Leaves of the Banyan Tree (Talanoa) [Paperback]

Albert Wendt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Set in Samoa, this novel involves three generations of an aiga (family) and reads like a parable. Toasa, the head of the family, tells stories of lions and ghosts and poignantly describes his peoples' connection to their land. He asserts that "his one inconsolable regret was the fact that Tauilopepe, the son of his friend, of the man he had loved so much, would be responsible for the final destruction of his world." The Samoans are envious of the papalagi (European whites) but strive to better their own circumstances, unlike the characters in Alan Duff's Once Were Warriors (LJ 6/15/94). Tauilopepe tames the bush to create a plantation and acquire considerable personal wealth. As he gains stature in his community, he loses the love and respect of his family. Following his success, Tauliopepe is described by his son as being like "all preachers in their wooden thrones who do not listen to their own message because their hearts are stone." For general readers with an interest in Pacific literature.
Kimberly G. Allen, MCI Corporate Information Resources Ctr., Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

This novel by the Samoan-born Wendt (The Birth and Death of the Miracle Man, 1986, etc.), first published in 1979, is a family saga that contrasts three generations of Western Samoans as a way of exploring the effects of colonialism before and after the country's independence from New Zealand. Tauilopepe, the grandfather, who lives on his family's plantation in a farming village, wages a 30-year struggle in the face of European encroachment to extend his family's lands and acquire wealth, power, and prestige. ``God, Money, and Success'' is his credo. His rebellious son, Pepe, winds up doing hard labor after being expelled from the town school and helping to torch a Protestant church hall ``because God does not live in it.'' He soon dies of tuberculosis and leaves behind a son, Lalolagi, who is taken away from his mother by Tauilopepe and sent to a New Zealand boarding school where he is groomed for success and consequently rejects the Samoan language in favor of English. Later, Lalolagi falls in with businessmen and con men of Samoan and European backgrounds, apparently newly united in their determination to exploit the independent country's resources. This book dramatically illustrates the dilemma of a family caught between holding onto old values as everything changes around them and compromising those values in order to survive. But while the reasons for Tauilopepe's single-minded behavior are clear and comprehensible from a historical perspective, they are, narratively, less convincing: His character and emotional motivation aren't fully explored. Disappointingly, women don't have a voice in this story, which is told from male points of view. And the glossary is not as complete as it could be for those unfamiliar with Samoan terms. These flaws combine to make this a less-than-satisfying read. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 428 pages
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press (March 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082481584X
• ISBN-13: 978-0824815844
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #360,786 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Few novels have better depicted the corruptive nature of power and the ultimate hollowness of materialism, January 10, 2009

By 

Trevor Coote "Trevor Coote" (Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leaves of the Banyan Tree (Talanoa) (Paperback)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless masterpiece...., July 14, 2010

By 

Laura Mooers - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Leaves of the Banyan Tree (Talanoa) (Paperback)

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.