When the Shark Bites

By Rodney Morales

Hank Rivera, one-time activist and now full-time construction worker, has just been evicted from his home in Waikiki and is forced to move to the Waianae coast. While in the midst of moving, Hank and his wife, Kanani, are approached by a college student researching the early years of Hawaii's modern civil rights movement, which culminated in the rigorous protests surrounding the bombing of Kahoolawe in 1976. Hesitant at first, Hank and Kanani agree to talk about the past and their role in the movement. Vivid and sometimes painful memories surface, causing both of them to question their feelings of love and loyalty--not only for each other, but for their heritage. Through the voices of Hank, Kanani, and others, Rodney Morales tells a thoroughly contemporary story of Hawaii--one that addresses the realities of asserting one's culture in a multicultural world.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0824825659
• ISBN13: 9780824825652
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
• Length: 376 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A True Island Voice ...

I should first explain that I'm a Honolulu expatriate that spent his first 21 years of life speaking pidgin english and living in the most beautiful place on earth. I'm so old that when I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii wasn't even a state. The islands have undergone dramatic changes over the years and is experiencing a welcome renewal of tradition. These sweeping alterations in population, housing, growth, education, industry, cause casualties that are as apparent to those who are left only with an imprinting of Oahu from earlier times. Mr Morales writes the dialogue for his characters as if from the mouths of the very people I've known, their voices often imbued with the pidgin english of my youth. As the words spool off across the pages, I could put faces to those voices, I could see and sense the settings he puts them in. I easily fell into the plight of the characters and the peril of the environment. The book took life, and I came to care deeply for Henry and Kanani, Manny and Makena. Inside "When The Shark Bites" you'll find a mystery, a love story, several parts that will make you laugh, and a few that will keep you in suspense. For me, it is a compilation of stories that are intertwined, as is life, and when I was done, the first thing I could say about it was that it was such a great ride that was well worth the paddle out. The book calls for patience from the reader who, if indeed patient, will be rewarded with a very enjoyable reading experience.Red Wind The Speed of Darkness An Offering of Rice (Bamboo Ridge, Journal of Hawai'i Literature Ans Arts) Moloka'i