it somehow reinforces a sense that we are meandering through the day-to-day banalities as they happen, rather than looking back on the selected highlights of a story.
The daughters are extremely well drawn – one young and not fully aware of what's happening, the other teenaged and hormonal, both observed coolly by a father who loves them but who has never really got to know them. Looming lushly behind our cast are the Hawaiian islands, here richly contextualised: they are seen on the one hand as the product of a very specific imperialist history – our protagonist traces his family back to Hawaiian royalty and to the American sugar magnates that overthrew them, a descent on which, as the title suggests, much of the plot turns – and, on the other hand, as a modern retirement home for all the wealthy baby-boomers whose children are growing up in an unearned paradise:
I wonder if our offspring have all decided to give up. They'll never be senators or owners of a football team; they'll never be the West Coast president of NBC, the founder of Weight Watchers, the inventor of shopping carts, a prisoner of war, the number one supplier of the world's macadamia nuts. No, they'll do coke and smoke pot and take creative writing classes and laugh at us.
A dig at herself, perhaps: her prose certainly shows all the hallmarks of a creative writing graduate, inoffensive and thoughtful, concerned with parents and infidelity and daily frustrations. But it's intelligently done and I enjoyed it.
Right, that's the review done. Now I'm off to urinate fiercely, remaining standing throughout.
August 8, 2013
The other day my friend was saying to me that she recently saw The Descendants and thought it was a pretty dumb name for a film which has nothing to do with the protagonist’s descendants. I have not seen it yet, but I thought maybe the title was more overtly related to the book, a relation which then became lost in its translation to film. Regardless, it does fit the book rather nicely—and it is not about the protagonist’s descendants, either, but about his being a descendant: a descendant of Hawaiian royalty (back when Hawaii was a kingdom) and the burden of his needing to make his own way in the world, for himself and for his daughters, that leaves him with the legacy of having done something, or of having started something, so that he can be (in some respects) at the top of that family tree as opposed to on some lowly descendant branch.
But, really. Some burden, right?
Except Matt King—and yes, that really is his name—has a few more serious burdens to contend with, namely his dying wife and the two children in whose growth he has played no significant part until now. This book is mostly about this transition for him, from non-participatory parent and (probably) inadequate husband to involved father and coping widower, with a few curveballs thrown in for good measure.
It is a decent book, and while I don’t always like to extend my own opinion of a book’s characters into my evaluation of the work as a whole (oh, who am I kidding? of course I do), I had difficulty relating to Matt. For someone whose wife is dying and who has just learned has been cuckolding the crap out of him, I could not understand his understanding. I mean sure, he says he is angry, but he certainly doesn’t behave as though he were angry. In fact he does things that are in complete opposition to what I would expect an angry person to do in such a situation. I am sorry, but no one is that well adjusted. I refuse to believe it. Still, the book is pretty decent in spite of this. There were other characters I liked a lot—namely Sid, Matt’s oldest daughter’s “friend”—and even though the movie will probably cast him horribly (I have not checked yet), he more than makes up for the inadequacies of some of the other characters.
Like Matt.
But, really. Some burden, right?
Except Matt King—and yes, that really is his name—has a few more serious burdens to contend with, namely his dying wife and the two children in whose growth he has played no significant part until now. This book is mostly about this transition for him, from non-participatory parent and (probably) inadequate husband to involved father and coping widower, with a few curveballs thrown in for good measure.
It is a decent book, and while I don’t always like to extend my own opinion of a book’s characters into my evaluation of the work as a whole (oh, who am I kidding? of course I do), I had difficulty relating to Matt. For someone whose wife is dying and who has just learned has been cuckolding the crap out of him, I could not understand his understanding. I mean sure, he says he is angry, but he certainly doesn’t behave as though he were angry. In fact he does things that are in complete opposition to what I would expect an angry person to do in such a situation. I am sorry, but no one is that well adjusted. I refuse to believe it. Still, the book is pretty decent in spite of this. There were other characters I liked a lot—namely Sid, Matt’s oldest daughter’s “friend”—and even though the movie will probably cast him horribly (I have not checked yet), he more than makes up for the inadequacies of some of the other characters.
Like Matt.
November 17, 2011
Have you ever been sitting somewhere, life moving all around you, and in that moment you are completely aware? You can see the pieces of who you were yesterday falling to the ground as today begins to fill in the holes and all you can manage to do is sit there and watch it dissolve. And as much as you know you need to get up, to start assimilating, you find yourself repeating under your breath, "How did I get here? How is this my life?" This is that juncture actualized.
Matt isn't the best father. Hell, he's barely even aware of his daughters. And those daughters...they're the embodiment of everything you hoped your kids would never turn out to be. Except, that in a way, he is amazing with his girls and those girls, they're every bit like your kids. It's only after first glance that you begin to see this family for who they really are. Smart and funny, heartbreaking and disappointing, take the journey with Matt and his girls as they watch the life they thought they had crumble and cry along with them as they struggle to become a family for the first time.
