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House of Many Gods
From Kiana Davenport, the bestselling author of Song of the Exile and Shark Dialogues, comes another mesmerizing novel about her people and her islands. Told in spellbinding and mythic prose, House of Many Gods is a deeply complex and provocative love story set against the background of Hawaii and Russia. Interwoven throughout with the indelible portrait of a native Hawaiian family struggling against poverty, drug wars, and the increasing military occupation of their sacred lands.
Progressing from the 1960s to the turbulent present, the novel begins on the island of O’ahu and centers on Ana, abandoned by her mother as a child. Raised by her extended family on the “lawless” Wai’anae coast, west of Honolulu, Ana, against all odds, becomes a physician. While tending victims of Hurricane ‘Iniki on the neighboring island of Kaua’i, she meets Nikolai, a Russian filmmaker with a violent and tragic past, who can confront reality only through his unique prism of lies. Yet he is dedicated to recording the ecological horrors in his motherland and across the Pacific.
As their lives slowly and inextricably intertwine, Ana and Nikolai’s story becomes an odyssey that spans decades and sweeps the reader from rural Hawaii to the forbidding Arctic wastes of Russia; from the poverty-stricken Wai’anae coast to the glittering harshness of “new Moscow” and the haunting, faded beauty of St. Petersburg. With stunning narrative inventiveness, Davenport has created a timeless epic of loss and remembrance, of the search for family and identity, and, ultimately, of the redemptive power of love.
Progressing from the 1960s to the turbulent present, the novel begins on the island of O’ahu and centers on Ana, abandoned by her mother as a child. Raised by her extended family on the “lawless” Wai’anae coast, west of Honolulu, Ana, against all odds, becomes a physician. While tending victims of Hurricane ‘Iniki on the neighboring island of Kaua’i, she meets Nikolai, a Russian filmmaker with a violent and tragic past, who can confront reality only through his unique prism of lies. Yet he is dedicated to recording the ecological horrors in his motherland and across the Pacific.
As their lives slowly and inextricably intertwine, Ana and Nikolai’s story becomes an odyssey that spans decades and sweeps the reader from rural Hawaii to the forbidding Arctic wastes of Russia; from the poverty-stricken Wai’anae coast to the glittering harshness of “new Moscow” and the haunting, faded beauty of St. Petersburg. With stunning narrative inventiveness, Davenport has created a timeless epic of loss and remembrance, of the search for family and identity, and, ultimately, of the redemptive power of love.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
82 people are currently reading
1771 people want to read
About the author
Kiana Davenport
14 books249 followersKIANA DAVENPORT is descended from a full-blooded Native Hawaiian mother, and a Caucasian father from Talladega, Alabama. Her father, Braxton Bragg Davenport, was a sailor in the U.S. Navy, stationed at Pearl Harbor, when he fell in love with her mother, Emma Kealoha Awaawa Kanoho Houghtailing. On her mother's side, Kiana traces her ancestry back to the first Polynesian settlers to the Hawaiian Islands who arrived almost two thousand years ago from Tahiti and the Tuamotu's. On her father's side, she traces her ancestry to John Davenport, the puritan clergyman who co-founded the American colony of New Haven, Connecticut in 1638.
Kiana is the author of the internationally best-selling novels, SHARK DIALOGUES, SONG OF THE EXILE, HOUSE OF MANY GODS, THE SPY LOVER, and most recently, THE SOUL AJAR, now available in paperback and on Kindle
Kiana is the author of the internationally best-selling novels, SHARK DIALOGUES, SONG OF THE EXILE, HOUSE OF MANY GODS, THE SPY LOVER, and most recently, THE SOUL AJAR, now available in paperback and on Kindle
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 124 reviews
July 31, 2021
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved, loved, loved this book. Two seemingly disparate cultures, are on display in this book. The story of Ana, a native Hawaiian, who grows up on the Wai’ane Coast on the island of O’ahu and the story of Nikolai Volenko, born on the sub-arctic tundra of Northern Russia. What they have in common is the environmental abuse they witness rained down on them by their respective countries/government. This was a thoroughly engrossing love story and I’m so glad I found it! Highly recommended.
I loved, loved, loved this book. Two seemingly disparate cultures, are on display in this book. The story of Ana, a native Hawaiian, who grows up on the Wai’ane Coast on the island of O’ahu and the story of Nikolai Volenko, born on the sub-arctic tundra of Northern Russia. What they have in common is the environmental abuse they witness rained down on them by their respective countries/government. This was a thoroughly engrossing love story and I’m so glad I found it! Highly recommended.
July 31, 2021
10/10 would not recommend. I would not have finished it if not reading for a book club. I was not invested in a single character (and there were many) by the end of 300+ pages. The very definition of biting off more than you can chew in so many ways - too many characters, too many time periods, too many locations, too many difficult topics jammed into one book. It's disappointing, because I think there was a lot there that could have been developed differently into a very compelling novel.
November 8, 2016
See original review here: https://gamingforjustice.com/2016/11/...
House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport was the only book by a Native Hawaiian author I found at my local library. My library did carry a selection of the “top books about or set in Hawaii,” but unfortunately those books are written by White authors or non-Native Hawaiian authors born or living in Hawaii. Kiana Davenport is biracial, Native Hawaiian and White. Her father came to the islands when he was stationed at Pearl Harbor and met Kiana’s mother. As a biracial reader and writer, I look forward to reading biracial and multiracial authors and how their characters may have to navigate two different cultures or how they are perceived in different communities. In addition, this month I aim to feature Native Hawaiian authors and their works in an efforts for more visibility.
