Sharks in the Time of Saviors

3.5 stars rounded up. The writing was beautiful and the narrators were excellent. I'm so glad I listened to this on audio, because it really brought the story to life. It is a pretty sad story about a family with great expectations for their children that doesn't work out as planned. I appreciated the incorporation of the land that was weaved throughout the book.

What if your brother was probably the messiah? Or your son was? Or what if your whole family believed you had supernatural abilities that could rescue them from poverty? What would that do to you and your perception of the world? Those are the questions posed in this surreally beautiful book. Set primarily in Hawai'i, it is a story of a family struggling with poverty, marginalization, racism, grief all while working out if they are actually the center of a divine awakening. Vivid description, a depth of characterization, and some really powerful questions. My mother-in-law recommended this to me, and I'm glad she did because I doubt I would have found it on my own. While definitely not recommended if you are looking for something light and fun, I'd pick it up if you want some literary magical realism that will give you things to think about long after you finish.

This lovely novel knows what most people expect from a story about a young Hawai'ian boy who falls overboard into the ocean and is delivered carefully back to his mother by sharks. It is happy to allow those expectations, maybe even to subtly encourage them, even in its own characters, all the while undermining them until they finally crumble.

Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a story about a Hawai'ian/Filipino family, Malia and Augie Flores, and their children Dean, Nainoa, and Kaui. Malia and Augie struggle to make ends meet with their working class wages, but they have great hopes for their kids' abilities to go farther than they were able to. The kids are all brilliant in their chosen areas, and go off to the mainland to pursue their talents, but struggle to find their identities or purposes in life. Nainoa, in particular, carries the burden of his talent for healing and his family's expectations for him as the boy who was rescued by sharks.

The story is told through alternating voices of Malia, Dean, Nainoa, Kaui, and Augie. We get to know the different characters through their voices and their interactions with family members–friction between mother and daughter or brother and brother, tenderness between husband and wife, sibling rivalry, inability to break a silence. Mixed in with the family drama, there are themes of colonialism, reconnecting with land and indigenous spirituality, and being able to live as one truly is.

It took me about 2 days to read this, and I was absorbed almost right away. I did go through a process of feeling some friction between my expectations for the story and what was actually happening, but in the second half of the book I let go and just went where it took me without struggling. In retrospect, I think this process was likely deliberate on the part of the author (since the characters undergo a similar process), and I'm impressed with that.

7 year old Nainoa Flores is gently carried back to the boat he has fallen from in the teeth of a shark. The shark holding him as if made from glass, like he was its child, head up out of the water like a dog. Later Noa will heal a boy's hand torn apart from a firework mishap.

There is magic at work here, the old gods of the island working through this golden boy. But Washburn can't let the story tumble along without dropping ominous portents, foreshadowing some grim future. Meanwhile Noa's two siblings, who interchange chapters tell their story. Of being eclipsed by their brother, or worse being plied for information about how he's doing. How it feels like they are being muscled out of the spotlight of their parents affections and how it sits like a heavy weight with them both. It's this dark cloud rumbling ever present in the distance and it hangs heavy over the story. And then it really starts to pour.

I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to realize I was reading an indigenous story, of the generational trauma of the colonized. How it breaks them and calls them home all the same. But man, just out of the teeth of winter and this was such a grey tale that just sat hard and heavy on the heart.

Is it possible to fall in love with a place you have never been to? I am actually in love with a magical realism version of Hawaii. Washburn's Hawaii. His writing is that powerful. When we had Malia's POV, I was enchanted. She was my clear favorite, and I would wait seemingly forever to get back to her. All of the characters were so well written, so complex and layered.
While I am so very glad I read this (I was going to read this one before it became a Camp TOB pick simply based on the title and description alone), I have to confess that it took me a damned long time to read this. The story had me, right away, and I was all-in. Night marchers? Sharks?!? But then, it lost me. I kept putting it down. I'd say the whole second section, Ascension, I struggled to find that magic again. It came back with the last section! I'm glad I pushed through, but that is the reason why this is not a five star read from me. I still enjoyed it. I will still recommend it, I just can't say it was perfect (my definition of a 5 star read). I predict some of the events in this book will stay on my mind for quite some time.