Matt isn't the best father. Hell, he's barely even aware of his daughters. And those daughters...they're the embodiment of everything you hoped your kids would never turn out to be. Except, that in a way, he is amazing with his girls and those girls, they're every bit like your kids. It's only after first glance that you begin to see this family for who they really are. Smart and funny, heartbreaking and disappointing, take the journey with Matt and his girls as they watch the life they thought they had crumble and cry along with them as they struggle to become a family for the first time.
July 19, 2008
Whoa.
I'm not sure where this author came from, but look out! Her characters are in your FACE--funny and scary--with an emotional swirl in the background that makes it hard to breathe.
The premise, which is almost beside the point, is that Matthew King's wife is in a coma. And he has to rise up to the occasion, and be a parent in a way he never was before. You realize, along with him, that these wild, angry girls never really had a parent of any kind.
Characters--daughters and fathers--talk to each other in ways that make me want to smack them, after I'm done laughing in disbelief.
Laugh-out-loud funny, and also pretty heartbreaking; my favorite kind of book.
I'm not sure where this author came from, but look out! Her characters are in your FACE--funny and scary--with an emotional swirl in the background that makes it hard to breathe.
The premise, which is almost beside the point, is that Matthew King's wife is in a coma. And he has to rise up to the occasion, and be a parent in a way he never was before. You realize, along with him, that these wild, angry girls never really had a parent of any kind.
Characters--daughters and fathers--talk to each other in ways that make me want to smack them, after I'm done laughing in disbelief.
Laugh-out-loud funny, and also pretty heartbreaking; my favorite kind of book.
February 4, 2012
I saw the film last night, and read the novel today. Couldn't put it down.
I like that order to things: film, and then novel. If I've liked the characters/story (in the film), I like to go to the book because I'm sure to find more detail and more emotional analysis/insight there. And that was certainly the case with this novel. While the film was really faithful to the novel, OF COURSE there is always going to just be MORE of everything in a book. What you particularly get more of in this book is insight into the character of Joanie (the wife who is in a coma, and then dies). But you also get a much richer insight to Matt (the husband) as he careers from one shock and emotional blow to the next. I thought that the complexity of Matt's range of emotion was so spot-on. The fact that he is an emotionally inarticulate person just made his plight more interesting to me. The characters in this book are far from perfect or noble; the writer doesn't even try to make them lovable. And yet they were lovable; to me, anyway. They were terribly, believably flawed. Hemmings has a real gift for dialogue, too -- although the children/teens are astonishingly foul-mouthed at times. (There are some interesting insights for the parents of my generation. I'm thinking of that scene in which Matt bemoans the fact that his children act like they don't even respect him . . . and there is a crushing silence.)
Although there are moments of absurdity and bleak humour, this is mostly grim subject matter . . . but it suits my present mood and circumstances. Death and infidelity and inheritance have an interesting and original specificity in this story -- I was really interested in the setting of contemporary Hawaii, and the various ways in which it plays out in the story -- and yet the universality of those subjects made this story really resonate with me.
I like that order to things: film, and then novel. If I've liked the characters/story (in the film), I like to go to the book because I'm sure to find more detail and more emotional analysis/insight there. And that was certainly the case with this novel. While the film was really faithful to the novel, OF COURSE there is always going to just be MORE of everything in a book. What you particularly get more of in this book is insight into the character of Joanie (the wife who is in a coma, and then dies). But you also get a much richer insight to Matt (the husband) as he careers from one shock and emotional blow to the next. I thought that the complexity of Matt's range of emotion was so spot-on. The fact that he is an emotionally inarticulate person just made his plight more interesting to me. The characters in this book are far from perfect or noble; the writer doesn't even try to make them lovable. And yet they were lovable; to me, anyway. They were terribly, believably flawed. Hemmings has a real gift for dialogue, too -- although the children/teens are astonishingly foul-mouthed at times. (There are some interesting insights for the parents of my generation. I'm thinking of that scene in which Matt bemoans the fact that his children act like they don't even respect him . . . and there is a crushing silence.)
Although there are moments of absurdity and bleak humour, this is mostly grim subject matter . . . but it suits my present mood and circumstances. Death and infidelity and inheritance have an interesting and original specificity in this story -- I was really interested in the setting of contemporary Hawaii, and the various ways in which it plays out in the story -- and yet the universality of those subjects made this story really resonate with me.
December 9, 2020
A story set in Hawaii.
Matthew is a very rich lawyer. He’s rotten rich mainly because of heritages he got which date back to his grand grandmother princess Kekipi: she married a banker who was her assets manager. Now, Matt has plenty of properties to sell. And yet, he prefers using the money of his own job: ”I don’t like heritages”.
She was seven years younger than Matt. They met 20 years ago. They got married, they had two daughters ….but now she’s in a hospital, in a coma. She had a racing-boat accident. Joanie was alcoholic; she liked motorbikes…and racing-boats.
Scottie is a 10-year-old “crazy” girl. Her older sister (Alex), once posing as model for bikinis and alike stuff, had drugs problems; and alcohol issues too.
The book describes with great detail those few days (and memories) in and out of the hospital visits. Now, it’s all about being (and learning TO BE) a competent father with Scottie and Alex. Being able to learn from nanny Esther about the minutiae of foods and mobile phone messaging slang... and all kinds of habits of irreverent Scottie.
