Telesa: The Covenant Keeper (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Described as the Samoan version of Twilight, Telesa: The Covenant Keeper was a pretty good read to skim while commuting through public transit. It's a proverbial tale of Leila Folger in a Fish-out-of-water tale from Washington D.C. to meet her relatives for the first time in Samoa after the death of her father. She finds out a family secret her father warned her about she later could not control impacting the lives of a love triangle between her boyfriend and a geologist she flirts with.I've never read Twilight nor saw the movies (and I doubt I'd ever will). Reading the Amazon reviews, the book gets high praise from young polynesian readers who love the series. I read the book and I thought it's better than most Teenage Fantasy-Romance novels. However, I'm distracted by how protective and annoying Leila is in the story. If you had to find a young teenager who is thankful she found a Dunkin Donuts at the Alexanderplatz in Berlin, imagine putting that teenager in the villages of Upolu, Samoa where she'll try to improvise making a gluten-free donut at her Auntie's house. It would be a confusing scenario to an appalled Auntie in the Kitchen. Leila is that type of a teenager in the story which she thankfully adapts to the Fa'a Samoa lifestyle as the story progresses.I'm more drawn to Nafanua, Leila's birth mother she hasn't seen since she was a baby. Nafanua is one of the three covenant sisters of the Telesa whose possession of elemental powers are used for protecting the natural resources in Samoa. She's over a hundred years old who maintains her youthful looks using a concoction of medicinal herbs and plants she grows in her backyard. Her knowledge of the healing plants in Samoa attracts the attention of international organizations like SPREP and UNESCO in Apia. I'm not attentive to the environmental moralism Telesa is setting up as Nafanua and her sisters ask Leila to destroy an industrial plant at a Wharf in Apia Bay combining their powers of the Telesa. Nafanua steals the scene and holds the novel together. She's comprable to Ras-al-Ghoul of the Batman series as if she's the mother looking over her daughter and the Earth.Looking back at Telesa: The Covenant Reader, it's story holds true to some old Samoan fables of Demi-Gods protecting or punishing villages or people who show disrespect to the ways of Fa'a Samoa (The Samoan Way) with the amalgam of current environmental stories to the reader. I'm not convinced of the love story between Leila and Daniel because their chemistry is awkwardly forced and their dialogue can be very tiresome to skim through the book. Despite a predictable plot and some shallow teenage characters akin to a Bret Easton Ellis novel appealing to twilight readers, It's a very entertaining read about samoans raised outside of Samoa getting closer to their Aiga (Samoan Family). As a Samoan-American born and raised in the states, I often sympathize with Leila's aloofness in the islands as if I'm watching an episode of Northern Exposure. Im actually not one to read a lot which may be ironic because this is a book review. However, I was assigned to read this book for class. So far, we've had to read a few books, but this one caught my attention. It catches your attention and the imagery is exceptional. It really puts you into the story and it keeps you wanting more. I think I read this book in a day or two. It's hard to put the book down. Although the storyline may be compared to other romance stories this one is based in Samoa. It gives the reader a glimpse into a culture that isn't as widely publicized as opposed to America in today's media.
What do You think about Telesa: The Covenant Keeper (2012)?
This was an Awesome Read! I couldn't put the book down! If you get the chance.. READ this book!!!!
—Oliviag
Great story - so interesting and rich in culture and legend as well as love.
—cutie
can't finish. which is a shame because the premiss so good.
—windzey
