Materena Mahi, a professional cleaner and the best listener in all of Tahiti, is usually the one solving the problems. But right now she is having trouble with her daughter Leilani, who no longer wants to do what her mother tells her. This colourful slice of Tahitian life is filled with wisdom, laughter - and two of the most stubborn women you will ever meet.
-----------
Set on the beautiful island of Tahiti, Célestine Hitiura Vaite's Frangipani is a beautiful story about a mother's relationship with her daughter. The reader is privy to Materena and her female relatives' joys, heartaches and nail-biting fears as they struggle to impart Tahitian traditions, legends, customs and social etiquettes on their daughters.
Vaite is a natural storyteller. Most of the story is told from Materena's perspective with very few exceptions. Materena is an expert in two areas - Tahitian people and cleaning. When some thing is on her mind she picks up her broom. Materena tells her story with colourful details from the lives of her relatives interwoven. There's never a dull moment in the community of Faa'a. There's always some drama being shared at the Chinese store, someone spending more than 10 minutes in the church confession (a sign of an indiscretion of a sexual nature - according the old ladies of Faa'a), or even total strangers sharing their story and hoping for advice from our heroine.
My favourite chapter, titled "into womanhood", features an emotional Materna giving Leilana her 'Welcome into Womanhood' talk. She's so happy she's in tears while Leilani is impatiently asking when her mom will go to the Chinese store for her Kotex. Materna decides not to give Leilana the tradition talk about not washing your hair during your period, not touching plants, trees and flower during your period and making sure to rest. Instead she gives her a Welcome into Womenhood talk for the new century.
“Don’t get married before you have at least one child with your man. Children are the hardest part in a couple’s life. When there are no children, everything is easy, everybody wants to get married. Once there are children, everything changes.”
There's definitely some truth to this, but surely there's got to be another solution than not getting married. She warns Leilana about all of the things that are wrong with Tahitian men but then also warns her against foreign men.
Fragipani is an easy-read. I would definitely recommend it. I fully intend to search for Célestine Hitiura Vaite's other novels Breadfruit and Tiare in Bloom.
4/5
No comments:
Post a Comment