For some time Matt feels awkward, an “ass-hole father”. While in hospital he looks at his wife and thinks:”I need you”. How to say farewell to a person he loves so much? how to explain it to 10-year -old Scottie? Alex had been away in a special school due to her drugs problem. Matt brings her back home; she brings her boyfriend along.
They receive updates from doctor Johnston: mother signs are getting worse. It’s an irreversible coma. Matt gets to know her life will: no life-supporting systems: no life-preserving machines.
Alex had drug problems…and she’s the one who’ll tell father that Joanie was having a love affair. Things get really complicated for Matt. He cries for the first time. He’s got to reformulate his feeling world.
These are very tense (few) days for Matt and the girls.
The book is an inside-his-troubled-mind journey/window.
Trials, coping with death ….and life.
A fine job by writer Kaui Hart Hemmings. No wonder the book turned into a movie.
Matthew is a very rich lawyer. He’s rotten rich mainly because of heritages he got which date back to his grand grandmother princess Kekipi: she married a banker who was her assets manager. Now, Matt has plenty of properties to sell. And yet, he prefers using the money of his own job: ”I don’t like heritages”.
She was seven years younger than Matt. They met 20 years ago. They got married, they had two daughters ….but now she’s in a hospital, in a coma. She had a racing-boat accident. Joanie was alcoholic; she liked motorbikes…and racing-boats.
Scottie is a 10-year-old “crazy” girl. Her older sister (Alex), once posing as model for bikinis and alike stuff, had drugs problems; and alcohol issues too.
The book describes with great detail those few days (and memories) in and out of the hospital visits. Now, it’s all about being (and learning TO BE) a competent father with Scottie and Alex. Being able to learn from nanny Esther about the minutiae of foods and mobile phone messaging slang... and all kinds of habits of irreverent Scottie.
For some time Matt feels awkward, an “ass-hole father”. While in hospital he looks at his wife and thinks:”I need you”. How to say farewell to a person he loves so much? how to explain it to 10-year -old Scottie? Alex had been away in a special school due to her drugs problem. Matt brings her back home; she brings her boyfriend along.
They receive updates from doctor Johnston: mother signs are getting worse. It’s an irreversible coma. Matt gets to know her life will: no life-supporting systems: no life-preserving machines.
Alex had drug problems…and she’s the one who’ll tell father that Joanie was having a love affair. Things get really complicated for Matt. He cries for the first time. He’s got to reformulate his feeling world.
These are very tense (few) days for Matt and the girls.
The book is an inside-his-troubled-mind journey/window.
Trials, coping with death ….and life.
A fine job by writer Kaui Hart Hemmings. No wonder the book turned into a movie.
June 20, 2016
I really didn't like this book I have to say. I liked it enough to finish it (it is a rarity if I don't finish a book that I start), but overall didn't like it.
I couldn't empathize with the dying wife. I felt bad that she was dying but I didn't like her character at all. The youngest daughter Scottie was made out to be this extreme 10 year old obsessed with sex and fitting in, that would have been more believable if she was 12-14, but not 10.
The oldest daughter was the most interesting but from the beginning of the book to the end she changed dramatically without there being any description of her changing and so she just seems almost like a completely new character at the end.
I felt like the whole selling of land aspect, the buyers, and the scheming of the wife could have been set up better, built up better. And at the end when he decides not to sell the land that scene should have been given a weight that it didn't get. It was no more than 4-5 pages and for something that was essentially the secondary plot to the book, it should have been given more thought.
I was really interested in this book when I originally bought it - especially since it has such great Oscar buzz, but I was disappointed.
I couldn't empathize with the dying wife. I felt bad that she was dying but I didn't like her character at all. The youngest daughter Scottie was made out to be this extreme 10 year old obsessed with sex and fitting in, that would have been more believable if she was 12-14, but not 10.
The oldest daughter was the most interesting but from the beginning of the book to the end she changed dramatically without there being any description of her changing and so she just seems almost like a completely new character at the end.
I felt like the whole selling of land aspect, the buyers, and the scheming of the wife could have been set up better, built up better. And at the end when he decides not to sell the land that scene should have been given a weight that it didn't get. It was no more than 4-5 pages and for something that was essentially the secondary plot to the book, it should have been given more thought.
I was really interested in this book when I originally bought it - especially since it has such great Oscar buzz, but I was disappointed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 3, 2018
Lo leí después de haber visto la película, cosa que no suelo hacer. Me gustó aún más que la peli. No abusa de sentimentalismos.
December 29, 2011
I was hesitant to read this book. They made a movie with George Clooney based on it and I thought it was going to be some romantic, Hollywood drivel. Boy was I ever wrong. This is a layered story of loss, acceptance, discovery and those first few steps to a new life.
Matt King has had everything handed to him in life. The descendant of a Hawaiian princess and a white missionary, he is the controlling partner of a family trust overseeing a great deal of Hawaiian land. He has made his life on his own terms, living on his earned income. He has avoided the responsibility of the trust while building his business and is now faced with the decision for all of the heirs on whether they should sell their legacy.
