Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000004614230 | PR9619.4.V35 F72 2006 | Open Access Book | Creative Book | Searching... |
Searching... | 30000004614248 | PR9619.4.V35 F72 2006 | Open Access Book | Creative Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
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.
Author Notes
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.
Reviews 3
Publisher's Weekly Review
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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Featuring inimitable "professional house cleaner" Materena Mahi and her family, this is Vaite's first novel to be published in the U.S.; it will be followed by two other novels about the Mahi family. In lilting language rife with many a charming Tahitian saying, Vaite presents an archetypal story of mother--daughter conflict. Materena has always forged the middle path between ancient Tahitian rituals and modern-day know-how. In fact, when she gave the "Welcome to Womanhood" speech to her daughter, Leilani, she recited the old rules verbatim ("Don't wash your hair during your period, otherwise your blood will turn to ice"), but they were accompanied by gales of laughter. All of Materena's friends and some of her relatives avidly seek her opinions because of her commonsense wisdom and life--affirming nature. But when Leilani takes up with the motorcycle-riding Hotu, who has left many broken hearts in his wake, it is Materena who needs emotional support. Conveying a deep respect for women's strength and peppered with catchy aphorisms, this funny and moving mother-daughter story should have wide appeal. --Joanne Wilkinson Copyright 2005 Booklist
Library Journal Review
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. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
