At the novel's beginning, Kinau says of her husband, gone five years and with another woman, "I could not tell if I was more possessed by Ivan's absence than by the man himself." But then a bizarre incident brings Ivan back, and a new chain of passion and leavetaking inevitably spins itself out. Kinau's life is shaped by the stories and feral energy of her mother (a woman of many husbands) and by the always hovering and jealous presence of the gods. Revenge for a boy's accidental death calls for a bounty on sharks and results in a fishing frenzy. Tidal waves have wreaked havoc, and will again. A volcano carries its own portentous message. And finally, there is Hawaii itself, source of loss, of risk, and possibly of salvation.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Synopsis:
Five years after her husband abandons her for another woman, Kinau finds her life disrupted by Ivan's return and the new bonds of passion and leave-taking that he brings with him, in a story of one woman's obsessive love and how she frees herself from it.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherW. W. Norton & Co.
- Publication date1997
- ISBN 10 0393040240
- ISBN 13 9780393040241
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages192
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Rating