Postcolonial family novels are a major mode of modern and contemporary fiction, ranging from Gabriel García Márquez's magical-realist classic One Hundred Years of Solitude to J. M. Coetzee's quiet, barbed Disgrace...Titaua Peu's Pina belongs to this tradition,but, crucially, it takes place not in a former colony but on Tahiti, in French Polynesia, where independence is an ongoing effort and debate...Peu evokes Tahiti with rough, unsentimental grace; Jeffrey Zuckerman, who has translated writing by French speakers from across the globe, translates chatty prose with force and fluidity...Pina itself is a fluid, sprawling novel, telling the freewheeling story of a Tahitian family whose 'fates go any which way, barely any detail in common'...Peu writes brutal scenes with wrenching immediacy, though she never lets the reader forget that the truest sources of violence in Pina are colonization and poverty...Ultimately, she maintains a tighter grasp on this idea than the plot, which moves so far and fast that it can be difficult to remain invested in the novel's events...Still, investing in its characters, Pina especially, is impossible to avoid.

Mohabir’s keen critique is part of a well-argued set-up for Peu’s unstinting, unflinching hammer-blow of a novel that reveals a country and a people struggling to confront the harsh reality of an abusive patriarchy and the brutal legacy of French colonialism ... Peu’s disdain for colonialism and for its ramifications is lacerating ... Stylistically, Peu prepares readers for the worst by parceling out, one couplet at a time, a haunting interstitial poem, and by delaying, via a noir-ish true-crime plot twist, the novel’s resolution, though things eventually end up on an almost discordantly cheerful upbeat. (Some may consider that a mild spoiler, but given the oppressive nature of the novel, a bit of encouragement never hurts.) Zuckerman’s translation is notably steady — in the very best sense of the word — employing frequently frank, even blunt, language for scene after scene that is freighted with emotion but related almost dispassionately for greater effect ... Peu paints a powerful picture of Tahitian society in Pina, but her imagery resonates far beyond the island’s shores and the book’s cover ... Most enduring of all, however, is Pina herself, a child whose young life is saddled with so much — too much — pain and sorrow.

This is a clamorous, at times unwieldy take on modern Tahiti, yet Peu’s 'rough-hewn, oral, humane prose' (in the words of the translator, Jeffrey Zuckerman) rings fiercely true.

Members of a Tahitian family cannot escape one another in Titaua Peu’s novel Pina...Nine-year-old Pina’s life, already darkened by abuse and poverty, becomes even harsher when an accident turns her drunken father Auguste into a dangerous religious zealot...Pina, her mother, and her siblings seek refuge wherever they can: with loved ones, with lovers, and with drugs...But as Auguste’s behavior grows more unhinged, it becomes clear that only a drastic, tragic action can break the cycle of violence...Colonialism and its trappings—including colorism, lacks of opportunity, and oppression—play roles in creating and exacerbating the addiction, violence, and mental illness that plagues the family...Pina is a dark family saga about the effects of colonialism on one family and the nation they live in.

In Tahiti, Tenaho is one of those 'quartiers nobody ever hears about,' but what happened to that family 'with too many kids . . . was beyond all expectation'...Decades ago, Auguste and Ma married in love...Nine children later, screaming, slapping, and beating are commonplace...Alcohol fuels Auguste’s vilest offenses, rendering him comatose following a car accident...In his absence, 16-year-old Pauro falls in love, 15-year-old Rosa indiscriminately chases sex, nine-year-old Pina watches all—including their youngest Moïra...The relentless violence here perhaps warrants a warning, but the worst horrors, award-winning author Peu exposes in her English debut, belong to colonialism...That Peu, who is Mā’ohi (indigenous Tahitian), writes in French, the language of the island’s white conquerors, already manifests that occupation...A multilayered accomplishment of careful understanding and empathic respect...Bearing witness seems a minimal obligation for global readers.

Told in symphonic chapters from varying points of view, the novel follows the family and community through violent events and political unrest, culminating in a rapid-fire series of shocking crimes...Peu paints a blunt, unsparing picture of island life: Young girls are drugged and assaulted at Epstein-esque orgies; gay men are beaten in homophobic hate crimes; poverty, alcoholism, and abuse are rampant...Colonialism, one character says, 'is limited to no era, to no age. It’s simply there. It’s simply, always been there. It’s changed a bit over time, but fundamentally it’s all the same. The soldiers are gone, replaced by Golden Boys straight out of France’s fanciest business school'...And the burden is borne by people like Pina, 'a tender sacrifice on the altar of squalor'...A scalding corrective to the romantic Western view of French Polynesia written with authority, urgency, and compassion.

Peu’s English-language debut harnesses a chorus of voices from her native Tahiti, a paradise only in the minds of non-natives...Pina is the second to last of nine children born in the downtrodden community of Tenaho...Ridiculed at school for being poor, Pina is neglected and abused by her indifferent, angry mother and alcoholic father, Auguste, and tries to protect her baby sister and teenage brother Pauro, who has fallen in love with a Frenchman...The precarious family balance is shattered as Auguste becomes unhinged after recovering from a car accident in which a woman is killed...Told at first from Pina’s perspective, the narrative gathers a violent and blood-soaked momentum as it focuses alternately on Pina’s parents and siblings in successive chapters...While the many points of view somewhat diminish the suspense concerning Pina’s fate, Peu does a lovely job making their voices resonate...This evocative and layered story is a treat.