Meanwhile, his wife is in a coma after being injured in a boating race. As the coma continujes, Matt and his two daughters must decide on her future and theirs. As they say good-bye to one life, they start on another. This was an extremely moving story that explored many topics and relationships. I sat up to 2 am one night to finish it and then cried myself to sleep. This book moved me.
Matt King has had everything handed to him in life. The descendant of a Hawaiian princess and a white missionary, he is the controlling partner of a family trust overseeing a great deal of Hawaiian land. He has made his life on his own terms, living on his earned income. He has avoided the responsibility of the trust while building his business and is now faced with the decision for all of the heirs on whether they should sell their legacy.
Meanwhile, his wife is in a coma after being injured in a boating race. As the coma continujes, Matt and his two daughters must decide on her future and theirs. As they say good-bye to one life, they start on another. This was an extremely moving story that explored many topics and relationships. I sat up to 2 am one night to finish it and then cried myself to sleep. This book moved me.
February 12, 2015
So I may or may not have read this while I was at work over the last month...and I liked it, but I'm not sure if I would have finished it had I not been sitting around at work doing nothing. It was well written and kept my interest even though I've seen the movie and knew what was going to happen. Probably the only thing that kept me from fully enjoying this book was that sometimes the way the dad spoke about his daughters made me uncomfortable. That's about it.
August 14, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2011
You know, it's not until I start reading contemporary fiction that I remember I don't especially enjoy it. Not to be simplistic, but if there isn't a dead body, a spaceship, or magic, I'm not the immediate target market for your book.
I picked this one up, though, because it continues my theme of reading books set in Hawai'i, and because the film based on the book has been released.
It took more than half the book to sympathize with the character--he doesn't talk about love that he has for his wife until 174, which was uncomfortable given the dramatic situation his family was in. It's hard to feel sympathy for a parent who's neglected his children, and a partner who has neglected his wife, that's just waking up to "oh shit I guess I have to step up now." I think that makes a more compelling film for me, personally, than it does as a novel. In the novel, especially from his first-person perspective, I kept fighting the urge to roll my eyes.
The manner of writing was journeyman, and I got a fair amount of the sense of place, but I think I'm used to more deft, thorough portrayals of Hawai'i as a genus locii because something was missing for me. The characters inhabited but didn't pay attention to their space, and the author went so far as to bring that to the reader's attention a few times in the text.
I don't know how I feel about it, fundamentally. Vaguely dissatisfied that it wasn't a murder mystery? Bored by the concept of a husband and father finally waking up to his responsibilities? I didn't really have expectations, but I think I was dissatisfied. Perhaps that was the point.
I picked this one up, though, because it continues my theme of reading books set in Hawai'i, and because the film based on the book has been released.
It took more than half the book to sympathize with the character--he doesn't talk about love that he has for his wife until 174, which was uncomfortable given the dramatic situation his family was in. It's hard to feel sympathy for a parent who's neglected his children, and a partner who has neglected his wife, that's just waking up to "oh shit I guess I have to step up now." I think that makes a more compelling film for me, personally, than it does as a novel. In the novel, especially from his first-person perspective, I kept fighting the urge to roll my eyes.
The manner of writing was journeyman, and I got a fair amount of the sense of place, but I think I'm used to more deft, thorough portrayals of Hawai'i as a genus locii because something was missing for me. The characters inhabited but didn't pay attention to their space, and the author went so far as to bring that to the reader's attention a few times in the text.
I don't know how I feel about it, fundamentally. Vaguely dissatisfied that it wasn't a murder mystery? Bored by the concept of a husband and father finally waking up to his responsibilities? I didn't really have expectations, but I think I was dissatisfied. Perhaps that was the point.
January 7, 2021
I loved this story and read it after seeing the movie at the theater (remember that?). I found that the movie did an excellent job of conveying the written form. It is a study of greed within a family and its destruction of the trust between one another as well as the entire community at large.
The family's ancestors took over a large swath of one of the Hawaiian Islands and when they died it was left to future generations. Once real estate becomes sky high, some within the family want to cash in, while others wish to allow the pristine area to remain within the family and others want a compromise. Ultimately, several leaders emerge presenting the various factions. The main family member with the most influence is confronted with a cheating wife, now in hospital in a coma from which she will not return. Now, his two daughters look to him for leadership and healing of all the wounds that brought them to this moment.
Hemmings also gives the reader a perspective on how the indigenous people's feel about this family and their influence over the island. This was a very solid, encompassing story.
I loved this study on family dynamics and how money causes torn loyalties. I've seen this plenty in real life and feel Hemmings did a dynamite job of showing us impact of lies, greed and betrayal. I highly recommend it.
The family's ancestors took over a large swath of one of the Hawaiian Islands and when they died it was left to future generations. Once real estate becomes sky high, some within the family want to cash in, while others wish to allow the pristine area to remain within the family and others want a compromise. Ultimately, several leaders emerge presenting the various factions. The main family member with the most influence is confronted with a cheating wife, now in hospital in a coma from which she will not return. Now, his two daughters look to him for leadership and healing of all the wounds that brought them to this moment.
Hemmings also gives the reader a perspective on how the indigenous people's feel about this family and their influence over the island. This was a very solid, encompassing story.