Kiana Davenport is able to weave many themes within House of Many Gods. While the book is described as a love story, I honestly did not think or experience it as a romantic love story the way I would expect to… And that was fantastic for me as a reader. The story starts out following Ana, abandoned by her mother Anahola and raised by extended family on the Wai’anae coast, which is west of Honolulu. Ana is a particularly driven and intelligent person and goes to school to ultimately become a physician. While working on the island of Kaua’i, Ana meets Nikolai, a Russian documentary filmmaker who travels the world filming issues of environmental justice. A love story begins between two very stubborn and headstrong people from vastly different cultures. The book focuses almost exclusively on Ana’s life, from a young child all the way through adulthood.
After finishing the novel, I thought the main themes were family, health and ability, and environmental justice, more so than romance. The first comes out immediately as we start reading in the first few chapters, learning about Ana’s family and a little about Anahola in living in California. The narrative of family is powerful because the absence of Anahola is formative in Ana’s identity throughout the story. It impacts how she relates to her extended family, her friends, and her romantic partners. Health and ability tied in directly to Ana’s choice in study and profession – entering the medical field and eventually starting a residency to become a doctor. However, there is a twist when Ana has medical complications when she is a resident in the emergency room. Her struggle through her medical issues were also powerful and tied directly to the themes of family and friends. Both of these themes I would love to talk about more, but I feel like I would be spoiling the book for all of you. I will let you discover this for yourselves.
Environmental justice was a huge backdrop for the story. We are first introduced to the struggle of Native Hawaiian communities against the government when Lopaka, Ana’s favorite cousin and a veteran, starts talking about the bomb and missile tests happening in the valley near the Wai’anae coast. Lopaka organizes protests against these military facilities and when Nikolai comes to Hawaii, Lopaka brings him into the fold as someone who could document the atrocities on the Wai’anae coast. I appreciate the subtle and direct messages about modern day colonialism of sacred Native Hawaiian land in the name of security and defense by the United States government. Remembering that Hawaii was a strategic military base and port, it is not surprising about the further taking of land from Native Peoples to test bombs and missiles.
When Nikolai was first introduced and made his way to Hawaii, I was afraid his story line would be a White Savior narrative. Either his part in the struggle for environmental justice or the love story between him and Ana would result in a perfectly happy ending. And the credit would go to Nikolai. I was pleasantly surprised that Nikolai, even with his own chapters to described his history in Russia, remained a minor character and did not sweep in at the end to save the day. In fact, he respected Ana and simply listened to what she wanted… and left Hawaii. Without going into too many spoilers for this book, I found their relationship at the end of the book to be less about saving one person or another but saving each other from all of the painful experiences of their individual lives. This allowed separation from the White Savior narrative and turned it into one of common understanding and common goals.
The culture infused in this novel is absolutely astounding. First of all, the book is filled with many Hawaiian words (which are italicized in this case and I believe there was a glossary in the back to help non-Native Hawaiian speaking people) to better describe situations, traditions, food, feelings, and beliefs better than any English word could. I am not a big proponent in italicizing non-English words, but I do not mind if an #OwnVoices author chooses to for their own reasons. The glossary is helpful; however, I enjoyed feeling the words in the context of the passage. I may not know what the words mean exactly, but the words immersed me in the story. The number of traditions included also added to the experience. From coming of age traditions to pregnancy traditions, the authentic #OwnVoices writing by Kian Davenport made House of Many Gods unapologetically Hawaiian, away from the paradise and resort narrative.
Overall, I really enjoyed House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport. This is one of those books where I felt like I knew Ana from a child all the way to and through adulthood. The writing in the book has a way at progressing the characters little by little so when I stopped to finally reflect, I realized how much these characters actually changed. It was similar to watching a TV show over ten seasons and looking back at the characters in season one and being awestruck at the development and change in them. Brilliant writing, seriously, to be able to achieve this feeling. If you can find a copy, I would recommend you pick it up!
Final Rating 4.3/5
July 29, 2021
It's a no from me.
November 3, 2014
Kiana Davenport's book House of Many Gods is a wonderful generational novel, beginning in the mid-Sixties and running to present day, along the Waianae coast of Oahu, a neighborhood largely unknown to the outside world. It houses the third-largest homeless population in the United States, made up of mostly ghettoized native Hawaiians. In this novel, set in a house shared by many and various mothers, their children and the occasional father, a story about a young girl takes place. Abandoned by her mother, she struggles within a culture clash within the only home she's ever known, her expectations, the outside world, and how to love. During the book she finds a way through much of the tragedy and poverty around her to become a doctor, eventually connect the pieces of her life, and travels halfway around the world to rescue a man, also struggling in his native culture, that she'd refused to love. At least as important as the story she tells, Kiana's descriptions and narrative, as lush and rich as a tropical rainforest, brings along the deep abiding spiritualism of a Hawaiian spirit subjugated by a profusion of foreign influences, from the missionaries to the more recent intrusions of Asian, and most of all, the United States, influences. It's as if Kaui Hart Hemmings (The Descendants) meets Gregory David Roberts (Shantaram) in Hawaii. I rank Kiana Davenport alongside my favorite authors, Hemmings, Donna Tart, Marisa Pessl, and Dennis Lehane. This will be a read you cannot put down and will never forget.
