Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree [Paperback]

Albert Wendt (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1999

This early collection of eight short stories and a novella is vintage Wendt. Stories convey the unease of traditional island community caught up in the rapid changes of the modern world. Wendt writes with enviable directness and with deep feeling: comedy and tragedy are often hard to distinguish as his characters struggle to come to terms with their changing world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Albert Wendt [is] ... this region's leading writer." -- Manoa

"Few novelists... could be less derivative in terms of the real vision into the life and character of non-Western society." -- World Literature Today

"Wendt is a skillful, energetic story teller, spare and disciplined in technique." -- Sydney Morning Herald

About the Author

Albert Wendt is the author of five novels, two collections of short stories, and two volumes of poetry. Born in Samoa, Wendt has worked and traveled throughout the Pacific. He is presently a professor of English at the University of Auckland.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press (August 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824818237
• ISBN-13: 978-0824818234
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #735,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Flying fox dead, March 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree (Paperback)

Albert Wendt is the author of novels, short stories and poetry, including, Sons for the Return Home, Flying-Fox in the Freedom Tree, Inside Us Dead, Pouliuli and Leaves of the Banyan Tree. Living in Western Samoa, Wendt recieved a scholarship to continue his studies in New Zealand. Attending Victoria University at Wellington, there he earned his M.A. in history. Wendt's style of written is difficult and a bit foreign if you would, I'm guessing of the different schoolings he had, his style is more aggressive in writing with deep feelings, comedy and tragedy, which makes him a great writer. Flying-fox in the Freedom Tree is a sequel to the Leaves of the Bayan Tree which is focused on a young Samoan boy, Pepe of Sapepe. Throughout the story Pepe is brainwashed by his two mentors, senoir chief, Toasa "Pepe's conscience" and Tagata, a city dwarf condemned of his stature to be an oddity, a flying fox 'with an eagle in the gut'. Torn between these two paradox, Pepe embarks on a life of defiance aganist his father's unholy trinity of God, Money and Success only to find that the precepts and responsiblities Toasa had taught him are impossible to practice.