paulap's review against another edition
fast-paced
3.0
This started feeling like a young story of some girls in Samoa, but then it started having changes of perspective, poetry, mythology, and ended up being more than what I expected. I am not sure I got all that it had to say because of cultural differences, but that is kind of the point of reading diversely, getting out of my comfort zone. I would recommend.
dlberglund's review against another edition
3.0
This is a very difficult book to rate and review. It wasn't written for me, and I had to work pretty hard to read it. It was written by a Samoan woman, about Samoan teenage girls, with liberal use of Samoan phrases, and a large cast of characters. It was challenging to hold the characters in my head, and to interpret the Samoan words and phrases without understanding the cultural context. (I only found when I got to the end that there was a glossary!) The storytelling was nonlinear, sometimes all in metaphor or poetry or Samoan songs, sometimes direct and blunt. Some descriptions were stunning, and some moments were painful. It was worth the effort, and I'd like to see more novels published from this part of the world. But for someone (like me) unfamiliar and ignorant, there was definitely effort involved to read it.
octavia_cade's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
The thirteen year old protagonist of this coming-of-age story, Alofa, leads an interesting life... or so it seems to me, safely removed from it. In one sense it's not at all extraordinary, as she's very much behaving as all the other girls of her community do and so she's a typical example, presumably, of what it's like for a girl to have a traditional Samoan upbringing. From an outside perspective, though, Alofa's ordinary life is very different. Or at least it's very different to me, who wasn't raised within a society as religious as this one, or with the same cultural expectations. I can't honestly say that I'm sorry. Alofa's a good kid, and the girls around her are good kids, but they still get beaten, frequently and severely, by the adults around them, in order to ensure that the girls conform to what's expected of them. That is, to be obedient and to be chaste. There's more to "good" behaviour than that, of course, but these are the qualities that seem to be brought up most, and as with many coming-of-age stories, this one explores sexuality. It's a difficult subject for Alofa, as she's meant to be wholly ignorant on the subject, but ignorance is no defense, and experimenting with a local boy leads to trouble.
All of which makes this book sound doom-and-teenage-angst, but it isn't really. There's plenty of happy moments, and the relationship between Alofa and her two best friends is well-drawn and appealing. Almost more interesting is the somewhat meandering structure, as Figiel builds up context and community around Alofa. I would have preferred, I think, a more sustained focus on that very sympathetic protagonist, but I still enjoyed the wandering.
All of which makes this book sound doom-and-teenage-angst, but it isn't really. There's plenty of happy moments, and the relationship between Alofa and her two best friends is well-drawn and appealing. Almost more interesting is the somewhat meandering structure, as Figiel builds up context and community around Alofa. I would have preferred, I think, a more sustained focus on that very sympathetic protagonist, but I still enjoyed the wandering.
gagereadsstuff's review against another edition
I enjoyed what I read overall, but I found it difficult to understand some sections. Figiel uses Samoan words and phrases throughout, and while many are listed in a glossary in the back, not all of them are. The context didn't always lend a hand either. I'm not up for this one right now, but I may come back to it.
anya_reading's review against another edition
3.0
I came into this book expecting violence, based on anonymous review, and I would say that violence factors heavily into this book. A lot of emotion factors heavily into this book: sadness, pleasure, pain. We follow a young girl as she grows up in Western Samoa, interacting with friends, family, boys, gods. Through the bits and pieces we read, the mosaic of a world comes to life.
I'm not sure if I got this correct, but throughout the novel, the main character, Alofa, is always part of a group, part of a "we" - traveling with friends, spending time with family (however fraught), always challenged by her groups to do what they want. As the book moves on to its conclusion, something in Alofa changes. I'm not sure if it's her continuing education, being kicked out to live with her aunt (does this actually happen?), or her self-defense mechanisms finally taking the forefront, but she begins to assert her will on the world by choosing to be an "I." I was a little sad to see that change happen at the end of the book with no more updates for her, but it still left a lingering wistfulness.
One caveat that lessened my enjoyment of the book was that there were many small phrases and words that were not found in the glossary - I'm sure that was an intentional choice of the author. One has to think of who this book might be written for, and sometimes the translation of a phrase doesn't do it justice. Moreover, I think the author may have left a lot untranslated to pique others' curiosity of the language (I looked up a YouTube video to see how some of the words were pronounced), or to parallel the main character's little knowledge of English (we also feel confused and lost at times, if we do not speak the language).
While this is one story, and one story does not define an entire culture, I appreciate how the author's immersive storytelling illuminated a part of Samoa for me.
I'm not sure if I got this correct, but throughout the novel, the main character, Alofa, is always part of a group, part of a "we" - traveling with friends, spending time with family (however fraught), always challenged by her groups to do what they want. As the book moves on to its conclusion, something in Alofa changes. I'm not sure if it's her continuing education, being kicked out to live with her aunt (does this actually happen?), or her self-defense mechanisms finally taking the forefront, but she begins to assert her will on the world by choosing to be an "I." I was a little sad to see that change happen at the end of the book with no more updates for her, but it still left a lingering wistfulness.
