Vā: Stories by Women of the Moana - Edited by Sisilia Eteuati & Lani Young - ★★★.½

EDITORS: Sisilia Eteuati & Lani Young

GENRE: Short Story Anthology

PUBLICATION DATE: December 23, 2021

RATING: 3.45 stars.

In a Nutshell: A huge collection of stories and poems written and edited by women writers of Polynesian origin. Infused with a flavour of Polynesia and the Moana, but at times, the language gets a bit tricky for non-Polynesians to understand. Despite some niggles about the quantity and the language, definitely recommended! You won’t find such a powerful OwnVoices indigenous anthology.

When a reading challenge I’m participating in required a book by a non-Indian indigenous author, I knew that I'd pick up a work by an indigenous woman, and that I'd want to attempt something by an atypical ethnicity, a voice that is not often seen or heard in popular fiction. What better than to find a book written by not one but thirty-eight women from the Moana!? That gorgeous cover only sealed the deal.

This is one gigantic collection! Not just by page count (almost 400 pages) but also by content count – seventy-one stories, which includes eighteen poems! I almost fell off my seat when I saw the extensive Table of Contents! The blurb only said “over 50 rich stories”, so a 70+ count was unexpected. Then again, this also means that most of the stories are on the short side of the short fiction range. A part of me wishes that the story count would have been lower – most anthologies work best with 20-30 stories before reader fatigue sets in.

The representation is as authentic as it can get. The stories are by 38 women of various Polynesian ethnicities - Cook Island, Chamorro, Erub Island (Torres Strait), Fijian, Hawaiian, Māori, Ni-Vanuatu, Papua New Guinean, Rotuman, Samoan and Tongan. The editors are Polynesian, as is the designer of that magnificent cover art. (I can’t tell you how many times I have simply stared at that sketch – it is so soothing!)

As I wasn’t familiar with the main word of the title: ‘Vā’, I waited for the content to offer a clue, but there was no mention of it at all in the book. Google helped with this information: “In Samoan culture, vā is a concept that describes a physical or emotional space that connects people and things through relationships. It's a relational space that's constantly being redefined and negotiated between two cultures.’ So yes, it is a perfect title for the book. But it would have been great to see its meaning and the interpretation in some kind of introductory note ‘Moana’ is slightly more familiar to us, but mainly because of the Disney movie. . The word ‘Moana’ means either ‘ocean’ or ‘a large lake’ or ‘the sea’, or the colour of ‘ocean blue’, depending on the Polynesian language. (Thank you again, Google!)

The vocabulary hurdle would have been okay if limited to the above two words. However, a majority of the stories contain various words and phrases from languages I know nothing about. Guessing the etymological meaning is next to impossible, and trying to figure out the contextual meaning only works when there are scattered words, not entire sentences and conversations in that language. A glossary wouldn’t have helped as there were too many such instances. Perhaps there could have been footnotes with the English translations? I know for a fact that many of the stories would have worked better for me had I understood them entirely. Having a lot of local vernacular adds to the authentic feel but also gets distracting and confusing when it cannot be interpreted. The subtleties of many of the dialogues were lost to me because of this issue.

I took my time with this anthology, spending over a month savouring 2-3 stories a day. As some of you might know, I am allergic to poems, so I carefully skipped over every single poem in the book. (Apologies to the contributing poets! I am sure you did a great job! It’s not you; it’s me.)

The stories come from a variety of emotions and genres and timelines. Every tale is obviously from the point of view of a female character, with some stories having Queer rep as well. Some of the stories were more about the mythology of the cultures. Some were about fitting in the modern world while retaining your cultural identity. A few were more generic narratives, having nothing much to do with the Polynesian aspect. I liked the Samoan stories the best as they seemed to have much in common with Indian thinking in both good and bad ways.

I enjoyed the parting note by the editors (though I am upset that they didn’t write a introductory note. Yup, I’m quite greedy like that!) Instead of writing a traditional Oscar-winner-style vote of thanks, the note is written in the form of a traditional “vi’iga”, a praise song.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Of the fifty-three stories, fourteen stories reached or crossed the four-star mark. Most of the rest were clustered around 3-3.5 stars, and many of these would have ranked higher for me had I been able to understand the content better. These were my top favourites:

🌊 The Girl Who Saw The Moon's Sick - Rebecca Tobo Olul-Hossen: A bittersweet story about a little girl who gets her first period. Her sentiments come out in a very honest and realistic manner. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🌊 Koviti Aikae - Lani Young: Loved this heartfelt and humorous narration of q young woman desperately trying to save her parents' from the dreaded 'koviti' pandemic. Wish I could figure out what Aikae stood for! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🌊 Kalofae/ Ka alofa i ai/ I Feel Love For Them - Sisilia Eteuati: A fun story about a woman who is trying to be both a good Samoan daughter and a good Samoan mother, though her patience is tested in both of these tasks. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🌊 Earth, Ocean - Shirley Simmonds: A poignant story about an unsure relationship. Loved how well the uncertainty is the couple comes out through their dual perspective. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🌊 Family Pride - Nicki Perese: When it comes to family pride, even dreams can be sacrificed. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🌊 Red Flags - Dahlia Malaeulu: An excellent narrative in second person, about how everyone is an equal and islanders should not play the race card. Enjoyed the combination of satire and sarcasm. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🌊 Nana'ue - Lehua Parker: A mythological fantasy that's almost like a Greek myth retelling. The storyline is like one of Zeus' "love" plots, but the multi-character approach elevates it. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🌊 Sunday Fun Day - Filifotu Vaai: A fun story about a young Samoan mom who is forced back into church on a Sunday to pacify her visiting dad. Loved the mix of humour and the taunts. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🌊 For my Yaca - Emmaline Pickering-Martin: A little girl's adventurous day while shopping for her Yaca. Sweet and fun. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🌊 Brothers - Lehua Parker: A shark story that went an unexpected way. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🌊 Te Rerenga Wairua - Gina Cole: A nice representation of a typical marital fight. Not sure if the story meant to be funny, but I actually laughed at the ending. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🌊 No Speak English - Lani Wendt-Young: Funny while at the same time, questioning the assumptions mainlanders make about islanders. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🌊 Whaea Fire - Ria Masae: The Maori Haka is one of my favourite indigenous rituals from around the world. I love the rhythm, the passion, the coordination, and the energy. This book wouldn't have been complete without a story about the haka. I'm glad it was a good one. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🌊 Rainbow Club - Lani Wendt Young: A bit too much telling in this otherwise perfect story about coming out. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

All in all, I admire the scope and the intent of this collection. Yes, it would have worked better for me with indexed footnotes containing the meanings of the Polynesian words, but I cannot take away from the value of this mind-blowing compilation.

Much recommended to all short fiction and indigenous fiction lovers. I am sure readers of Polynesian origin will find much to take pride in this beautiful representation of their indigenous culture and traditions, and the rest of us land-dwellers can learn more about some of the most vibrant cultures in the world.

If you do give this a try, and I wish with all my heart that you do, do not read all the stories at a go. It will be quite saturating. Rather, stick to about 2-3 stories a day and savour the experience over a longer period.

If the editors or anyone connected to the book is reading this, please, please consider adding a list of meanings and translations to the non-English words.

3.45 stars, based on the average of my ratings for the stories. (Rounding up for the praiseworthy OwnVoices rep and the possibility that the poems might have been fabulous.)