As you have probably realised, I am new to the Eyes Down Book Club. I am really enjoying your comments! None of us has mentioned ‘the men’ in the story so far. What do you think of them?
Tahiti seems to have a matriarchal society – the women, particularly the mothers, are the dominant ones. Our first glimpse of Pito, Materena’s husband, is not a favourable one – spending his wages on drink and depriving Materena of housekeeping money! As I read on, I realised that this sort of feckless behaviour is fairly typical among the Tahitian men.
I didn’t like the thought of Materena having a bad husband and I was relieved to discover that when he left her (after the pay packet incident) he was actually looking after his sick mother; this wasn’t just a story but the truth. I was glad to see the couple reunited for Materena’s sake. She is clearly devoted to him - she certainly has no complaints about the ‘sexy loving’!
The elder son Tamatoa seems to be turning into a carbon copy of his father; I imagined that the younger Pito was exactly like his son. The focus of Tamatoa’s life is women and attracting women; body building is a means to this end. I laughed at his disappointment with the encyclopaedias; ‘he opens one single page to see what ‘sex’ has to say’ – alas, no explicit drawings!
I found the younger son Moana the most likeable male in the story. I felt so sorry for him ‘red in the face, sweating and suffering’ while doing ‘pumps’ with Tamatoa; Moana is not a body builder. He seems to have more of his mother’s genes and he is not a typical Tahitian male because he has a feminine side. It is not surprising that he enjoyed cooking and, with Materena’s encouragement, became an excellent chef.
I look forward to reading some comments from you on ‘the men’!
Edited by jdm (02/04/2008 09:30)
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