House of Many Gods

October 17, 2005
A family battles poverty, government indifference and each other in Davenport's rich third novel (Song of Exile
). Ana's mother, the beautiful Anahola, fled the Hawaiian coastal town of Nanakuli, on Oahu, when Ana was still small for a new life on her own in San Francisco, leaving Ana to bring herself up in a house filled with wounded veteran uncles in an impoverished town riddled by drugs and teenage thugs. Determined not to become like her beloved but abused cousin, pregnant at 15 and stuck, Ana fights her way through college and medical school. Furious at her estranged mother, she nonetheless yearns for her, calling her California home just to hear her breathe. Leery of love and of the damaged men who populate her world, she finally opens her heart to Nikolai Volenko, a Russian filmmaker with a dangerous past, who's come to the Waianae coast to document the threat of a nearby weapons factory. When Niki is forced to return to Russia, Ana has to decide whether to accept her mother's help in finding the man she loves or retreat to the safety of the island she has never left. This is a lush, ambitious novel that delves deeply into familial conflict and forgiveness and offers a fascinating glimpse into the beauty and contradictions of native Hawaiian culture. Agent, Lane Zachary.

December 1, 2005
Grief in -paradise - can be just as deep as grief in harsher climes, maybe even more so. This is but one of the truths illustrated by native islander Davenport ("Song of Exile") in her third novel, in which she weds the suffering and angst of traditional Russian literature with the rich folklore of the Hawaiian Islands. Left by her beautiful, tortured mother to be raised by her extended family, little Ana must survive by her wits in a small village on the west coast of Oahu. All the while, she keeps a tight hold on her anger at this abandonment, using it as fuel to fight her way to a good education and to medical school. As with her earlier work, Davenport mines the depths of emotion and does not shy away from themes of madness and cruelty. Here she follows both Ana and her mother as they encounter love, illness, and redemption, all woven with the mysticism of island lore. Readers who enjoy a "Doctor Zhivago" -like saga will appreciate the broad scope of this novel. Recommended for most fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 9/01/05.]" -Susanne Wells, P.L. of Cincinnati & Hamilton Cty."

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2006
Adult/High School -Written as two stories that come together in a beautiful love story, this novel will appeal to teens on many levels. It follows the life of Ana, raised in Hawaii by a family that includes uncles demoralized by the Vietnam War and addicted to drugs and despair, and women burdened by poverty and child rearing. Determined to break the cycle, Ana manages college and medical school with a ferocity fueled by anger at the mother who left her and by the loving support of her extended family. Nikolai was orphaned as a small child and left to roam the streets of St. Petersburg when his mother died while camping out near the jail where her husband was held as a political prisoner. The young people meet dramatically during a hurricane in Hawaii, and Ana becomes impressed by Nikolai's work as a documentary filmmaker passionately dedicated to exposing the manmade ecological havoc in Russia and in Hawaii. Well-drawn characterizations of the two principals as well as Ana's colorful relatives will capture readers, as will the vivid descriptions of the stark, frozen Russian countryside, its once majestic cities, and the contrasting lush islands of Hawaii." -Jackie Gropman, Chantilly Regional Library, Fairfax County, VA"

Copyright 2006 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 15, 2005
Ana Kapakahi, the abandoned child of an ambitious mother, is raised in a household of ruined vets and women without husbands. She nourishes her anger and resentment toward her mother into adulthood, while in medical school, and during a bout with breast cancer, rebuffing every effort at reconciliation. Ana and her beloved cousin Lopaka--a returned Vietnam vet--are the first of their generation to attend college, promising to brighten the economic prospects for their large, unruly family even as their native Hawaiian paradise is threatened by nuclear testing. During a hurricane on the island of Kauai, Ana meets Niki, a Russian documentary filmmaker, and her perspective on the world, as seen from her tiny island and her close-knit community, changes drastically. They are two profoundly injured people from polar-opposite backgrounds, but their appreciation for the sanctity of the earth and the importance of culture to individual identity forms a powerful attraction. Davenport, author of the critically acclaimed " Song of the Exile" (1999), again works magic with evocative descriptions of place--lush Hawaii and frigid Russia--and poignant portraits of humans with all their flaws.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)