November 1, 2008
this book was beautifully written. it follows two stories that gradually interweave. one about a native hawaiian family struggling with poverty, drugs, and unjust u.s. military practices in hawaii. the other about a boy growing up in post world war two russia.
much of the book was horribly depressing, as it dealt with the effects of nuclear testing on civilian populations. thinking of all the lives lost, genetic mutations, birth defects, and cancers caused by all of the nuclear fallout is really sickening and at times i had to stop reading the book because it was just too depressing. i just can't believe the things governments will do to their own people just for the sake of making a bomb.
but the writing was beautiful and the themes of love and forgiveness and family and culture outweighed the horrors of the other parts.
i think you should check it out. (if it helps, alice walker and isabel allende both praise kiana davenport on the back of this book)
much of the book was horribly depressing, as it dealt with the effects of nuclear testing on civilian populations. thinking of all the lives lost, genetic mutations, birth defects, and cancers caused by all of the nuclear fallout is really sickening and at times i had to stop reading the book because it was just too depressing. i just can't believe the things governments will do to their own people just for the sake of making a bomb.
but the writing was beautiful and the themes of love and forgiveness and family and culture outweighed the horrors of the other parts.
i think you should check it out. (if it helps, alice walker and isabel allende both praise kiana davenport on the back of this book)
July 10, 2010
What I liked:
*descriptions of Hawaii, its landscape, people and culture
*learning about how the U.S.government used the Hawaiian Islands as bomb testing grounds, which destroyed the environment and imperiled residents' health
*experiencing a different economic class than is usually portrayed in novels about Hawaii
*the idea of the plot (two people who have been bruised and battered by their circumstances find an unlikely love)
*the cover
What I disliked:
*few of the characters were believable
*I found much of the writing overblown and unrealistic
*I thought Davenport was much better when she wrote about Hawaii than when she wrote about Russia, i.e., Hawaii as a people and setting was lush and nuanced; Russia was stereotypically bleak
*the plot in specific (much of the action was hard to believe, and felt contrived
Other reviewers seemed to love this book more than I could.
*descriptions of Hawaii, its landscape, people and culture
*learning about how the U.S.government used the Hawaiian Islands as bomb testing grounds, which destroyed the environment and imperiled residents' health
*experiencing a different economic class than is usually portrayed in novels about Hawaii
*the idea of the plot (two people who have been bruised and battered by their circumstances find an unlikely love)
*the cover
What I disliked:
*few of the characters were believable
*I found much of the writing overblown and unrealistic
*I thought Davenport was much better when she wrote about Hawaii than when she wrote about Russia, i.e., Hawaii as a people and setting was lush and nuanced; Russia was stereotypically bleak
*the plot in specific (much of the action was hard to believe, and felt contrived
Other reviewers seemed to love this book more than I could.
December 9, 2017
pretty interesting. i love stories about hawaii. those islands have had the worst treatment than any other colonial possession. somehow they have retained their uniqueness as a people.
August 17, 2022
4.5 stars
July 3, 2014
Kiana Davenport is at her best when describing the world of Hawaii's native people, and she does it well here. Touched with lyricism and the language of a people unknown to many of us, this novel rings with truth and leaves the sadness and mystery of a real life in its wake.
Ana is raised in her extended family's home and yearns for her absent mother. Redemption, forgiveness, and acceptance must all be taught at a hard price to Ana and her mother in this novel. At times I wanted to shake Ana; the mark of a great story-teller.
This is also, of course, a love story, though I found Ana and Nikolai's time together sort of a side note, really, and Nikolai himself to be strangely paper-like. As if his experiences in Russia were a strange afterthought. I would have liked to have seen more of Ana's mother's story, instead.
It is the story of a mother and daughter and the choices that they make that really resonates here, how we can hurt the innocent with seemingly innocent choices, and how anger serves no one. Wound throughout are gorgeous descriptions of an island and a people who are struggling to find their place in the world around them, told with an insider's tongue and knowledge. Beautiful and deceptively simple, this novel will leave you wanting to book a trip to Hawaii and call your mama at the same time.
Ana is raised in her extended family's home and yearns for her absent mother. Redemption, forgiveness, and acceptance must all be taught at a hard price to Ana and her mother in this novel. At times I wanted to shake Ana; the mark of a great story-teller.
This is also, of course, a love story, though I found Ana and Nikolai's time together sort of a side note, really, and Nikolai himself to be strangely paper-like. As if his experiences in Russia were a strange afterthought. I would have liked to have seen more of Ana's mother's story, instead.
It is the story of a mother and daughter and the choices that they make that really resonates here, how we can hurt the innocent with seemingly innocent choices, and how anger serves no one. Wound throughout are gorgeous descriptions of an island and a people who are struggling to find their place in the world around them, told with an insider's tongue and knowledge. Beautiful and deceptively simple, this novel will leave you wanting to book a trip to Hawaii and call your mama at the same time.
January 19, 2019
I read this when it was first published, the third of Davenport's novels set in Hawaii. This story extends from Nanakuli, on the island of Oahu, to Archangel'sk, in Russia. Usually I devour good stories, but this one floored me. I would read a little and begin crying, pretty soon sobbing, and I couldn't read the words, so I would have to put it down and come back later to the story. And the story, oh my, love, loss and redemption in abundance. I couldn't pick up another book for days after finishing this book.....that's how thoroughly it haunted me. Read it! Kiana Davenport, thank you and please write more!
May 11, 2013
For fans of Kiana Davenport, this book does not disappoint. It again explores history - this time that of Hawaii and Russia. It again challenges the reader to explore current day issues - this time the potential consequences of environmental pollution. And, again, she draws us into the lives of people damaged by drugs, war, poverty, stubbornness and despair. Kiana Davenport has a gift for describing Hawaii and its people while weaving in several detailed, and sometimes odd, story lines. Whether describing the luscious Hawaiian islands or a room "so small that it could be crossed in 11 steps", we are transported to the place and time of the characters. Another good story.
February 20, 2019
I wanted to,like this, I really did.... and I did like learning a little about Hawaiian culture, but that’s about all I liked. The characters seemed shallow and unconvincing, the plot was either predictable or outrageously unlikely — a wealthy, wise and generous male benefactor! an obstetrician giving birth without even a trained midwife on hand! glamorous Russian dissidents! —- the result was that I really didn’t care about any of these people. I had to force myself to finish the book.