I loved this study on family dynamics and how money causes torn loyalties. I've seen this plenty in real life and feel Hemmings did a dynamite job of showing us impact of lies, greed and betrayal. I highly recommend it.
December 14, 2016
2.5 - I found none of the characters relatable, so even when there were moments that I was supposed to FEEL things, I didn't. For me, this fell flat. Probably my fault for expecting too much out of this read.
March 11, 2020
I watched the Clooney movie years ago, but I forget movie plots quickly so I could read the book and not know what was going to happen. The book is well done and it is a really rich and real narrative. It feels almost too real sometimes--I cringed in some of the more awkward parenting moments. Hemmings does not do gloss on the scenes and the characters. She just plays it raw and it's really refreshing
December 29, 2011
At heart, all novelists are dreamers. We concoct vivid stories from fleeting, overheard comments and turn complex ideas into 85,000 words of captivating prose. As we write, we envision other people absorbing our words and finding pleasure or guidance in them. If we are honest, we cherish the idea that our stories might reach tens of thousands – or hundreds of thousands - of readers. And, if we truly dream big, we envision our words finding their way onto the screen so that millions of people who are not ordinarily readers will discover our words (and at least some will go back to the source material and read what we originally wrote). We mentally cast those films – Meryl Streep for the female lead, of course, and maybe George Clooney for the male starring role.
I can only imagine what Kaui Hart Hemmings felt when she learned that her debut novel not only had been optioned by a respected director, but that it had attracted Mr. Clooney to play her novel’s narrator and protagonist, Matt King.
I am one of those people who saw the movie and immediately sought out the book. While the film closely follows the book’s story arc, the two function almost as companion pieces. Hemmings tells a tale filled with interior monologues about contemporary Hawaii, parenting, and the pain of discovering that the life you thought was good turned out to be unbearable to your spouse. By contrast, Director Alexander Payne focuses on Matt King’s anger, his cluelessness about his wife and children, and his attempts to cope with the tsunami that is about to engulf his life. It’s the same story, but with inevitable differences in emphasis.
The novel’s triggering events are the irreversible coma in which Matt’s wife, Joanie, now lies – the result of a speed boat accident – and the impending sale of a massive estate of which he is the principal trustee. Matt is forced to confront children whom he never really knew and the new-found discovery that his wife was in love with another man. Oddly, especially given the book’s title, Hemmings downplays the land sale aspect of Matt’s story. It falls to director Payne to add scenes that take the family to the land to which they were entrusted and to flesh out the conflicts that roil the extended family that will be affected by the sale.
The heart of both stories, though, is Matt’s coming to grips with the fact that he has been an absentee father of two girls, now ten and 17, and that he really knows neither of them. Wrapped up in his work, he has also been an absentee husband, and it is his older daughter who tells Matt of his wife’s infidelity. That new-found knowledge is the catalyst for what follows: an effort to find and confront the man who stole his wife’s affections.
That odyssey is what propels both the film’s and the book’s narrative, but what we see and read are focused in two very different areas. The movie visually shows us a Hawaii that tourists never contemplate. And when we see the ‘familiar’ Hawaii – as at the Princeville resort on Kauai – it is a jarring realization that non-Hawaiians have imposed an alien culture on an island chain with its own rich history.
Hemmings focuses on Matt King’s attempts to connect with his children, who speak an incomprehensible language and have built their lives without him. Hemmings has a terrific ear for dialogue and beautifully captures the family’s dynamic. Director Payne wisely lifts many of those lines intact, as when King responds to a stoner teen, Sid, who may or may not be his older daughter’s boyfriend. Sid tells Matt that he’s smart and Matt, who has listened to Sid’s inanities for two days, snaps back, “You’re about a hundred miles from the town of Smart.”
In short, the book is a pleasure. I read it in two sittings and then put it in the shelf I reserve for books I intend to read again.
I can only imagine what Kaui Hart Hemmings felt when she learned that her debut novel not only had been optioned by a respected director, but that it had attracted Mr. Clooney to play her novel’s narrator and protagonist, Matt King.
I am one of those people who saw the movie and immediately sought out the book. While the film closely follows the book’s story arc, the two function almost as companion pieces. Hemmings tells a tale filled with interior monologues about contemporary Hawaii, parenting, and the pain of discovering that the life you thought was good turned out to be unbearable to your spouse. By contrast, Director Alexander Payne focuses on Matt King’s anger, his cluelessness about his wife and children, and his attempts to cope with the tsunami that is about to engulf his life. It’s the same story, but with inevitable differences in emphasis.
The novel’s triggering events are the irreversible coma in which Matt’s wife, Joanie, now lies – the result of a speed boat accident – and the impending sale of a massive estate of which he is the principal trustee. Matt is forced to confront children whom he never really knew and the new-found discovery that his wife was in love with another man. Oddly, especially given the book’s title, Hemmings downplays the land sale aspect of Matt’s story. It falls to director Payne to add scenes that take the family to the land to which they were entrusted and to flesh out the conflicts that roil the extended family that will be affected by the sale.
