Sharks in the Time of Saviors

Praise for Sharks in the Time of Saviors:"With prose that can be breathy and sweaty in one paragraph before gliding softly and tenderly into the next, this passionate writer cries out for us to see Hawaii in its totality: as a place of proud ancestors and gods and spirits, but also of crumbling families and hopelessness and poverty. Of mystery and beauty at every corner." —Imbolo Mbue, New York Times Book Review"It's fitting that Sharks in the Time of Saviors, the radiant debut novel by Kawai Strong Washburn, immediately grips you in its jaw, plunges you into Hawaiin waters, and finally releases you, breathless and changed. . . . The true magic of this tale can be felt in how Washburn alchemizes Hawaiin myth and lore into a modern family epic. . . . There's something bewitching, too, in Washburn's prose—the furious, lively spell of it." —O: The Oprah Magazine"Mixes hardscrabble Hawaiin reality with flights of wonder and the supernatural in a way that is wholly original." —Vanity Fair"Every once in a while, a debut novel is born into the world singing notes so unexpectedly pitch-perfect and melodic that reading it feels like a marvel. Such is the case with Kawai Strong Washburn's Sharks in the Time of Saviors, an epic family saga that nimbly weaves together threads of familial and cultural legend, of human connection and loss, class and capitalism, the meaning of home, all with prose that flows over the reader in a warm, welcome current." —Seattle Times“Reads like hula in modern prose, like the gods have chosen [Washburn] as a vessel to cram all the glory and sadness of these islands into the story of one family. . . . It sounds far out, but much like J.D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey, it’s the ordinariness of the characters’ fears and desires that makes their spiritual connections believable and makes you cheer and weep for them. I tear up as I write this, thinking about so many of the sibling interactions that simultaneously feel like being immersed in a foreign culture, Hawaii, and like watching my own family.” ―San Francisco Chronicle“Gorgeous, honest prose . . . Washburn does for Hawaiian people what Junot Díaz’s The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao does for the Dominican diaspora.” ―Tor.com“Sweeping, effervescent . . . One of the primary delights of this novel is the singular voice that Washburn creates for each of his narrators. He writes with verve and laces their language with wit and Hawaiicisms . . . This novel graces the reader with the spirit of Hawaii, from its fragrant forests to its cultural traditions, and feels, despite its undercurrent of sadness, like a dose of tropical sun.” ―Minneapolis Star Tribune“Part Hawaiian mythology, part modern day reality . . . I was wholly unprepared for the sheer magic of this debut novel, the fierce loyalty characters have for one another and their reverence for the land. Present are the ancestors and the spirits of the island, but also the harsh realities of a changing economy and a family in crisis. Washburn’s compassion for his characters and for his native Hawaiian landscape make for a compelling story about heritage and the bonds of family.” ―Los Angeles Times"Sharks In The Time of Saviors is the novel you never knew you were waiting for. Old myths clash with new realities, love is in a ride or die with grief, Faith rubs hard against magic, and comic flips with tragic so much they meld into something new. All told with daredevil lyricism to burn. A ferocious debut."—Marlon James, author of Black Leopard, Red Wolf“Sharks in the Time of Saviors bursts with life. It is bright and beautifully noisy. It’s so good it hurts and hurts to where it heals. It is revelatory and unputdownable. Washburn is an extraordinarily brilliant new talent. This family saga is shark tooth sharp. Its pages shoot off crackles and sparks, and you come out of it changed. It is sublime.”—Tommy Orange, author of There There“Kawai Strong Washburn has written one of the finest debut novels I’ve read in years, a story about the resilience of family and resilience of home—a story at once lucid, original and transcendent. There is something of a Denis Johnson quality to Washburn’s writing, the way every sentence dances, moves in unexpected ways. Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a piece of magic.” —Omar El Akkad, author of American War“Sharks in the Time of Saviors is the story of a family, a people, and a legend, all wrapped in one. Faith and grief, rage and love, this book pulses with all of it. Kawai Strong Washburn makes his debut with a wealth of talent and a true artist’s eye.” —Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling“Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a lush, virtuosic novel with breathless scope and lasting depth. Kawai Strong Washburn’s vision is searing, his talent explosive, his heart beating loud and proud on every page.” —Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Gold Fame Citrus“How do we confront our own deepest mysteries? Kawai Strong Washburn’s Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a feverish, booming orchestra of a novel that leaps off the cliff’s edge into a world of delirious strangeness, fury, and hope. Read it for its tour de force storytelling. Read it because it is, quite simply, endlessly, mesmerizing.” —Paul Yoon, author of Snow Hunters"Kawai Strong Washburn has written the great Hawaiian novel. This is the story of a family that becomes the story of the islands, as he brilliantly brings to life the culture and history and politics and geography and myths of a place that most people don’t know outside of glossy postcards and beachside vacations. Washburn is a virtuoso who will dizzy and enchant you with sentences that are crazy lyrical but never distract from the raw, comic, devastating, loving familial magic that is the heart of the book. Sharks in the Time of Saviors is a volcanic powerhouse of a debut." —Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon