Sign in or 
Share this
House of Many Gods
DAVENPORT, Kiana. House of Many Gods. Ballantine Books: New York, 2006. 325p. 0-345-48150-X (hc), $24.95. Illus, Acid-Free.
The literary fiction novel House of Many Gods chronicles a Native Hawaiian mother (Anahola) and daughter (Ana) as they discover and rework the relationship they have with both themselves and their hometown of Nanakuli, on Oahu’s eastern coast. A third storyline concerns Russian filmmaker Nikolai, who eventually becomes Ana's husband.
The narrative is filled with cultural and historical details from both Russia and Hawaii. Author Davenport ties together and compares the two radically different countries both overtly and covertly through the narratives of its two children, Ana and Nikolai. A successful emphasis is in the duo’s mutual fondness for “talking story”, or telling long stories (sometimes falsified accounts, in Nikolai’s case). Packed in the story also are issues of race, class, and harsh criticism of both the United States military’s use of the Hawaiian Islands and use of nuclear energy for either power or weapons.
Davenport’s strength is in her descriptive language, whether of the dirt roads and tired houses of Nanakuli or the despair of Nikolai’s childhood. Words in multiple languages flow naturally and are definable in context, although an index is included for the unsure.
Sometimes characters speak with a wisdom and clarity that is unbelievable, and an important confrontation on the beach between Native Hawaiians and the military falls flat despite the author’s interjection through Ana that the anticlimactic ending in itself means something. However, Davenport resolves the main emotional conflict of the book in a story arc involving Ana’s first leave of the Hawaiian Islands and, finally, the birth of her first child. The book grows heavy in its own despair at times – the book covers hurricanes, nuclear devastation, cancer, tragic loss of youth, crime, poverty, and government oppression. Despite this turmoil in the end, like Ana, the book is able to transcend all the pain enough to end on a neutral, or even slightly happy, note.
Kiana Davenport is a writer of partial Native Hawaiian descent and was born and raised in Kalihi, Hawaii. She has received numerous grants and awards, including O. Henry awards, and has had two other bestselling books, Shark Dialogues and Song of the Exile.
Like her other novels, House of Many Gods is for adults due to both its diction and often dark themes. It is sure to interest readers who appreciate the recent "multicultural boom" in literary fiction, as the volume contains much on the culture and people of Hawaii, and some on the people of Russia as well.
The book’s binding is solid, with a colorful yellow and green patterned hard cover. The typeset is regal and easy to read. Given the lack of fiction published by Native Hawaiians with Davenport’s writing credentials, House of Many Gods is a worthwhile addition to libraries that want to bolster their amount of Pacific fiction.
The literary fiction novel House of Many Gods chronicles a Native Hawaiian mother (Anahola) and daughter (Ana) as they discover and rework the relationship they have with both themselves and their hometown of Nanakuli, on Oahu’s eastern coast. A third storyline concerns Russian filmmaker Nikolai, who eventually becomes Ana's husband.
The narrative is filled with cultural and historical details from both Russia and Hawaii. Author Davenport ties together and compares the two radically different countries both overtly and covertly through the narratives of its two children, Ana and Nikolai. A successful emphasis is in the duo’s mutual fondness for “talking story”, or telling long stories (sometimes falsified accounts, in Nikolai’s case). Packed in the story also are issues of race, class, and harsh criticism of both the United States military’s use of the Hawaiian Islands and use of nuclear energy for either power or weapons.
Davenport’s strength is in her descriptive language, whether of the dirt roads and tired houses of Nanakuli or the despair of Nikolai’s childhood. Words in multiple languages flow naturally and are definable in context, although an index is included for the unsure.
Sometimes characters speak with a wisdom and clarity that is unbelievable, and an important confrontation on the beach between Native Hawaiians and the military falls flat despite the author’s interjection through Ana that the anticlimactic ending in itself means something. However, Davenport resolves the main emotional conflict of the book in a story arc involving Ana’s first leave of the Hawaiian Islands and, finally, the birth of her first child. The book grows heavy in its own despair at times – the book covers hurricanes, nuclear devastation, cancer, tragic loss of youth, crime, poverty, and government oppression. Despite this turmoil in the end, like Ana, the book is able to transcend all the pain enough to end on a neutral, or even slightly happy, note.
Kiana Davenport is a writer of partial Native Hawaiian descent and was born and raised in Kalihi, Hawaii. She has received numerous grants and awards, including O. Henry awards, and has had two other bestselling books, Shark Dialogues and Song of the Exile.
Like her other novels, House of Many Gods is for adults due to both its diction and often dark themes. It is sure to interest readers who appreciate the recent "multicultural boom" in literary fiction, as the volume contains much on the culture and people of Hawaii, and some on the people of Russia as well.
The book’s binding is solid, with a colorful yellow and green patterned hard cover. The typeset is regal and easy to read. Given the lack of fiction published by Native Hawaiians with Davenport’s writing credentials, House of Many Gods is a worthwhile addition to libraries that want to bolster their amount of Pacific fiction.
Submitted in May 2008 by Amanda Hahn, LIS Student, University of Hawaii at Manoa.
|
alhahn |
Latest page update: made by alhahn
, May 3 2008, 9:24 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by alhahn
1 word added 1 word deleted view changes - complete history) |
|
Keyword tags:
fiction
More Info: links to this page
|
There are no threads for this page.
Be the first to start a new thread.
