Frangipani

by Célestine Vaite

Overview

In Tahiti, it's a well-known fact that women are wisest, mothers know best, and Materena Mahi knows best of all — or so everyone except for her own daughter thinks. Soon enough, mother and daughter are engaged in a tug-of-war that tests the bonds of their love.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316114660
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	02/07/2006
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	840,807
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Célestine Vaite grew up in a big extended family in Faa-a-Tahiti, where storytelling was a part of her every day life. Her first two novels about the Mahi and Tehana families, Breadfruit and Frangipani, have been published in the UK, the US, Canada, Italy, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands, Brazil, France, Germany and French Polynesia. She now lives on the south coast of New South Wales with her family.

Editorial Reviews

In this whimsical, charming novel (her first to be published in the U.S.), Vaite introduces readers to proud "professional cleaner" Materena Mahi, one of the spunkiest, wisest, lovingest women on the island of Tahiti. With her combustible husband missing after a minor domestic squabble, Materena learns she's pregnant with a daughter. What will she do? Move on-until Pito moves back, of course. "Girls hurt their mother from the day they come into this world.... Girls are a curse," say some island women, but Matarena is delighted with her baby, Leilani, who soon grows into a free-spirited, curious, and sometimes troublesome girl. Materena instructs Leilani in all the folk knowledge of Tahiti-e.g., "To get rid of unwanted guests without hurting their feelings, broom around their feet"-but she can't answer all Leilani's impossible questions ("Who started the French Revolution? What's the medical term for the neck?"). Materena decides to send her to a good Catholic school, but if Leilani makes her a grandmother before she's 40, she's going to scratch out her eyes. Of course Leilani falls in love too young, which is just one of the family troubles Materena weathers with patience-and passion. This story of love, gossip and growing up (even at 40) has all the irresistible freshness of a warm breeze. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

Vaite, a Tahitian living in Australia and an established literary force in that country, makes her American debut with this lovely and transcendent mother-daughter story. Materena follows the path of many Tahitian women by bearing children at a young age, marrying, and cleaning people's houses. While pregnant with her second child and first daughter, Leilani, Materena restyles herself as a "professional cleaner" and becomes indispensable in a wealthy woman's household. Meanwhile, Leilani is a challenge from her birth, always questioning the ways of the universe. Materena uses her spare resources to buy her daughter an encyclopedia, encouraging her to expand her mind and make her way in the world with her brain rather than her body. As a young girl, Leilani is an academic star, but will she turn her back on her potential when love intervenes? After much trial and tribulation, both mother and daughter find a future bright with promise. An intriguing slice of Tahitian life, this is highly recommended for academic and public libraries and a good book club choice as well.-Debbie Bogenschutz, Cincinnati State Technical & Community Coll. Lib. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

A warm and lyrical look at the fabric of family life in Tahiti. Tahiti's languorous inhabitants always seem to end up on Materena Mahi's doorstep-and she just can't keep herself from meddling in their lives. In Materena's world, there is always time to comfort and commiserate. The most common woe? Adult children drifting in and out of their mothers' lives like the tide. This debut novel follows Materena as she raises her three children and endures a tumultuous relationship with her husband. She has lofty aspirations for each of her offspring and fusses over them endlessly. Her children receive Materena's infamous lists for living, including rules for keeping secrets, tenets of giving birth and mandates for visiting foreign countries. As her nest empties, Materena is left to contemplate her future. For decades, she's literally swept aside her needs working hard as the island's most reliable house cleaner. On her 40th birthday, Materena summons the courage to change. Tossing aside her broom, she launches a career as the Oprah of Tahiti, dispensing homespun advice over the radio. Vaite has crafted an unforgettable heroine: Materena is passionate, clever and never without words of wisdom or a bit of folklore to share with a troubled soul. By the end, the reader is left wanting more, more, more. The good news: There are two more installments to come. Vaite uses words to paint a vivid Tahitian landscape worthy of a Gauguin painting and delivers a memorable story about big dreams on a small island.

Kirkus Reviews