January 9, 2015
Excellent book, I felt so engaged and engulfed in the whole story! Very descriptive as far as the backdrop, & backgrounds of the characters and just the overall emotions of character narrative detail provided individually in every chapter. KD's a great story teller indeed! I'm looking forward to reading her other books! This book definitely met my expectations!
February 4, 2024
Disclaimer: I received this book from the library. Support your local library! All opinions are my own.
Book: House of Many Gods
Author: Kiana Davenport
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Diversity: Hawaiian MC and characters, Jewish characters
Recommended For...: historical fiction readers
Publication Date: June 26, 2007
Genre: Historical Fiction
Age Relevance: Animal violence, gun violence, drugs, language, abuse, and religion mentioned.
Explanation of Above: While I had to DNF the read, for what I did read I noticed that there were some animal violence, drugs, and gun violence in the book. There is some cursing and abuse. The Christian religion and the Jewish religion are also mentioned.
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages: 352
Synopsis: From Kiana Davenport, the bestselling author of Song of the Exile and Shark Dialogues, comes another mesmerizing novel about her people and her islands. Told in spellbinding and mythic prose, House of Many Gods is a deeply complex and provocative love story set against the background of Hawaii and Russia. Interwoven throughout with the indelible portrait of a native Hawaiian family struggling against poverty, drug wars, and the increasing military occupation of their sacred lands.
Progressing from the 1960s to the turbulent present, the novel begins on the island of O’ahu and centers on Ana, abandoned by her mother as a child. Raised by her extended family on the “lawless” Wai’anae coast, west of Honolulu, Ana, against all odds, becomes a physician. While tending victims of Hurricane ‘Iniki on the neighboring island of Kaua’i, she meets Nikolai, a Russian filmmaker with a violent and tragic past, who can confront reality only through his unique prism of lies. Yet he is dedicated to recording the ecological horrors in his motherland and across the Pacific.
As their lives slowly and inextricably intertwine, Ana and Nikolai’s story becomes an odyssey that spans decades and sweeps the reader from rural Hawaii to the forbidding Arctic wastes of Russia; from the poverty-stricken Wai’anae coast to the glittering harshness of “new Moscow” and the haunting, faded beauty of St. Petersburg. With stunning narrative inventiveness, Davenport has created a timeless epic of loss and remembrance, of the search for family and identity, and, ultimately, of the redemptive power of love.
Review: I had to regrettably DNF this book at 50 pages. While the book has such beautiful writing, I was just not able to process it all. The book was a confusing for me and there were so many characters to keep up with. The book also had a back and forth timeline that made the read a bit more confusing and in the end, it was me not the book.
Verdict: The book wasn’t for me, but it might be for you!
Book: House of Many Gods
Author: Kiana Davenport
Book Series: Standalone
Rating: 3/5
Diversity: Hawaiian MC and characters, Jewish characters
Recommended For...: historical fiction readers
Publication Date: June 26, 2007
Genre: Historical Fiction
Age Relevance: Animal violence, gun violence, drugs, language, abuse, and religion mentioned.
Explanation of Above: While I had to DNF the read, for what I did read I noticed that there were some animal violence, drugs, and gun violence in the book. There is some cursing and abuse. The Christian religion and the Jewish religion are also mentioned.
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages: 352
Synopsis: From Kiana Davenport, the bestselling author of Song of the Exile and Shark Dialogues, comes another mesmerizing novel about her people and her islands. Told in spellbinding and mythic prose, House of Many Gods is a deeply complex and provocative love story set against the background of Hawaii and Russia. Interwoven throughout with the indelible portrait of a native Hawaiian family struggling against poverty, drug wars, and the increasing military occupation of their sacred lands.
Progressing from the 1960s to the turbulent present, the novel begins on the island of O’ahu and centers on Ana, abandoned by her mother as a child. Raised by her extended family on the “lawless” Wai’anae coast, west of Honolulu, Ana, against all odds, becomes a physician. While tending victims of Hurricane ‘Iniki on the neighboring island of Kaua’i, she meets Nikolai, a Russian filmmaker with a violent and tragic past, who can confront reality only through his unique prism of lies. Yet he is dedicated to recording the ecological horrors in his motherland and across the Pacific.
As their lives slowly and inextricably intertwine, Ana and Nikolai’s story becomes an odyssey that spans decades and sweeps the reader from rural Hawaii to the forbidding Arctic wastes of Russia; from the poverty-stricken Wai’anae coast to the glittering harshness of “new Moscow” and the haunting, faded beauty of St. Petersburg. With stunning narrative inventiveness, Davenport has created a timeless epic of loss and remembrance, of the search for family and identity, and, ultimately, of the redemptive power of love.
Review: I had to regrettably DNF this book at 50 pages. While the book has such beautiful writing, I was just not able to process it all. The book was a confusing for me and there were so many characters to keep up with. The book also had a back and forth timeline that made the read a bit more confusing and in the end, it was me not the book.
Verdict: The book wasn’t for me, but it might be for you!
October 3, 2025
Check out my book review for "House of Many Gods" and more on my blog, Bookmarks & Armchairs! https://www.bookmarksandarmchairs.com/
SPOILER-FREE SUMMARY
Anahola believed that the best thing she could do for her child was to walk away. So, she did. Decades after leaving her child in Honolulu for San Francisco, Anahola feels that her now-grown daughter would want nothing to do with her and maybe the Hawaiian gods and ancestors of her home would not even recognize her anymore. Ana was raised by her extended family in the Wai’anae coast west of Honolulu after her mother abandoned her. Surrounded by poverty and drugs, Ana manages to beat the odds and become a medical doctor. Yet she struggles allowing herself to be vulnerable with others and honest with herself. Nikolai was born in the unforgiving frozen landscape of a gulag, a labor camp in the USSR. He quickly had to learn to survive and escape the harshness of his homeland, turning his skills into a career as a filmmaker. Decades later, while covering the aftermath of Hurricane ‘Iniki, he meets Ana. And the courses of their lives go in a direction neither of them could have anticipated.