The heart of both stories, though, is Matt’s coming to grips with the fact that he has been an absentee father of two girls, now ten and 17, and that he really knows neither of them. Wrapped up in his work, he has also been an absentee husband, and it is his older daughter who tells Matt of his wife’s infidelity. That new-found knowledge is the catalyst for what follows: an effort to find and confront the man who stole his wife’s affections.
That odyssey is what propels both the film’s and the book’s narrative, but what we see and read are focused in two very different areas. The movie visually shows us a Hawaii that tourists never contemplate. And when we see the ‘familiar’ Hawaii – as at the Princeville resort on Kauai – it is a jarring realization that non-Hawaiians have imposed an alien culture on an island chain with its own rich history.
Hemmings focuses on Matt King’s attempts to connect with his children, who speak an incomprehensible language and have built their lives without him. Hemmings has a terrific ear for dialogue and beautifully captures the family’s dynamic. Director Payne wisely lifts many of those lines intact, as when King responds to a stoner teen, Sid, who may or may not be his older daughter’s boyfriend. Sid tells Matt that he’s smart and Matt, who has listened to Sid’s inanities for two days, snaps back, “You’re about a hundred miles from the town of Smart.”
In short, the book is a pleasure. I read it in two sittings and then put it in the shelf I reserve for books I intend to read again.
March 31, 2016
This is the story of a family in Hawaii. The father is a busy lawyer , his wife is in a coma from a boating accident. His two daughters he has know idea how to cope with them. He has not spent a lot of time with them and now must be both father and mother. He is a descendant of a Hawaiian princess who married a white land owner. I loved this book. It was well written, funny, sad, and you could see the changes in the characters as the story developed. Decisions had to be made about the wife's worsening condition. I saw the movie about three years ago and loved it also.
May 13, 2017
Unbelievable and unlikable characters abound in this book. I don't mind books that have just unlikeable characters so much as they're explained and built up to where can we can understand their choices and personalities. This book just didn't deliver that in my opinion. The author had opportunities to explain these characters and build up the plot but choose not to for some reason. Honestly regret reading this book but did so because I'm going to see the movie with some family. I've heard it's better than the book but was changed a lot plot wise. I'll cross my fingers that this is true.
November 20, 2016
i like scotttie character. for 10 years old she is fiesty, stuborn and strong. she done her best to be brave facing the fact losing her mother.
matt is terrible husband. and through his journey letting go his wife, he encounters a fact that his wife was having affair.
this book is talk about forgiveness and letting it go. acceptance. but the wording does not connect with me. some of the pages i am just skimming.
matt is terrible husband. and through his journey letting go his wife, he encounters a fact that his wife was having affair.
this book is talk about forgiveness and letting it go. acceptance. but the wording does not connect with me. some of the pages i am just skimming.
July 23, 2013
If you saw the movie you just about read the book.
March 11, 2013
So goes Part Two of my tour of source material for Alexander Payne movies; a director notoriously finicky in culling through (relatively) unknown authors' works, and (in my opinion) spinning gold from straw. I'm happy to report that, unlike Rex Pickett's clunky, only occasionally funny but more often annoying Sideways (Part One of my tour), Kaui Hart Hemmings' The Descendants is every bit as good as the movie, perhaps even slightly better.
The story of middle-aged haole-Hawaiian Matt King's coming to a life crossroads as his wife lies in a coma is, on the surface, not exactly something that screams out "Film Me, Hollywood!", but Matt's schlubby lawyer character, as he wonders what he's going to do with his daughters (the beautiful teenage, incipient drug addict Alexandra, and the precocious, kinda homely pre-teen Scottie) is a fount of humor that counter-balances nicely the potentially-maudlin subject matter. In fact, Payne stuck so closely to the book in his adaptation of it, it could almost be mistaken as a screenplay, or one of those books-adapted-from-the movie deals. (bonus points to Ms. Hart Hemmings for actually making me cry, where the movie version did not). Hopefully the success from the movie adaptation of her work will provide impetus for her to continue writing; I for one am eager to read more from her.
(and prescient, almost hopeful {in a creepy way} casting suggestion by Ms. Hart Hemmings: Young Scottie's wardrobe nearly always consisted of non-age-appropriate novelty tee shirts, one of which helpfully read "Mrs. Clooney" (!) You can almost see Payne's gears spinning with that one..."Oh yeah, I always pictured George to play Matt!".
Of course ya did, Alexander.)
December 27, 2011
After seeing the movie, I decided to read the book, in order to better understand character motivation. The movie is surprisingly faithful to the structure of the book but the character of the wife is fleshed out much better in the novel. Matt King, the titular head of an extended family with traces of Hawaiian blood, is in charge of deciding what developer to sell the family's pristine Hawaiian land to. Between trying to make that decision (mostly by avoiding it) and focusing too much on his work as a lawyer, he's become distant from his wife and two bratty daughters, ten year old Scottie and seventeen year old Alex. When Joanie, Matt's wife, falls into a coma after a boating accident, Matt is forced into becoming a father again, and also to face some unpleasant truths about himself, the woman he believes he's always loved, and exactly why he may have removed himself from his immediate family. Though the book is braver than the movie, in that it makes it clear the family is better off without Joanie, I didn't believe a word of it (and, for that matter, the movie, either). Both are very well constructed entertainments with exactly the strings you expect to be pulled exactly when you expect them to be. The prose is simplistic though I don't mean that critically -- it goes down very easily and is not without humor and pathos. But for such serious subject matter the book is very lightweight; though I admire the author for having the courage to write a book where the family is better off without the mother (even though she isn't an obvious or heavy handed villianous presence), the book has little resonance. I felt manipulated rather than genuinely moved.
