Shark Dialogues by Kiana Davenport (Fiction) Paperback 512 pages (August, 1995) Penguin USA ISBN: 0452274583 Bookshelf Categories Women's Spirituality Hawaiian Huna

Reviews:

Passionate and magical story of Hawaii	9/20/2003
Reviewer: Peggy from Oakland, CA
Kiana Davenport has written a new story of the Hawaiian islands that takes a fiercely feminine perspective. She introduces us to a seer (kahuna) and her four granddaughters of mixed ancestry, following the family history from early island days to the present. Davenport writes both lyrically in a stream-of-consciousness style and factually, alternating appropriately as she deals with her characters' inner lives as well as the bigger world in which they live. Shark Dialogues deals, of course, with issues that are well known: white people conquering another culture and decimating it by disease, religion, and power. But it's a good story, and you'll find yourself wallowing in the island tales of tragedy, drama, and romance. Go for it. It's more than the sum of its parts.

A magical saga. I loved it.	7/17/1997
Reviewer: A reader
"'SAILORS, LEPERS, OPIUM, SPIES--with such a family history, how could we be anyt'ing but sluts?' Dese Jess's last words to her grandmot'er, Pono. Dat night Pono walk into da sea." Thus, begins this wonderful book of story, saga and myth. As I read Shark Dialogues I grew to understand the power and sacredness of the Hawaiian Islands. Also the complexities of the people who have inhabited them. Complexities presented to us with complex and well defined characters -- Women characters! It was so nice to delve into powerful women characters. Beginning with Kelonikoa, a Tahitian princess on the run in the 1800's. From Kelonikoa came a pouch of black pearls, a diary, and a heritage of strong, tenacious women. Her daughter Emma, Emma's daughter Lili, Lili's daughter Pono, and Pono's daughters and grandaughters. Pono, the most powerful, like the sea. Pono, who could dream-see and swim with sharks. Pono, who could be so cruel. Pono, who scared everyone, especially her grandaughter's Jess, Vanya, Ming and Rachel, all the fruit of this woman. This book beautifully shows the continuous cycle and circle of life, as we repeat our ancestors as ourselves. Here, as mothers struggle to love and raise their daughters, and as women seek the same over and over, in their lives, their love and their men. Shark Dialogues is personal, political, historical and magical.

The story of Hawaii itself	4/5/0200
Reviewer: Linda from New York City
Written by a woman of Hawaiian descent who clearly loves her people, this family saga is the story of Hawaii itself. The central character is the matriarch Pono, whose life includes harsh realities and surreal myths. Her long and passionate love for her husband Duke has caused her great joy, but the situations they had to face together have required strength and courage. Pono's four adult granddaughters, each born of a different mixed blood heritage and who now live in various parts of the world, come back to Hawaii to visit, forcing them all to come to terms backgrounds. Their stories are all revealed though flashbacks, going all the way back through seven generations, mixing history with myth in a wonderful array of unforgettable characters. I'll never forget the story of life in a leper colony, or of life on a plantation. I'll long remember the mythical quality of the sea and its ability to both nourish and destroy. There's life and death and passion and joy. There's war and peace and destruction by both human greed and natural forces. At 480 pages, this is a book to sink into and look forward to reading at the end of the day. A book that brings the story of Hawaii alive to the reader and a fresh retelling of truths and legends