The Bookshelf, our weekly column: giving voices from Hawaii to Venice, via Marbella

Kauai Strong Washburn He is a silly writer of courage and wit. for him Sharks in the time of the rescuers (Editions and / or) – in the original version just like this horrific animal, Sharks in the time of the rescuers It is one of those captivating contemporary novels from the first line. We quote: “When I close my eyes we are all still alive and then it becomes clear what the gods want us.” How to condense the entire lava flow, magical, action-flowing in one sentence. Bravo, okay, let’s get started. we are in Hawaii In 14 Years: From 1995 to 2009. Nainoa is a kid who ends up in the middle To the waves of the Pacific Ocean he is Sharks Instead of tearing it to pieces, she carries it by dragging it with its gold-like teeth into the arms of a mother who has thrown herself in the water. Of course: Nainoa was carried at nightfall in Waip’o Valley on the hood of a ramshackle SUV while before the eyes of mother Malia and her husband Hawaiian spirits are running their torches. Thus Nainoa is destined to have noble and ghostly nightmares, supernatural powers, ammansire bestioleSave men and women from death by putting hands alone, play finesseHarp Without anyone knowing him. The news spreads around the island and even reaches the American continent. Nainoa appears to be the economic lifeblood of parents who live off precarious and casual jobs. Ninoa, however, is not the heroine of the story. The Flores family has two other children: Thank you, Dean. Both are slightly marginalized by mum and father more focused on their brother’s skills, but also with excellent skills: 1st in engineering and dance studyHula; The second became a wonderful sample of Basket. This will be followed by a rapid growth among local teenagers and finally the three boys’ trip to the US West Coast to attend university. Until the “powers” of Ninoa begin to fade away (or not?). Oscillate between Oscillation back and forth From four perspectives (Malia, Nainua, Kawi, Dean), the sharks of the time of the rescuers gracefully and boldly show how, despite the material hardships, the exhaustion of life, the difficulties of growth, The aura and weight of the divine gift, In those “bodies there is joy”. That is, all the heroes in this long story speak in a bold and unscrupulous language, they are sad but do not dive into the tragedy supported by the use of Weird verbs (Tingling, grinding, etc.), funny expressions (raining on spit), and a Intimate secrecy, Colloquial, roughly from eternal youth colloquial (persistently induced farts, stink, copula), use of verbs like “sta”, and colloquial stop-and-go like “ah, yeah, well.” After formal gives air to roughness The reluctant family saga, which fills the corners where death falls, layer by layer of colorful, colorful existential paint (Kaui’s relationship with Van, describing Dean’s training and matches, for example), brings to the truth a masterpiece of meaning: successful attempt Dissolve the exception and the pleasure of magic in the banality and repetition of everyday lifeAnd to make the reader’s attention cling to a strange, gradual sweep of time, chapter by chapter, character by character, as if the not-so-new but well-coordinated medium was an essential and crucial part of the events narrated. Wonderful work by translator Martina Testa. Rating (from the European white hole): 7.5