Books
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The Names of the New World
A superstorm ravages present-day Minneapolis. In its wake, three strangers are thrown together: Naomi is a lawyer by day and an amateur MMA fighter by night, a Pacific Islander transplanted to the Midwest for her less-than-satisfying career. Amaréis a young investment banker determined to make enough money to keep his family safe. And Raheem is a diesel truck mechanic struggling to keep his business afloat.
It soon becomes clear to Naomi that the storm, and subsequent weather disasters, are preventable and man-made. When she initiates a legal battle in response, she finds herself propelled to Washington, DC, and her push for change reaches a violent climax.The Names of the New World is a startling, energetic and optimistic novel, a gripping saga of our times and of the times to come.
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Sharks in the Time of Saviors
One of Barack Obama's Favorite Books of 2020. A finalist for the 2020 PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. Named one of the Best Books of 2020 by the New York Times (#30), the Guardian, the Boston Globe,Oprah Magazine, Kirkus Reviews, BBC Culture, Good Housekeeping, LitHub, Spectrum Culture, Third Place Books, and Powell's Books.
In 1995 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, on a rare family vacation, seven-year-old Nainoa Flores falls overboard a cruise ship into the Pacific Ocean. When a shiver of sharks appears in the water, everyone fears for the worst. But instead, Noa is gingerly delivered to his mother in the jaws of a shark, marking his story as the stuff of legends.
Nainoa’s family, struggling amidst the collapse of the sugarcane industry, hails his rescue as a sign of favor from ancient Hawaiian gods—a belief that appears validated after he exhibits puzzling new abilities. But as time passes, this supposed divine favor begins to drive the family apart: Nainoa, working now as a paramedic on the streets of Portland, struggles to fathom the full measure of his expanding abilities; further north in Washington, his older brother Dean hurtles into the world of elite college athletics, obsessed with wealth and fame; while in California, risk-obsessed younger sister Kaui navigates an unforgiving academic workload in an attempt to forge her independence from the family’s legacy.
When supernatural events revisit the Flores family in Hawai’i—with tragic consequences—they are all forced to reckon with the bonds of family, the meaning of heritage, and the cost of survival.