IMPORTANT TRIGGER WARNING
House of Many Gods depicts domestic violence, child abandonment, and substance abuse. These scenes and themes are essential to the plot. Please prioritize your own mental health before engaging with any work of fiction or non-fiction. If these would cause you distress or discomfort in any way, then make sure to take necessary steps to prepare and protect yourself before and after reading this book.
MY THOUGHTS: 5 STARS!
House of Many Gods follows the events of three characters’ lives from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s on Hawai’i, the mainland United States, Russia, and other parts of the world, introducing the reader to a large and dynamic cast of supporting characters along the way. Kiana Davenport uses a third-person limited perspective to shadow the experiences of Anahola, Ana, and Nikolai. At the center of these three is Ana, the daughter of Anahola and later acquaintance of Nikolai. Through provocative imagery and emotional prose, the complex pasts of each character expand and contract to display many of the social and the societal issues in a post-Atomic Age world.
From how I interpreted the novel, the complex multi-component story in House of Many Gods touches on several themes that resonate deeply with Indigenous Pacific Islander communities. The first theme that stood out to me is the pain inflicted on a community when they become a minority—both in terms of access to resources as well as in population percentage—in their own homeland. Starting in the 1960s, the narration quickly points out that some of the last communities of “full-blooded” Hawaiians were also among the poverty stricken in Hawaii. Today, Native Hawaiians are an ethnic minority in their own islands.
Second, sometimes it takes more courage to stay in your homeland than to leave for a place with greater prospects and opportunities. This is stated early on in the story in the context of one character leaving Hawai’i for the mainland and is reflected later when a character in Russia refuses to leave their country, regardless of what their country has become. More often than not, the decision to leave your homeland for greater opportunities elsewhere is a difficult decision for someone to make. The nuance between the choosing to leave or to stay is handled delicately in House of Many Gods, conveying Kiana Davenport’s care and respect for the topic. The third theme that stood out to me—and the one that resonated most deeply with me—was the fear of losing the connection to your heritage by being away from your homeland for too long. I am Indigenous Pacific Islander who is now a part of the Chamorro diaspora in the mainland United States. One character’s anxiety that her gods and ancestors would no longer know or recognize her after being away from Hawaii for so long brought tears to my eyes.
Fourth, Kiana Davenport does not shy away from the topics of intense militarization and the history of nuclear industry by the United States in the Pacific as well as by Russia in the USSR. Indigenous Pacific Islanders have fought and died for the United States in every conflict since WWI. This is reflected by the many wounded and deeply traumatized military veterans in Anahola and Ana’s family. In the decades following WWII, Pacific islands were used as detonation sites for the testing of nuclear weaponry by the United States. Today, human populations throughout the Pacific have disproportionately high rates of different kinds of cancers, an aspect reflected by the number of individuals who become diagnosed with cancer throughout the story. The theme of nuclear industry is further expanded in House of Many Gods with the brief mention of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Pripyat, a town established to build nuclear industry in the Ukrainian area of the USSR.
The fifth theme in House of Many Gods—stressed in the final chapters of the novel—is the complex relationship between truth and lies. Twisting the truth is presented as an essential survival skill for the Hawaiian and Russian characters throughout the story. Anahola and Ana both give and (at first unknowingly) receive slightly altered versions of reality to those around them. For them, these twists serve the purpose of self-protection by hiding and concealing certain aspects of the past. But for Nikolai and the other characters still living in Russia, these distortions mean the difference between living free or spending years as prisoners in a labor camp.
My overall rating for Kiana Davenport’s House of Many Gods is 5 out of 5 stars! This book has easily and quickly become one of my new favorite works of fiction. Kiana Davenport’s prose is thought-provoking and evocative. The characters and their respective arcs are distinct and intense. This story deftly explores a wide range of important themes—important for many communities, but especially for Pacific Islanders—and engages with a plethora of contentious issues. Once the different plot lines converged, the story went in a truly surprising direction. This is the first novel I have read from Kiana Davenport, and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future. I highly recommend House of Many Gods to anyone who is a fan of complex multi-generational tales.
Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport.
SPOILER-FREE SUMMARY
Anahola believed that the best thing she could do for her child was to walk away. So, she did. Decades after leaving her child in Honolulu for San Francisco, Anahola feels that her now-grown daughter would want nothing to do with her and maybe the Hawaiian gods and ancestors of her home would not even recognize her anymore. Ana was raised by her extended family in the Wai’anae coast west of Honolulu after her mother abandoned her. Surrounded by poverty and drugs, Ana manages to beat the odds and become a medical doctor. Yet she struggles allowing herself to be vulnerable with others and honest with herself. Nikolai was born in the unforgiving frozen landscape of a gulag, a labor camp in the USSR. He quickly had to learn to survive and escape the harshness of his homeland, turning his skills into a career as a filmmaker. Decades later, while covering the aftermath of Hurricane ‘Iniki, he meets Ana. And the courses of their lives go in a direction neither of them could have anticipated.
IMPORTANT TRIGGER WARNING
House of Many Gods depicts domestic violence, child abandonment, and substance abuse. These scenes and themes are essential to the plot. Please prioritize your own mental health before engaging with any work of fiction or non-fiction. If these would cause you distress or discomfort in any way, then make sure to take necessary steps to prepare and protect yourself before and after reading this book.
MY THOUGHTS: 5 STARS!
