Telesa

Telesa – Lani Wendt Young

Leila Pele Folger was raised by her father, an RPCV from Samoa, where he met Leila’s mother. However, since she was only raised by her father, Leila has almost no information about her mother or her family history. After her father dies when she is 18, she plans a solo trip to Samoa to seek out information about her background. What she finds is an aunt and uncle who limit her travel in Samoa to church, school, and home, a beautiful boy, and a strange woman who claims to be her mother although she had been told her mother died when she was a baby. Suddenly, and without obvious answers to her huge list of questions, Leila enters the world of Telesa – women gifted with powers from mother Earth. Although her mother is a Telesa with the powers of matagi – atmosphere and storms, Leila quickly inhabits her gift from Pele, the goddess of fire, to move the Earth and control volcanoes. But the secretive world of Telesa comes with many risks, and lacking information and training, Leila isn’t sure if she wants to join her mother’s sisterhood or follow her heart to the enchanting, beautiful boy.

Telesa (pronounced teh-lay-SAH) is entertaining, but it’s not stellar writing. I often found myself annoyed by the repetitive, yet also unusual, word choice. I always got tripped up by the typos, and more often than not found myself thinking “this is not the voice of an 18-year-old.” The book felt a little awkward and gangly, especially when it came to awkward moments like kissing scenes. But I guess it fits the audience it is designed for – young adults. The closest thing I can relate it to is Twilight, except I found this female protagonist more whiny and annoying that I found Bella (which is hard to do). Leila is stubbornly stupid in many of her actions, and it gets old pretty fast.

All the little annoyances aside, I would still recommend Telesa for reading (unless you consider yourself a literature elitist, in which case you can just skip it). I liked it for many reasons. For one thing, it’s a niche in the market. How many books do you read that directly relate to the experience of a South Pacific teenager? She references real locations, and the school uniform really is that hideous combination of colors. Second, I personally like the experience of a palagi coming to Samoa for the first time because it’s exactly what I went though when I got here. Also, the legends of telesa are real Samoan legends. Although I still haven’t heard anything about them and had never heard of telesa until I read the book, I am told that they are Samoan legends. I like it because it mixes reality with fantasy, while also covering your standard prince-charming/dysfunctional-family story. In other words, it’s average young adult reading, but I like it because it’s about Samoa.