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Title: Frangipani
Review: I read the first sixty pages of the novel and was not nearly as "delighted" as other readers, in spite of the fact that I am female, and such books about mother/daughter relationships are "supposed" to be inherently appealing to me. As mentioned by another reviewer, I found the pacing extremely slow. Additionally, however, I found the characters, especially the central one--Materena--dull. As far as I got, there was no real plot, and that in conjunction with unappealing "simple" characters--the writing tended to reinforce the stereotypical images I know from Gaugain's paintings of Tahitian women--made me quite happy to abandon the book. There was not enough here for me to persist, and I frankly wonder why others were so charmed! I'd suggest trying to borrow this from the library rather than buying it!
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