Sharks in the Time of Saviors ★★★★☆

Sharks in the Time of Saviors (Click Here To Buy)

★★★★☆

Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn is a fiction book about a Hawaiian family in the 2000s.

I checked this book out from the library.

Written mostly from the perspective of three siblings who grow up in Hawaii and move to the main land for college. Dean, the oldest, wants to become a famous basketball player and goes to college in Gonzaga. Nainoa has the ability to heal people who are dying and struggles to harness his power. He ends up working in Portland as an EMT. Kaui, the youngest, always feels in the shadow of her brother and overcomes this by studying very hard in school and going to college in San Diego. The book chapters switch between each sibling, sometimes adding the mother’s perspective. Money is always an issue in the family and they are always just struggling to get by. Each character, especially the siblings, are always comparing themselves in relation to Nainoa.

The magic realism that seeps into this book by way of Nainoa’s powers was unexpected and wonderful. I started this book totally blown away by this unique twist and then the book just kept expanding in this very sad and human way that I never saw coming. It’s a sad book sprinkled with hope and I think worth the read!

Fun fact: I had to travel to Gonzaga to take the GRE Psychology exam and brought this book with me! Pic taken in front of College Hall.

If you liked Sharks in the Time of Saviors, I also recommend Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia, The Mountains Sing by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card, and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.

Happy reading!

Ms.Bjork