One caveat that lessened my enjoyment of the book was that there were many small phrases and words that were not found in the glossary - I'm sure that was an intentional choice of the author. One has to think of who this book might be written for, and sometimes the translation of a phrase doesn't do it justice. Moreover, I think the author may have left a lot untranslated to pique others' curiosity of the language (I looked up a YouTube video to see how some of the words were pronounced), or to parallel the main character's little knowledge of English (we also feel confused and lost at times, if we do not speak the language).
While this is one story, and one story does not define an entire culture, I appreciate how the author's immersive storytelling illuminated a part of Samoa for me.
natsafan18's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
slow-paced
3.5
This novel of poetic form follows the story of a thirteen-year-old girl named Alofa Filiga as she navigates through her own coming of age story. It's a story about fear, about hope, about sacrifice, and about identity.
I had to read this book for a course that I'm taking currently, but I didn't fully know what to expect going into this novel. I will say upfront that this book is beautiful - its language is rich and because of that, it left me reading sentences over and over again to take in everything that was being said. However, there were some parts of this novel that were very hard to get through/didn't make a whole lot of sense with the initial reading of the book. This book focuses very heavily on the topics of suicide, mental health, and descriptions of women's' bodies, so if any of that could potentially be triggering, I'd advise not to read this novel.
But all in all, this book was a beautiful read. Not my absolute favorite, but still raw and real.
I had to read this book for a course that I'm taking currently, but I didn't fully know what to expect going into this novel. I will say upfront that this book is beautiful - its language is rich and because of that, it left me reading sentences over and over again to take in everything that was being said. However, there were some parts of this novel that were very hard to get through/didn't make a whole lot of sense with the initial reading of the book. This book focuses very heavily on the topics of suicide, mental health, and descriptions of women's' bodies, so if any of that could potentially be triggering, I'd advise not to read this novel.
But all in all, this book was a beautiful read. Not my absolute favorite, but still raw and real.
eatingfiction's review against another edition
3.0
I don't know how to review this book.
I read it as part of a university paper and I would never have picked it up otherwise. It is hard-hitting with its content and follows a unique story structure, that breaks away from a traditional western novels linear logic. The novel is presented in chapters that are more like individual short stories. And in fact, the book reads way more clearly if you read it as a collection of short stories rather than a novel.
It's beautifully written, though at times the prose would flow into poetry, and got too metaphorical and fluffy for my tastes.
I definitely struggled through it, but as we discussed it in class, and I wrote an essay on the book, I discovered a new appreciation for it. The Samoa that it shows is raw, honest, and painful. There is real depth to be found in these pages.
I read it as part of a university paper and I would never have picked it up otherwise. It is hard-hitting with its content and follows a unique story structure, that breaks away from a traditional western novels linear logic. The novel is presented in chapters that are more like individual short stories. And in fact, the book reads way more clearly if you read it as a collection of short stories rather than a novel.
It's beautifully written, though at times the prose would flow into poetry, and got too metaphorical and fluffy for my tastes.
I definitely struggled through it, but as we discussed it in class, and I wrote an essay on the book, I discovered a new appreciation for it. The Samoa that it shows is raw, honest, and painful. There is real depth to be found in these pages.
jmiae's review against another edition
4.0
To be completely honest, I did not give this book the amount of time and attention that is required to fully appreciate it. There are a good number of Samoan words and phrases that were not included in the glossary at the back of the book, and the names of characters are dropped in and out of the various chapters, without any explicit description of exactly who they are their relation to the narrator, a young girl named Alofa. These chapters are in themselves more like short stories that eventually form a complete narrative, but one that requires diligence and attention from the reader to comprehend.
One thing that was immediately clear was the resemblance in form, as well as to a lesser degree content, to House on Mango Street. Both are fragmented novels about young girls growing up in a poor neighbourhood in a non-Anglo-Western culture. One major difference is that this book takes place in Samoa, where there are still obvious signs of the influence of Anglo-Westerners.
I am adding this to my re-read list, with the intention of keeping a list of character names and my own translation dictionary. There is so much to be uncovered from reading it, that I am certain that even multiple re-reads would still continue to bear fruit.
One thing that was immediately clear was the resemblance in form, as well as to a lesser degree content, to House on Mango Street. Both are fragmented novels about young girls growing up in a poor neighbourhood in a non-Anglo-Western culture. One major difference is that this book takes place in Samoa, where there are still obvious signs of the influence of Anglo-Westerners.
I am adding this to my re-read list, with the intention of keeping a list of character names and my own translation dictionary. There is so much to be uncovered from reading it, that I am certain that even multiple re-reads would still continue to bear fruit.