Davenport se basa en las extraordinarias historias de su pueblo para crear una narración atemporal, apasionada, sobre el amor, la supervivencia, la tragedia, el triunfo y la trascendencia vital. Con una prosa cautivadora y un estilo sensual, La canción del exilio sigue la suerte de la familia Meahuna y la odisea de un hombre que busca a su alma gemela, a quien la guerra arrancó de su lado.
Ubicada en un complejo y exótico Hawái, en los duros años de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, esta historia fascinante presenta un imaginativo elenco de personajes que se elevarán, magnífica y contundentemente, por encima de sus circunstancias, redimidos por el poder espiritual del paisaje que los rodea y la impresionante belleza de sus islas.

This book was well-written, with a gripping plot, about the plight of two Hawaiian lovers before, during, and after WWII. The prose is almost lyrical. The boyfriend is a musical genius who made his name on the island playing jazz. He was so good he got the chance to play in New Orleans, and the Paris. Love story with music as background -- this is my type of book! I would have LOVED this novel if it had a good ending. But it had a ending that made me felt disappointed and full of questions. According to the author's interview, what the author really wanted to write about is the plight of comfort women, so after the girlfriend suffered in WWII as a comfort women, the author devoted most of her creative genius on the girlfriend's suffering and trauma, and the author never reunited the lovers. I would have preferred the storyline to just have the girlfriend die in the camps, and write about the trauma of somebody else (the girlfriend's camp mate?) in the latter part of the book, because I have trouble seeing the girlfriend not reuniting with the boyfriend as a plausible turn of events. ( )

Oof...I did like the focus on some lesser-known history, but so much of this book revolved around women reliant upon men or having little to do apart from the men in their lives. There were also a few points of homophobia that didn't sit well even in spite of the context.

I am also split on the audio. For a white woman, the reader Gabrielle de Cuir does an OK job with the Hawaiian and pidgin, but the production quality is pretty shaky and there are reeeeeally corny and distracting music patches throughout. ( )

I feel like this is an underground book. Didn't get enough PR I just happened to stumble upon it and I'm glad I did. I love books that are based in Hawaii now. SO magical. ( )

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 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... ( )