Take a photo of a barcode or cover
alisun 's review for:
Sharks in the Time of Saviors
by Kawai Strong Washburn
This book broke my heart over and over and over. It follows a native Hawaiian family struggling to survive amidst the economic reality of settler colonialism and advanced Capitalism.
The story is that, while on a family boating adventure (on a commercial sight seeing boat) the youngest son falls into the water and is saved by a shark. This is the initiating event in the story and the family (mostly the mom) makes sense of this by seeing Noa as a chosen one. There is a touch of magical realism because as it turns out, Noa can heal people. The specifics of this are never made entirely clear so the reader is left to decide what this means in the larger storyline.
The novel follows Noa's siblings, one older and one younger, as they move to the mainland, pursue their own paths (with a strong sense of loyalty to "succeed for the family") and make sense of what it has meant to grow up in the shadow of Noa.
A tragedy brings the family together in the end and the novel closes on a note of hope. It's not hokey hope, though. The author doesn't sugar coat anything in this beautiful story of family loyalty, the importance of place, and the ties that bind us to our histories and futures.
The story is that, while on a family boating adventure (on a commercial sight seeing boat) the youngest son falls into the water and is saved by a shark. This is the initiating event in the story and the family (mostly the mom) makes sense of this by seeing Noa as a chosen one. There is a touch of magical realism because as it turns out, Noa can heal people. The specifics of this are never made entirely clear so the reader is left to decide what this means in the larger storyline.
The novel follows Noa's siblings, one older and one younger, as they move to the mainland, pursue their own paths (with a strong sense of loyalty to "succeed for the family") and make sense of what it has meant to grow up in the shadow of Noa.
A tragedy brings the family together in the end and the novel closes on a note of hope. It's not hokey hope, though. The author doesn't sugar coat anything in this beautiful story of family loyalty, the importance of place, and the ties that bind us to our histories and futures.