Published by Back Bay Books, 2004, 294 pages.

“When a child is born in Tahiti, her placenta is buried under a tree and the child and the tree grow together. A healthy tree means a healthy child just as a sick tree means a sick child.”

Set in Tahiti, this book is about the relationship between a mother and her daughter: the ups and downs, disagreements, frustrations, but most of all, the love between them.

Materena lives with her two sons, Tamatoa and Moana, and partner Pito. When the book begins, she is pregnant with her daughter Leilani and is determined to ensure that her daughter will have a bright future.

“Materena lovingly rubs her belly, thinking of her daughter. First she sees a little girl with plaits who looks like her when she was little. Next she sees a confident and strong woman with a degree, a good job, a driver’s license, a briefcase. A champion with words and mathematics—a schoolteacher, a professor, a somebody.”

Leilani is a bright kid, constantly asking Materena questions she cannot answer: Why doesn’t it snow in Tahiti? What’s the medical term for neck? Materena is saved by a visit from a young woman selling encyclopaedias. By the time the exhausted woman leaves, after trying to answer all of Leilani’s questions, Materena has committed to buying her daughter a complete set of encyclopaedias.

Materena, however, does have something to give Leilani: her wisdom and strength. “Don’t eat in front of people if you can’t share.” “To get rid of unwanted guests without hurting their feelings, broom around their feet.”

The book follows Materena as she watches her daughter grow and become the kind of person she brought her up to be: unafraid, intelligent, and independent, although at times, Materena becomes exasperated with her outspoken daughter. Despite this, the two are close, and Leilani looks up to her mother, who is, in her own way, as independent as her daughter.

At the start of the book, Materena tries to persuade Pito to allow her to pick up his weekly salary, so she can buy groceries before he spends it on drink. He won’t let her, saying it will make him look weak in front of the other guys. Materena does it anyway, and Pito leaves her. So she gets herself a job as a professional cleaner, working for a French woman, who gives her a two-year contract—something unheard of among her women friends.

In spite of Pito trying to throw his weight around (he eventually returns to Materena), this is a society of strong women: they are the ones who count, who make sure there is food on the table, and who keep the community together.

Materena is a wonderful character, with wisdom and innate dignity. Both mother and daughter have a down-to-earth attitude and a wicked sense of humour. There is an interview with Célestine Vaite at the end of the book, where she says she based Materena on her mother. Although this is a novel, it feels like Vaite drew a lot of it from her own experiences growing up in Tahiti.

Frangipani gives you a real sense of life in Tahiti, the everyday rhythms, the close community, and the way people are involved in each other’s lives. You also get a sense of the relationship between the local people and the French (Tahiti is part of French Polynesia). 

This is a gentle, humorous and affectionate portrait of a people, full of vivid characters: self-centred Mama Roti, Pito’s mother; gossipy cousin Loma; and cousin Rita, who often finds herself caught between Materena and Leilani.

When Materena finds out that Leilani has a boyfriend, she knows that her relatives will want to know everything about him. She does not want them dropping by to see her. “Because when the relatives are in the whereabouts of your house, they trick you. Before you know it, they’re inside your house. And before you know it, they’re sitting on the sofa in your living room.” She goes instead to the Chinese grocery store, where she knows she will find them, and manages to avoid a lengthy interrogation.

I enjoyed spending time with these people, whose stories moved me and also had me laughing out loud. A warm and delightful read.