Kiana Davenport

Song of the Exile is an extraordinary, powerful, heartbreaking novel. It follows the lives of Keo, a native Hawaiian who burns to play jazz, and Sunny, a Korean/Hawaiian student, as they fall in love, are separated by the tides of World War II, and try to find each other afterwards. Through a series of events Sunny is taken as a comfort woman by the Japanese. Her experiences are utterly heartbreaking. Keo's search for her is equally devastating.

The early chapters set in Hawaii are show more transporting. You can smell the flowers, feel the skin, hear the jazz as it pours out of Keo.

"Too many guys with talent jumping on the 'big ride' - name bands, singing strings, all that college swing shit. I want jazz I want to make sounds that don't repeat, stuff that will vanish. Have crowds ripping their throats out for more. To get to that place, we gonna have to sacrifice a little."

Woven throughout Song of the Exile is a homage to the birth and growth of jazz, and the path of Hawaii to statehood. Davenport clearly is a student and lover of jazz, and a virtual soundtrack buzzes behind the novel all along the way. (Below is a playlist of the music mentioned in the book; listen to it as you read the book and get a double history lesson).

Playlist for Song of the Exile

That is the real definition, mon ami. Jazz is the sound of loneliness, human need. Jazz is the tongue of the exile... show less

One of the best books I have ever read. Should be on everyone's required reading list if only to counteract all the books by dead white men. Fascinating stories set in islands across the Pacific, places I've never been and may never make it to, yet still about universal themes like what happens when you marry the tattooed bad boy, move far from home and come back for a visit. Rich juicy stories you will think about for months. The only downside is now everything else I read seems anemic by show more comparison. show less

One of the best books I have ever read. Should be on everyone's required reading list if only to counteract all the books by dead white men. Fascinating stories set in islands across the Pacific, places I've never been and may never make it to, yet still about universal themes like what happens when you marry the tattooed bad boy, move far from home and come back for a visit. Rich juicy stories you will think about for months. The only downside is now everything else I read seems anemic by show more comparison. show less

I picked up this anthology (ebook) on a whim, after reading a promotional blogpost. It's definitely outside my normal reading picks, but it was worth my time. Auntie talks good story.

Davenport weaves wonderful imagery into these tales of love, despair, and decay. She has a strong “islander” voice, and anyone who has spent time listening to traditional storytellers knows that it's a distinctive quality that can't really be classified in any other way. In reading, I wondered repeatedly how show more each story would do as a podcast or audiobook. My opinion is that, given the right narrator match, they would be even more emotional and impactful than the written version. I could hear her storyteller's voice in my mind as I read.

I'm not sure it would be honest to say I “liked” each of these stories, most of them left me feeling sad, some of them were just outright depressing, primarily because they were real and gritty. I couldn't help but wonder if these were stories from her imagination, or if she was relating real happenings. I had to read in small doses. But I also had to read. show less