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Rating: 
Summary: Get Shark Dialogues instead!
Review: I first became acquainted with Kiana Davenport's work with "Shark Dialouges". The writing and imagery took me back to in time to when I was a little girl, sitting in my grandmother's kitchen in Makakilo, listen to her and my aunties "talk story" as they cooked, laughed and remembered. I loved that book, but I have to say I loved "Song of the Exile" even more. Kiana has managed to do what I have never seen before and what I wish that I could do: present the Hawaiian experience to a mainstream audience not as the "aloha-sterotype" that many people have, but life as it really is, with all of its struggles and its everyday conversations and rhythms. I only wish that her work would receive the recognition that it deserves. It truly is "He wahî pa`akai" ("Just a packet of salt"), an old Hawaiian saying that proves that gifts made by the giver are the best ones of all.
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Summary: Vivid depiction of WW2 Hawaii
Review: I picked up this novel on a hunch, attracted to the beautiful cover and intriguing title. I am happy to say that the inside was as interesting as the outside. The story covers a broad scope of time, beginning in pre-World War II Hawaii. Two families are brought together when Sunny, the daughter of an abusive father and submissive mother, and Keo, the son of a loving family, fall in love. Keo's musical talents lead him to Paris, right before German invasion. Sunny, searching for her long-lost sister, meets up with Keo and from there, things get out of control. They are both taken prisoner, and when Keo returns to Hawaii, he is faced with a new life, without Sunny. If you are interested in the history of Hawaii and its role in World War II or just want a great love story, I think you will really enjoy this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: A Compelling Universal Tapestry
Review: I will not recount the story; the other reviewers do it, and for my money, the story is marvelous. Like so many, I did not want this book to end, and rationed reading it for that reason. I cannot think of any other writer I have ever read who can capture in concrete, substantial, palpable images abstractions like jazz, or pain, or love, or wistfulness. The visuals her words sculpt are staggering. Hardly essential to an appreciation of this magnificent work, if you have lived in Hawaii, ever had an appreciation of either or both of its indigenous and diverse cultures, been entranced by music, felt the power and mystery of natural things, it will resonate with you on innumerable levels. You will learn a fair amount of Hawaiian along the way if you care to, and you should, as it is a beautiful and evocative and incredibly musical language. The book is more than poetry--it is, in many ways, a great mele. It speaks of essences, of life's value, its challenges, its losses, its pain. There are parts as profound and compact in that as any philosophy one could want (the small chapterlet recounting Malia's last visit with Pono may be the best piece of writing in that regard I have ever read). The political material through the book is, if you read closely, not polemical, but balanced if with a clear but hardly simplistic preference. And on a societal level, it is a magnificent paean to the power of women, especially their power over men, wanted or not, and the consequences, marvelous and horrific, of that power. If you are a woman, or you truly love them as I do, you will hold this book fiercely to your heart. Those who say Ms. Davenport embraced too much in too complex a way--with which I totally disagree--would probably say the same of Thomas Wolfe, whose prose at times hers resembles, several of whose works I number among my favorites in the language. I would rate this book higher than any I have reviewed on Amazon to date, and among the best novels I have ever read--and I have read thousands.
Rating:
Summary: A Compelling Universal Tapestry
Review: I will not recount the story; the other reviewers do it, and for my money, the story is marvelous. Like so many, I did not want this book to end, and rationed reading it for that reason. I cannot think of any other writer I have ever read who can capture in concrete, substantial, palpable images abstractions like jazz, or pain, or love, or wistfulness. The visuals her words sculpt are staggering. Hardly essential to an appreciation of this magnificent work, if you have lived in Hawaii, ever had an appreciation of either or both of its indigenous and diverse cultures, been entranced by music, felt the power and mystery of natural things, it will resonate with you on innumerable levels. You will learn a fair amount of Hawaiian along the way if you care to, and you should, as it is a beautiful and evocative and incredibly musical language. The book is more than poetry--it is, in many ways, a great mele. It speaks of essences, of life's value, its challenges, its losses, its pain. There are parts as profound and compact in that as any philosophy one could want (the small chapterlet recounting Malia's last visit with Pono may be the best piece of writing in that regard I have ever read). The political material through the book is, if you read closely, not polemical, but balanced if with a clear but hardly simplistic preference. And on a societal level, it is a magnificent paean to the power of women, especially their power over men, wanted or not, and the consequences, marvelous and horrific, of that power. If you are a woman, or you truly love them as I do, you will hold this book fiercely to your heart. Those who say Ms. Davenport embraced too much in too complex a way--with which I totally disagree--would probably say the same of Thomas Wolfe, whose prose at times hers resembles, several of whose works I number among my favorites in the language. I would rate this book higher than any I have reviewed on Amazon to date, and among the best novels I have ever read--and I have read thousands.
