I may have been tougher to please this time, because I'm not entirely sure what it is that this book needed to get full marks. The subject is interesting and Vowell, as usual, inserts herself and her wit into the history in just the right amounts. It could be that the 'characters' were not as vividly drawn in Unfamiliar Fishes as they were in, say, Assassination Vacation. It might be that Vowell has done a brilliant job in past works of showing me a fresh view of historical material that seemed fairly well settled while I had no particular knowledge of the history of Hawaii - therefore, she doesn't get to challenge any preconceived notions I may have gleaned from high school history.

And, finally, this one's kind of a bummer. (There, I said it.)