The Mango Tree: A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony

by Annabelle Tometich

Rows of orange people sit handcuffed in a beige room. One of them is my mother.

When journalist Annabelle Tometich picks up the phone one June morning, she isn’t expecting a collect call from an inmate at the Lee County Jail. And when she accepts, she certainly isn’t prepared to hear her mother’s voice on the other end of the line. Explaining the situation to her younger siblings afterward, however, was easy. All she had to say was, “Mom shot at some guy. He was messing with her mangoes.” They immediately understood. Answering the questions of the breaking-news reporter—at the same newspaper where Annabelle worked as a restaurant critic—proved more difficult. Annabelle decided to go with a variation of the truth: it was complicated.

So begins The Mango Tree, a poignant and deceptively entertaining memoir of growing up as a mixed-race Filipina “nobody” in suburban Florida, as Annabelle traces the roots of her upbringing—all the while reckoning with her erratic father’s untimely death in a Fort Myers motel, her ambitious mother’s bitter yearning for the country she left behind, and her own journey in the pursuit of belonging.

With clear-eyed compassion and piercing honesty, The Mango Tree is a family saga that navigates the tangled branches of Annabelle’s life, from her childhood days in an overflowing house flooded by balikbayan boxes, vegetation, and juicy mangoes to her winding path from medical-school hopeful to restaurant critic. It is a love letter to her fellow Filipino Americans, her lost younger self, and the beloved fruit tree at the heart of her family. But above all it is an ode to Annabelle’s hot-blooded, whip-smart mother Josefina, a woman who made a life and a home of her own, and without whom Annabelle would not have herself.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Biography Memoir, Book Club, Biography, Mental Health

309 pages, Hardcover

First published April 2, 2024

Reviews

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you, @littlebrown, for the gifted book, and @librofm for the gifted ALC. I had a wonderful read/listen experience, and highly recommend the audio narrated by the author.

I’m not holding back on this one. All the mangos. 🥭 🥭 🥭 🥭 🥭

The Mango Tree: A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony is simply a must read. I keep telling everyone they need to get on the memoir train, and this is another fine example of why. Annabelle Tometich could have shared her mom’s story as fiction because it’s as absolutely fascinating as any fictional account would be; this just happens to be her true story. I hardly ever laugh when I read (sad, but true). I laughed out loud a few times because Tometich’s subtle, dry sense of humor is definitely present in her writing.

But this is not a light story, by any stretch. It’s an exploration of grief and loss, mental health challenges, and racism. It’s also completely absorbing and entertaining. Yes, Tometich’s mother does get arrested, and that’s how the story begins, but the author takes us back in time and forward again, allowing us to truly get to know her mom, Jo. I admired the way she explored the tenuous dynamic between adult children and their imperfect parents. There’s so much more to this book, much more than I can cover in limited characters. You simply must give it a read or listen, and Annabelle Tometich, I hope you have many more stories to share with us. 🥭

Many of my reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com and instagram: www.instagram.com/tarheelreader

[Ern Hugs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never read a memoir set in my hometown before! I went to most of the same schools as the author and her mom reminds me of my dad. I know some of the people in the book as well, including the prosecutor, judge, and defense attorney. Even if you have never even been to Fort Myers, this book is funny and very well-written.

[Raymond · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. The story of the author’s Filipino family was told in a funny, quirky, & interesting way. I would say the author’s mother was no doubt the “star” of the show. Her mother encapsulated so many Filipino stereotypes in an endearing & lovable way. My gf is Filipina & reading this book kinda helped me understand her just a little more, lol…

[Alli Fraser · Rating 5 out of 5]

“When I was pregnant with my daughter, a family friend told me she knew I was having a girl because daughters steal their mothers’ beauty. I gritted my teeth, stifled a laugh, and managed to walk away without injuring anyone. I dismissed it as internalized misogyny, an old wives’ tale that had somehow survived in this woman’s family well into the year of our lord 2013. Now, however, I wonder. Maybe it’s not that we steal their beauty; maybe it’s that we as daughters, as children, tend to flatten our parents, compressing them into the characters we need them to be. We reduce them to the sidekicks, the villains, the kooky court jesters of our life stories. In some cases, we do this because we have to. Because parents are capable of serious soul-crushing harm, and we must minimize that to survive. But in doing so, we forget they have life stories of their own. They have reasons for their actions. Not always justifiable ones, but ones that should at least be considered.”

