Leaves of the Banyan Tree (Talanoa: Contemporary Pacific Literature, 5)

Being born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts and female, I can't imagine a life less similar to that of a mid-century Samoan man, yet I have never read a novel whose characters I related to more than this one. The stark differences we physically see in the daily lifestyle, style of dress, food, extreme tropical climate, traditional gender roles deceptively obscures that underneath, we are all the same flawed humans just trying to 'make our way'. We all 'disappoint' someone at some point in our lives, and often bitterly disappoint ourselves; we break the hearts of others and have our own hearts broken; we have youthful dreams that go unfulfilled; we do things we are ashamed of; we lose our 'innocence' and take it away from others; we rally, we fail, we reinvent, we persevere. We repeat the mistakes of our parents after we promise ourselves we won't; we insist on learning things the 'hard way' even when we are shown the 'easy' way; we let our egos consume us at times, and at other times have remarkable stretches of selflessness. We are rejected by those we love, but find other love when we least expect it. We shoulder burdens we created ourselves then grow to resent them. None of us is immune to the sting of a disloyal friend, and unfaithful spouse, or a thankless child - and none of us assumes we will suffer from one of these, much less become one of these - but we do. We all love our children more than anything and want the 'best' for them, yet project our own dreams and expectations on them, often causing them to crack under the pressure. We preach forgiveness yet hold lifelong grudges. We don't appreciate the wisdom of the elderly until we are elderly. We celebrate births and mourn our dead. We take credit for our good fortune and blame others for our misfortune. We try to be good, but struggle with sin. Take away the trappings of our day to day lives and we are all remarkably the same flawed human beings. I started reading this book on a Sunday night, and couldn't put it down - reading it at my desk at work on and off all day on Monday whenever no one was looking, and finished it at 3am on Tuesday morning. You will see 'yourself' in all these characters, and your life in their stories, because you are these people, they are your people - we are all the same.

This is the story of a man and the decisions he makes. Some of them good, some of them bad, and the effects they have on the people around him. The man is Samoan, and the feeling of Samoan culture permeates the story as well. The book is too complex to be described in one or two paragraphs. Whether this man can be described as a hero or a villain, is up to the readers to decide. He is a man with a goal, a plan and the will to do whatever it takes to get it done. He achieves this goal, but the price is too high for his family.

This book reminds me of the romantic novels that make up the body of James Michener's work. Most characters are shallow, selfish, greedy, and one-sided. The dark side of human nature is emphasized without much attention given to the kind-heartedness displayed by many people most of the time in their relationships with others. If this is an accurate reflection of human nature, uninspired by a greater power, no wonder the world is in great trouble.

This is a story poingnant in the unfolding of generational divides. The South Seas Paradise is stripped of romanticism by the reality of what everyday living in Samoa means for many: coping with tribal struggles, colonial 'isms' and family dynamics. Leaves of the Banyan Tree is likely to be a book I will reread - it is that rich!

So profound and sharp in its details. Its as if the author himself was writing his autobiography and one who can connect with this writing can sense it was written with so much passion, intensity, sensitivity, but also with acute-ness.

An epic coming of age Samoana tale that grips the imagination and won't let go until the final twist is revealed.Malo lava, this story was everything I expected and more.

I recieved my copy about a week after I ordered. Everything was perefect.

A few years ago I read about a new Samoan movie that had come out called “The Orator”. I tried to get it via interlibrary loan, only to learn that there was only one copy in the whole USA and that one was not available. I have yet to see it. I believe it was the first Samoan film made, though I could be wrong. I have long been interested in Samoa, ever since I wrote a term paper on Samoan culture in my sophomore year at college, but I have not been lucky enough to visit the country yet. Having read Margaret Mead’s “classic” as a young scholar, I felt suspicious as to how she managed to come up with her conclusions when she couldn’t speak the language. Later works proved my suspicions correct. Well, all this preliminary chat is to say that I have a long interest in Samoa, but reading Albert Wendt’s book did not do much to boost it. Sorry, folks, it’s just boring. While I will certainly not quarrel with his knowledge of his own society, he just doesn’t create a very readable story. The author had the laudable aim of writing a Samoan novel that would take its place among the works of world literature; that Samoans would be literary characters as well as flesh and blood ones not often heard from in world affairs. With this goal in mind, he produced many “types”, he took well-deserved swipes at colonial rule and the whites (papalagi) who dominated Samoa in the 1930s when the events in the novel take place. An ambitious younger man plans to build a plantation (named “Leaves of the Banyan Tree”) and rise in Samoan society. His family, a mistress, rivals, an older mentor—friend of his late father’s---a preacher, and many others appear. As in many other novels,[and in life] ambition forces you to pay a price. The next generation may reject your work totally. Wendt certainly writes well of human nature, as well as Samoan society---a society like others, anything but the romanticized South Sea island culture of Western novelists. But there are too many clunker sentences like this one, in which a ne’er-do-well addresses Tauilopepe, the main character. “I did my best, sir, but all the men had already committed themselves to Malo and his money.” The chief character asks if Toasa, his father’s old friend, knew about this. “I don’t know, sir, perhaps Toasa will put a stop to Malo’s flagrant violation of customary practice if he finds out about it. Don’t you think so, sir?” Trying to introduce Samoan customs via the mouths of characters is probably a bad idea. I realize that this novel is one of the most famous to come out of the South Pacific, but I found it hard to get through. If what we are doing here is reviewing novels and not praising people for introducing their societies through literature, I have to say that this is not a great novel.

Leaves of the Banyan Tree is not just THE epic of the Pacific but surely one of the epics of world literature. There can be no higher praise for a novel that encompasses the full spectrum of human hopes, weaknesses and failings as we follow three generations of a family in mid-century Samoa as they get sucked into a vortex of destructive greed and vanity.It begins when young Tauilopepe brings disgrace to his family by being expelled from theological college. In an attempt to atone for his humiliation he sets about making his clan the dominant economic and political force in the district. As internecine strife intensifies into outright hostility he manages eventually to outmanoeuvre and to exile his chief rival leaving the way clear to amass great power and influence. The title refers to the plantation that makes him rich. Sucking up to his colonial overseers and denigrating Samoans and their way of life he maintains control of his wealth and position through a combination of physical presence, corruption and duplicity. But things start to change when his son Pepe grows to detest all that his father is and stands for and in anger departs for the city where he falls prey to its temptations. And then Pepe has a son...and independence looms...I doubt if there have been many novels that have better depicted the corruptive nature of power (albeit at a parochial level) and the ultimate hollowness of the blind pursuit of a materialistic life. Although set in Samoa in the South Pacific where an arch-conservative local culture and a fervent and puritanical missionary-led Christianity underpin rigid hierarchies, Leaves of the Banyan Tree nevertheless deals with a great sweep of universal human themes and social experiences: burning personal ambition, lust for power, egotism, corruption, avarice, alcoholism, betrayal, exploitation and revenge. A superb suite of unique characters develop and mature and then succeed or fail, rise or self-destruct. I wish there was some way of making the reading public more aware of a book that for once genuinely deserves the accolade of masterpiece.