March 8, 2012
I really liked this. I saw the movie before reading the book, which I hate doing because I feel the book gets ruined. I'm always ready to be "at the good parts" the movie showed.
But, in my true fashion I cared for the book more than the movie, but both were great. I liked how the booked delved into the characters of Sid and Joannie. Sid seems so random in the movie, but his character actually makes a lot of sense. This might be harsh, but... I had abosolutely no simpathy for Joannie's character. She seemed like a really messed up person who messed up the lives of her husband and children. I don't like her, and I feel I should feel bad saying that since the character is dying. But, I don't. I think she's a bitch.
I acutally laughed out load at some parts. Which again, asks the question is it appropriate since someone is dying? Tricky, tricky Miss Hemmings! In some ways this the character of Matt King reminded me of my dad and the daughters of myself and my younger sister (minus the whole drug use thing). My mom actually cheated and left our family, so I grew up with a single dad. We, along with my brother, would say just about anything in front my dad... some of the craizest stuff! I couldn't help to think, did my dad have the same thoughts as Matt King when he heard things come out of our mouths? ... do my kids even care they are saying this in front of me? I'm sure we made for some really awkward moments and questions about parenting, just like it did for Matt.
Read it. Just know there is adult humor, not gross humor, but adult. I found it appropriate in this novel.
Happy reading!
But, in my true fashion I cared for the book more than the movie, but both were great. I liked how the booked delved into the characters of Sid and Joannie. Sid seems so random in the movie, but his character actually makes a lot of sense. This might be harsh, but... I had abosolutely no simpathy for Joannie's character. She seemed like a really messed up person who messed up the lives of her husband and children. I don't like her, and I feel I should feel bad saying that since the character is dying. But, I don't. I think she's a bitch.
I acutally laughed out load at some parts. Which again, asks the question is it appropriate since someone is dying? Tricky, tricky Miss Hemmings! In some ways this the character of Matt King reminded me of my dad and the daughters of myself and my younger sister (minus the whole drug use thing). My mom actually cheated and left our family, so I grew up with a single dad. We, along with my brother, would say just about anything in front my dad... some of the craizest stuff! I couldn't help to think, did my dad have the same thoughts as Matt King when he heard things come out of our mouths? ... do my kids even care they are saying this in front of me? I'm sure we made for some really awkward moments and questions about parenting, just like it did for Matt.
Read it. Just know there is adult humor, not gross humor, but adult. I found it appropriate in this novel.
Happy reading!
October 4, 2012
This family melodrama set on Hawaii is an impressively brave, charming and intelligent novel. The themes that it sets out to tackle are tough, no doubt about it - dying, parenting, adolescence, infidelity - yet it handles them with irrepressible warmth, humour and dignity without ever seeming fake or cliched.
The characters are each in turn so hostile, warm, selfish, caring, vengeful, forgiving, idiotic, intelligent and a hundred other things beside that I found them utterly believable and ultimately likeable.
I found this novel so well executed that having read it I can actually appreciate more the fact that people can grow - as parents, spouses, children and friends, and that relationships are so complicated that it's impossible to judge them from first impressions. By the end of the book I was empathising with characters I'd found distinctly unlikeable at the beginning.
I really recommend this to anybody looking for a melodrama with a difference.
The characters are each in turn so hostile, warm, selfish, caring, vengeful, forgiving, idiotic, intelligent and a hundred other things beside that I found them utterly believable and ultimately likeable.
I found this novel so well executed that having read it I can actually appreciate more the fact that people can grow - as parents, spouses, children and friends, and that relationships are so complicated that it's impossible to judge them from first impressions. By the end of the book I was empathising with characters I'd found distinctly unlikeable at the beginning.
I really recommend this to anybody looking for a melodrama with a difference.
December 2, 2019
Its a great story, definitely no fantasy about it. Its very sad but that's what I realized made it good. Life is sad, life is unfair, and life does take the ones we love. Makes you stop and think about life , how are you handling it? Avoiding the bad, or meeting it head on no matter how many times you get knocked back?
August 31, 2025
The title of "The Descendants" should be "Obnoxiously Spoiled Descendants" since the main characters are related to a long-dead, Hawaiian princess, and the family members have done very little other than waste away the family’s fortune. Matt, unlike most of these descendants, actually earned a law degree and tries to support his family only on his earnings, not his inheritance. But his work has made him an absentee parent, while Joanie, his party-girl wife, has haphazardly raised his daughters. Now Joanie is in a coma dying after a racing boat accident, and Matt has to begin to father his daughters. The daughters are both rude attention-seekers who have lived without a leash for so long that they scoff at society's norms and Matt's attempts to control them. Add into this mess Matt discovering his wife was cheating on him and planning to divorce him after aiming the family’s land into the hands of her real estate lover.
