The Bookworm says... Yes! Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn is already one of my favorite reads of the year. When Nainoa Flores falls overboard into a throng of sharks in the Pacific Ocean off of the Hawaiian Coast, his family fears the worst; spared from tragedy, Noa is returned directly to his mother's arms by the sharks themselves. They view Noa's salvation as a gift from the Hawaiian Gods, a suspicion reinforced by Noa's newfound (strange) abilities following the accident. Noa's story is the stuff of legends, but the pressure to fulfill his god-given destiny eventually drives the Flores family apart. Years later, when all of the Flores children are living independently, nearly adults, the same supernatural influence that drove them apart revisits the members of the family still living on mainland Hawaii. The reappearance of this maybe divine influence forces the Flores family to reconsider what it means to family and what it takes to survive.
This is an incredible novel, with Washburn artfully weaving a heart-wrenching family saga together with detailed legends of the Hawaiian Gods and stories of Hawaiian tradition. It forces everyone who reads it to think deeply about salvation, about family, and about what it means to survive. From the moment I started reading I knew that the end was going to come too quickly; it has been a long time since I have read something so unique, something so refreshing, or something that made me reflect so deeply. I look forward with great anticipation to seeing what Kawai Strong Washburn does next.
"The figures of our bodies become shadows and warp and diminish into the paddies, the river, the bay, as if we are made of the same water, beating into the current with the same motion the sharks are making now, everything blending into the other, it all flows into me and I flow into it."