House of Many Gods follows the events of three characters’ lives from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s on Hawai’i, the mainland United States, Russia, and other parts of the world, introducing the reader to a large and dynamic cast of supporting characters along the way. Kiana Davenport uses a third-person limited perspective to shadow the experiences of Anahola, Ana, and Nikolai. At the center of these three is Ana, the daughter of Anahola and later acquaintance of Nikolai. Through provocative imagery and emotional prose, the complex pasts of each character expand and contract to display many of the social and the societal issues in a post-Atomic Age world.
From how I interpreted the novel, the complex multi-component story in House of Many Gods touches on several themes that resonate deeply with Indigenous Pacific Islander communities. The first theme that stood out to me is the pain inflicted on a community when they become a minority—both in terms of access to resources as well as in population percentage—in their own homeland. Starting in the 1960s, the narration quickly points out that some of the last communities of “full-blooded” Hawaiians were also among the poverty stricken in Hawaii. Today, Native Hawaiians are an ethnic minority in their own islands.
Second, sometimes it takes more courage to stay in your homeland than to leave for a place with greater prospects and opportunities. This is stated early on in the story in the context of one character leaving Hawai’i for the mainland and is reflected later when a character in Russia refuses to leave their country, regardless of what their country has become. More often than not, the decision to leave your homeland for greater opportunities elsewhere is a difficult decision for someone to make. The nuance between the choosing to leave or to stay is handled delicately in House of Many Gods, conveying Kiana Davenport’s care and respect for the topic. The third theme that stood out to me—and the one that resonated most deeply with me—was the fear of losing the connection to your heritage by being away from your homeland for too long. I am Indigenous Pacific Islander who is now a part of the Chamorro diaspora in the mainland United States. One character’s anxiety that her gods and ancestors would no longer know or recognize her after being away from Hawaii for so long brought tears to my eyes.
Fourth, Kiana Davenport does not shy away from the topics of intense militarization and the history of nuclear industry by the United States in the Pacific as well as by Russia in the USSR. Indigenous Pacific Islanders have fought and died for the United States in every conflict since WWI. This is reflected by the many wounded and deeply traumatized military veterans in Anahola and Ana’s family. In the decades following WWII, Pacific islands were used as detonation sites for the testing of nuclear weaponry by the United States. Today, human populations throughout the Pacific have disproportionately high rates of different kinds of cancers, an aspect reflected by the number of individuals who become diagnosed with cancer throughout the story. The theme of nuclear industry is further expanded in House of Many Gods with the brief mention of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Pripyat, a town established to build nuclear industry in the Ukrainian area of the USSR.
The fifth theme in House of Many Gods—stressed in the final chapters of the novel—is the complex relationship between truth and lies. Twisting the truth is presented as an essential survival skill for the Hawaiian and Russian characters throughout the story. Anahola and Ana both give and (at first unknowingly) receive slightly altered versions of reality to those around them. For them, these twists serve the purpose of self-protection by hiding and concealing certain aspects of the past. But for Nikolai and the other characters still living in Russia, these distortions mean the difference between living free or spending years as prisoners in a labor camp.
My overall rating for Kiana Davenport’s House of Many Gods is 5 out of 5 stars! This book has easily and quickly become one of my new favorite works of fiction. Kiana Davenport’s prose is thought-provoking and evocative. The characters and their respective arcs are distinct and intense. This story deftly explores a wide range of important themes—important for many communities, but especially for Pacific Islanders—and engages with a plethora of contentious issues. Once the different plot lines converged, the story went in a truly surprising direction. This is the first novel I have read from Kiana Davenport, and I look forward to reading more of her work in the future. I highly recommend House of Many Gods to anyone who is a fan of complex multi-generational tales.
Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of House of Many Gods by Kiana Davenport.
June 12, 2025
I rate this 3.5 stars. Frankly, I think Davenport was too ambitious and took on too much. The book is epic in scope, not just geographically (ranging all over the world, with its highest concentration in Hawaii, San Francisco, and Russia) but thematically as well, taking on a large number of conflicts and themes, including family relationships (especially mother-daughter), cultural/religious/social clashes, political battles, international wars and the ravages of those wars, and others. There were times when I found this sprawl overwhelming, and I wish she'd narrowed the sweep. I'm not sure, for example, that she needed both Max and Nikolai to make essentially the same point about the dangers of radiation and other toxic substances. In addition, the whole side story about Makua Valley--its bombing by the US military, the resulting protests by Hawaiians--struck me as belonging in a whole separate narrative, especially since it dipped into the supernatural when the ancient Hawaiian Mother Earth herself joined the protest. As chicken-skin-producing as that chapter is, I didn't find it remotely plausible given the at-times bleakly (and godlessly) realistic thrust of the rest of the novel.
What I did enjoy, partly because I live in Honolulu, is the depiction of Anahole and Ana's large, messy Hawaiian family and the rich traditions rooted in their culture. I also found the Russian Nikolai to be a wonderfully colorful and endearing character. Finally, I appreciated the themes of redemption, survival in the face of impossible odds, and the supreme power of love.
What I did enjoy, partly because I live in Honolulu, is the depiction of Anahole and Ana's large, messy Hawaiian family and the rich traditions rooted in their culture. I also found the Russian Nikolai to be a wonderfully colorful and endearing character. Finally, I appreciated the themes of redemption, survival in the face of impossible odds, and the supreme power of love.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 25, 2018
This was a beautifully written book that gave me what I wanted from my Hawai'i reading list -- a better understanding of the REAL Hawai'i, away from Honolulu and Waikiki. Ana is a native Hawai'ian born in a village far up the coast from Honolulu. She grows up there with her large extended family, lots of them damaged physically and psychologically by the Vietnam War. The valley where she comes from is full of problems -- gangs, drugs, violence -- and she is deserted by her mother and raised by her family but she manages to become a doctor. Still, she never has any desire to leave her family, no matter how messed up they are.