Rating:
Summary: A drifting song of the islands...
Review: The most promising and interesting theme of this novel is the undaunted spirit of the Hawaiian people. Through the eyes of one particular family, the time frame is the 1930's through World War II, devastating the closely-knit community, many native Hawaiian sons lost in combat. The story moves back and forth: from Hawaii to the New Orleans jazz scene, Shanghai to Paris, and back. In the course of events, one heartbreaking message is the truly ignoble and inhumane use of euphemistically named "comfort women" by Japanese soldiers. These innocent women were harvested from city streets and villages to service their captors, their tragic borderline existence only recently widely discussed and documented for readers. Released after the war, their original numbers decimated, they became "ghost women", emaciated and most permanently physically and psychologically damaged. The central theme, however, is the displaced love of Keo and Sunny. A gifted musician, Keo follows his muse and Sunny becomes his most ardent and loyal fan. As Keo disappears into his music, he barely remarks Sunny's search for her own affirmation in the search for her long-lost sister. Tragically parted by the war, Keo and Sunny endure years of separation as each is subjected to horrendous experiences as Japanese captives, each clinging to the memory of the other. But I had no clear sense of Sunny's personality from the beginning of her reciprocated attraction to Keo. Later, when Keo is agonizing over her whereabouts, a more particular sense of what he so desperately misses, other than adoration, would have helped me appreciate Sunny's qualities. The story changes locations frequently, and I found myself wanting more details of Keo's family and their ongoing struggles, how their ties to one another sustain them through loss and separation. I suspect the most potent material rests within the heart of this family. Some editorial cuts may have better centered the story. Perhaps Davenport is intending to illustrate the rambling nature of Keo's search, his frustration and overwhelming loneliness, but I feel the novel loses its original vital focus. There are some hectoring passages at the end of the book on the issue of statehood, but my sympathies were already engaged. While certainly an entertaining and informative read, the novel would resonate more fully with fewer geographic leaps and already acknowledged social injustices added to the forum. An emphasis on the love story and tragic circumstances surrounding the lovers, especially the atrocity of "comfort women", was certainly sufficient to hold my interest.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the saddest books I've ever read
Review: This book was unlike anything else I've ever read. It was incredibly tragic and haunting. It made me feel for those women like Sunny, the ones who became nobody, because their minds couldn't get out of the past yet their bodies moved on through time. It really is haunting and although I didn't like it at first, because it was an unusual style for me, I grew to appreciate it. It's powerful and sad, and wonderful, too.
Rating:
Summary: One of the saddest books I've ever read
Review: This book was unlike anything else I've ever read. It was incredibly tragic and haunting. It made me feel for those women like Sunny, the ones who became nobody, because their minds couldn't get out of the past yet their bodies moved on through time. It really is haunting and although I didn't like it at first, because it was an unusual style for me, I grew to appreciate it. It's powerful and sad, and wonderful, too.
Rating:
Summary: song of the exile
Review: This book weaves a beautiful love story with an almost unspeakable piece of history that most of us never knew before. Her writing is magical in its descriptions. It is not an easy book to read but one which you will be richer for the doing. And you will never forget it.
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Summary: Mesmerizing writing about music
Review: Unlike many other readers, I am not reading this book because of any interest in Hawaii, or even in World War II. It was a Christmas gift to me from someone who heard the author on the radio, but hadn't read the book herself. When I first looked at it, I thought, "This is not something I want to read!" It is full of graphic violence and horror. However, as I read on, I was mesmerized by the writing itself. Because the book is too heavy for my daily commute, it's taking me a very long time to read, and I find that I'm actually trying to make it last longer. I've never come across any writing about music (and it's not just jazz) to compare with Davenport's. I would say to anyone who's afraid to read the book because of the terrible images of suffering: The writing is so beautiful and intense that reading it is a joyful experience in itself. (What's really depressing to me is something that's badly or slickly written.)
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