I do not enjoy novels about the slothful, alcoholic lives of wealthy people and the out-of-control children caused by their bad parenting, so this book was doomed to low stars from me. What saved it from an even lower score was Matt's growing into being a more responsible parent, and his attempt at civility with Joanie's lover and Joanie's belligerent father who blamed Matt for Joanie's death because Matt never bought Joanie her own, very expensive, racing boat that she might have had better control over.
Matt also made an admirable decision not to sell off his ancestors' land which was the last large chunk of Hawaiian land owned by someone of Hawaiian ancestry. Matt instead fought to hold onto that land for his daughters and their descendants.
Another plus from this book was it helped me more kindly remember the difficult last days of my youngest sister’s life when I sat by her bedside through the nights. She never came out of her coma, but I didn't want her to be alone, and I talked to her about the great things she had done, and how now it was okay to let go.
So this book wasn't a complete waste, but I will never re-read it and can't recommend it to other readers.
I do not enjoy novels about the slothful, alcoholic lives of wealthy people and the out-of-control children caused by their bad parenting, so this book was doomed to low stars from me. What saved it from an even lower score was Matt's growing into being a more responsible parent, and his attempt at civility with Joanie's lover and Joanie's belligerent father who blamed Matt for Joanie's death because Matt never bought Joanie her own, very expensive, racing boat that she might have had better control over.
Matt also made an admirable decision not to sell off his ancestors' land which was the last large chunk of Hawaiian land owned by someone of Hawaiian ancestry. Matt instead fought to hold onto that land for his daughters and their descendants.
Another plus from this book was it helped me more kindly remember the difficult last days of my youngest sister’s life when I sat by her bedside through the nights. She never came out of her coma, but I didn't want her to be alone, and I talked to her about the great things she had done, and how now it was okay to let go.
So this book wasn't a complete waste, but I will never re-read it and can't recommend it to other readers.
December 27, 2019
I was looking for a book set in Hawaii, and that was available on audio and came across this one. I saw the movie a couple years ago and found it moving and real with characters I cared about so I quickly picked this one up. I am glad that I did because the book is really good.
The Descendants is written by a female author and has a smart, compassionate and convincing male narrator. It is a bittersweet story about a father who is facing the death of his wife who lies in a coma after a car accident. He has two daughters and his relationship with them has been a bit remote. He is working to say his goodbyes to the wife he loved and establish a loving, caring relationship with their girls. The voice is smart and fresh. His anger, grief and confusion are set from the first words of the book:
The sun is shining, mynah birds are chattering, palm trees are swaying, so what.
That 'so what' is everything. From those words I knew that this man was struggling.
We quickly learn that this man has even more to deal with, when he learns that his wife has been having an affair. He must remove her from life support and decides that she would want her lover to say his goodbyes. So he goes on a mission to find this man that took a piece of his wife's heart. The hunt for this man brings him closer to his daughters, and treats the readers to moving emotions, smart dialogue and a lush backdrop of Hawaii. I enjoyed the glimpses into Hawaii's history and am even more interested to read more.
The Descendants is written by a female author and has a smart, compassionate and convincing male narrator. It is a bittersweet story about a father who is facing the death of his wife who lies in a coma after a car accident. He has two daughters and his relationship with them has been a bit remote. He is working to say his goodbyes to the wife he loved and establish a loving, caring relationship with their girls. The voice is smart and fresh. His anger, grief and confusion are set from the first words of the book:
The sun is shining, mynah birds are chattering, palm trees are swaying, so what.
That 'so what' is everything. From those words I knew that this man was struggling.
We quickly learn that this man has even more to deal with, when he learns that his wife has been having an affair. He must remove her from life support and decides that she would want her lover to say his goodbyes. So he goes on a mission to find this man that took a piece of his wife's heart. The hunt for this man brings him closer to his daughters, and treats the readers to moving emotions, smart dialogue and a lush backdrop of Hawaii. I enjoyed the glimpses into Hawaii's history and am even more interested to read more.
May 23, 2018
I picked this book because it is set in the Hawaiian Islands and that is where my family and I were vacationing this year. I had previously seen the movie (because George Clooney) but the book is so much better. I couldn’t help picturing George as the main character, Matthew King, a descendant of King Kamehameha and owner of a lot of land in Kauai. The story begins with Matthew’s wife, Joanie, in a coma from a boating accident. During the story Matthew and his two girls grow close as they come to terms with Joanie’s tragic accident. I’m not summarizing the plot very well, but there is a lot of character growth and the story hits a range of emotions. I enjoyed it so much I had to re-watch the movie which was much better the second time around (except that I can’t understand why they changed Joanie’s name to Elizabeth in the movie???).
April 10, 2017
Such a heartwarming coming to terms with what God throws at you kind of story. The narrator is busy pulling out his hair while he figures out what to do with his wild children who in turn are trying to figure out what to do about growing up. Throw in a morbidly injured and cheating mother and life is just hell breaking loose. So how does Dad make them a family again? And can they find closure? Where is the trust?
September 13, 2020
3.5/5 stars rounded up. A really quick read that kinda reminded me of the Goldfinch? I haven’t watched the movie, but I’m excited to watch it because I’ve heard really good things about it.
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