She meets and becomes the lover of a Russian named Niki, a guy whose childhood makes hers look like The Brady Bunch. Seriously. Nothing is as horrible as Russia in this book. People who never bathe and grow moss ON THEIR BODIES WHILE THEY'RE ALIVE? A whole land full of starving, freezing people? A wife with cancer who Niki has to help to die by freezing her in the snow? A restaurant with a mummified, dead human in the corner? I do not ever want to go to Russia, no thank you. Niki becomes a documentary film maker focusing on the evils of pollution. He meets Ana after a hurricane in the Hawai'ian islands. Their story becomes the next chapter in the story of this book.
I loved it and it was a great escape from the terrible Michigan winter.
She meets and becomes the lover of a Russian named Niki, a guy whose childhood makes hers look like The Brady Bunch. Seriously. Nothing is as horrible as Russia in this book. People who never bathe and grow moss ON THEIR BODIES WHILE THEY'RE ALIVE? A whole land full of starving, freezing people? A wife with cancer who Niki has to help to die by freezing her in the snow? A restaurant with a mummified, dead human in the corner? I do not ever want to go to Russia, no thank you. Niki becomes a documentary film maker focusing on the evils of pollution. He meets Ana after a hurricane in the Hawai'ian islands. Their story becomes the next chapter in the story of this book.
I loved it and it was a great escape from the terrible Michigan winter.
July 18, 2019
3.5 stars. Of course, I loved how much Hawaii culture that Davenport infused into this novel. I also appreciated how she wove together the underlying themes of nuclear testing, the fallout from that (including cancer), and the Hawaiian environmental justice movement. Davenport tends to write about strong women who alienate the people they love out of their need for self-sufficiency, and Ana was the epitome of that. I understand why Ana made the choices she did, but I still wanted to shake her sometimes and tell her to stop being so prideful. Davenport did a masterful job of showing how Ana is constantly running away from home, just like her mother did, even though Ana rarely leaves the island and her mother ran away to the mainland. However, the character of Nicolai and the Russia connection kind of fell short for me. I was originally hopeful when the parallels between the Chernobyl disaster and nuclear testing around Hawaii was introduced, but something about the Russia-Hawaii connection never really clicked for me. Nicolai was also such a larger than life character that he never felt real to me, more like a caricature, which kept the book from being 4 stars for me.
January 19, 2019
Kiana Davenport is a find! If you love reading and love books which teach something new, do not pass this up.
I doubt you find House of Many Gods on lists recommended for feel good book clubs; it is far too real and raw for the I want to hear something positive crowd. I am not aware that Oprah has recommended it and I doubt she will.
There is a family story, a romance, a young determined woman from disadvantaged background overcomes obstacles and does well story as well as the searing story of a lost boy from Russia, all told against the background of extreme environmental degradation caused by militaristic capitalism in the South Pacific and militarized socialism in Russia. Davenport's bill of particulars excuses no one.
I found the book on a library discard table and I am not at all surprised the library elected to not keep it.
I doubt you find House of Many Gods on lists recommended for feel good book clubs; it is far too real and raw for the I want to hear something positive crowd. I am not aware that Oprah has recommended it and I doubt she will.
There is a family story, a romance, a young determined woman from disadvantaged background overcomes obstacles and does well story as well as the searing story of a lost boy from Russia, all told against the background of extreme environmental degradation caused by militaristic capitalism in the South Pacific and militarized socialism in Russia. Davenport's bill of particulars excuses no one.
I found the book on a library discard table and I am not at all surprised the library elected to not keep it.
May 19, 2024
Ana Kapakahi is left to the care of her sprawling storybook family as a child, when her mother leaves Hawaii to find a better life in Los Angeles. Planted in Ana’s soul when she’s barely a red-mud-footed toddler in the hills of Nanakuli, the seed of her mother’s rejection grows into pride and ambition that drive Ana to become the first college graduate in her family, a role-model to uncles maimed by every American war and cousins on the brink of despair and drug-addiction. Although she grows self-sufficient and alienated through her years as an ER intern and a bout with cancer, her family believes that Ana is meant to be a healer of others, the divine power of caring and touching having been passed
on to her with the dying breath of her maternal grandmother.
on to her with the dying breath of her maternal grandmother.
December 20, 2017
A really good read. So chock full of details you knew the author had to be a native Hawaiian. I have been there several times and got hints of the culture there, but this book gave the reader a deep dive into the familial relationships inherent in Hawaiian culture. Oddly, I found most of the secondary characters to be more fleshed out and interesting than the main character, which made the book feel like an autobiography by a person who wasn't as self aware as much as being a good observer and chronicler of their community. Great dive into Russian culture too! My favorite observation was that Russians don't adapt. Even when they leave Russia. Such heartbreak and such joy in the same book.
December 26, 2018
What intrigued me about this book was the unlikely connection between Russia and Hawaii. Both cultures are equally familiar to me as places I've called home. Davenport has produced an accurate capture of two very unique and somewhat inscrutable cultures, and she did so with sensitivity and bluntness. It's a fascinating read and, while the characters are not naturally sympathetic, they compel you into their story and world. One of my goals in reading is to find empathy with a person or culture I do not fully understand. "House of Many Gods" is certainly an exercise in reading empathy and well worth the time.
April 26, 2021
4/5. Recommended by a fellow reader. This is a love story, its characters so vividly portrayed I cared about what happened to them almost from the start. This is a story about Hawaii, the true grittiness of the people's lives and the myths that make the place so special. This is a story about Russia and what it did to its own citizens. It's a story about greed and anger and degradation of the environment through weapons testing. And it's a story about hope. I didn't plan to like this story as much as I did, and some sloppy editing in the middle of it didn't help, but I closed the book deeply moved by these larger-than-life characters.
August 5, 2018
I read this right after finishing "The Song of the Exile," which I read to continue my focus on Pacific Islander authors during Asian Pacific Islander American Heritage Month (May) as well as my push to read more Native and Latinx authors this year. And I generally liked that one and "Shark Dialogues" better than this one. (The three books are somewhat interlinked, especially Exile and House. Pono from Shark appears in Exile.)
Her writing has a sweeping quality that drew me into the story and worlds. I particularly like how she incorporates Hawaiian cultural ideas and practices into the book. And in this book, she explains, in story, the situation of Native Hawaiians who live on the Wai'anae coast and generally about US military action in the islands.
I did think the Russian piece seemed contrived. (Furthermore, the written dialog of Russian characters sounded like Natasha from "Rocky and Bullwinkle.")
A few quotes:
"Reflecting on the long, exhausted hours of that day--the birthing, and praying, the taking and sharing of pain, and love--in that moment Ana saw how rich they were, how thick their blood coursing the generations. It was a family that did not keep up with time, but rather allowed time to pause, stand still, and catch its breath. A family conjoined and condemned to each other for now, for good, forever. In those moments she understood that these people, and this house, would always be her solace. Her language. And her place. Though she would try to overcome it."
"Ana thought how she had taken it for granted, the light and the rhythms and the motion. The scents and colors, and proportions. The way shadows made plain things interesting, the way space met in empty corners, creating a place for the eyes to rest. She wanted to dwell on these things again. To slow down and understand their 'thingness.' She understood this would take time; there would be periods of backtracking."
"No high-rise buildings, she often forgot how on the coast the sky was everywhere, sunlight so blinding that folks could not think. They just lived stunned. She saw children leaping in the sea that paralleled the highway, their skin so coppery and shimmering they seemed to be covered with mirrors. She felt herself unwind, reentering a world that required no effort of her. Yet it required everything."
Her writing has a sweeping quality that drew me into the story and worlds. I particularly like how she incorporates Hawaiian cultural ideas and practices into the book. And in this book, she explains, in story, the situation of Native Hawaiians who live on the Wai'anae coast and generally about US military action in the islands.
I did think the Russian piece seemed contrived. (Furthermore, the written dialog of Russian characters sounded like Natasha from "Rocky and Bullwinkle.")
A few quotes:
"Reflecting on the long, exhausted hours of that day--the birthing, and praying, the taking and sharing of pain, and love--in that moment Ana saw how rich they were, how thick their blood coursing the generations. It was a family that did not keep up with time, but rather allowed time to pause, stand still, and catch its breath. A family conjoined and condemned to each other for now, for good, forever. In those moments she understood that these people, and this house, would always be her solace. Her language. And her place. Though she would try to overcome it."
"Ana thought how she had taken it for granted, the light and the rhythms and the motion. The scents and colors, and proportions. The way shadows made plain things interesting, the way space met in empty corners, creating a place for the eyes to rest. She wanted to dwell on these things again. To slow down and understand their 'thingness.' She understood this would take time; there would be periods of backtracking."
"No high-rise buildings, she often forgot how on the coast the sky was everywhere, sunlight so blinding that folks could not think. They just lived stunned. She saw children leaping in the sea that paralleled the highway, their skin so coppery and shimmering they seemed to be covered with mirrors. She felt herself unwind, reentering a world that required no effort of her. Yet it required everything."
September 25, 2019
This book was depressing but it's a story that needs to be told in this depressing manner. It is a love story, but not in the traditional sense. The writing made the book drag on forever for me, and I couldn't get into it. However, I loved all the traditional Hawaiian knowledge and the plight and frustration native Hawaiians went through in regards to their sacred lands and environmental justice. It made me miss Hawaii's beauty and made me ache for all the troubles that the native Hawaiians went through--and still are going through--when the U.S. took over their lands.
November 5, 2024
Such a hard one to review. Some of this book was absolutely brilliant and incredibly moving (the generations of women supporting Rosie’s childbirth, max’s final helicopter ride), but so much of this book was so frustrating. The pacing was a mess, and I couldn’t understand why certain parts of the book were glossed other and others given so much time. In the end, this book had simply far Too Much Going On. If it had focused on the dual stories of Ana and Anahola’s lives and the family around them, it could’ve been wonderful!
August 7, 2021
I really wasn't sure about this book in the beginning. I was ambivalent for the first several dozen pages. But, I did find that the story grew on me as I kept going, and I became more engrossed in the characters' lives. I ended up enjoying it a lot. I would give it 3.5 stars, if goodreads allowed halves.
My favorite part was definitely toward the end, when the trucks carrying the tutu women rolled up on the scene.
My favorite part was definitely toward the end, when the trucks carrying the tutu women rolled up on the scene.
December 14, 2021
Love the Oahu setting and references to places I knows and the depictions of Hawaiian culture, history and legends. I knew about the bomb testing done in Micronesia and the Hawaii island of kaho’olawe but didn’t realize how much bombing was done on Oahu or the environmental impact and protests in the sixties.
While I appreciate the parallel’s drawn to Russia, overall that story line didn’t resonate with me and the Russian character Nikolai seemed overly dramatic and stereotypical.
While I appreciate the parallel’s drawn to Russia, overall that story line didn’t resonate with me and the Russian character Nikolai seemed overly dramatic and stereotypical.
Read
May 21, 2023I got this book while on vacation because I wanted to read a Hawaiian story written by a Hawaiian. I’m not going to rate this because it was just a not for me book. While beautifully written and rich in history, I didn’t enjoy the story itself. This is one of those - everyone has a tragic backstory- “sad girl” books and I personally just don’t like that.
But if you love sad literary fiction, this book is for you!
But if you love sad literary fiction, this book is for you!
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