5 ⭐️ STARS EASY
Thank you to the author & NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was one that I could not put down. There depths the author takes you while you follow along on such a unique, but in reality somewhat common family dysfunction had me wanting to find the author at the local grocery store in Fort Meyers and thank her. Without giving too much away, it is one of those books that reminds you everyone is truly living a life behind closed doors. It reminds you to extend grace when your immediate reaction may have been judgement. Zero complaints - pace felt perfect, context and details felt appropriate, millennial references without being corny. Nothing but praise to the author. Will be getting a physical copy for my shelf and suggesting to anyone willing to add such a relatable story of self discovery to their own shelves!

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

So glad I picked this up.. I’ll be thinking on it for some time to come — 5 stars.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

The daughter of a mother who emigrated from the Philippines and a white father, the author writes an interesting account of growing up in Florida with many challenges. I enjoyed her story, but the book descended into the same tired woke rhetoric of "white people bad," which is a dangerous trend. Scapegoating any part of a population will only lead to the horrors of history being repeated, and I don't understand why no one seems to understand this.

I grew up in Los Angeles in the 70s and 80s surrounded by people of various ethnicities in my school, and it seems like now there is more strife between races than back then, so this scapegoating theory does not seem to be helping. Also, I was admitted to USC but told I had no access to any academic scholarship (with an impeccable academic record) because those were only for people of color (in the 80s). The idea that being white gives you a bunch of automatic privilege has been completely exaggerated and over-generalized, and if you ever say this out loud, you are called a racist, which is wrong, and scaring people into submission to agree with a false reality will ultimately lead to more strife and/or communism - seriously, does no one read history books? Or Orwell? I had white friends living in as much poverty as people of color in my mixed community. Publishers love it, though, so I can see why the author probably had to spin that narrative whether she completely bought into it or not.

It's always curious to me, however, when derisive comments about white people come from people with a white parent and/or a white spouse (in this case, both). So, she is essentially propagating this rhetoric in her home with biracial children. That has to create conflict for them. This current cultural pattern demonizing white people is damaging and the emperor has no clothes.

[Bethany Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Welp. Another successful buddy read, chosen by my friend Harris (I can’t be trusted to choose). I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although it’s hard to tell whether I loved it because it was so personally relatable, or whether it was actually just a really great book. Much like the author, I am a first generation native Floridian. We are a rare breed and it’s always nice to see yourself represented on the printed page. (Added bonus: representation for oldest daughters in functionally dysfunctional families who also suffer from crippling imposter syndrome). So right away, I knew I was in for an enjoyable reading experience.

As much as I loved it, I’m not sure if this memoir would be quite as well received by those who are unfamiliar with America’s penis. To the uninitiated, we are the home of the wacky, unpredictable Florida Man. But for the true Floridians, we are so much more than a series of headlines that read like a mad-libs book, and a megalomaniac governor who is hell bent on undoing every bit of progress we’ve made as a society in the last 150 years. We are SO much more - we are the home of the STD capital of the world, home of the skunk ape, home of Hemingway’s six-toed cats, home of the hanging chad, home of The Holyland Experience, home of Ted Bundy’s final crime scenes. I could go on and on. I joke, but despite all the "eccentricities" Florida reqlly is amazing. Truth be told, I will gatekeep the hell out of all the hidden gems in this state and I won’t feel bad about it. And I love that while this is a memoir, it also reads like a love letter to this swampy slice of paradise.

So many little references made my cold, black, Floridian heart flutter ever-so-slightly. If you ever looked forward to Publix’s annual hurricane guide, if you ever had parents who scared the shit out of you by telling you all about what happened to Adam Walsh, if you grew up knowing there was a very real danger of being eaten by an alligator in your own backyard, if you spent Sundays watching NASCAR and eating boiled peanuts (bole’d pee-nuuuts), then you’ll love this book. If none of those things apply to you, I’m so sad for you. But you should still read this book.

[CatReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mango Tree is author Annabelle Tometich's love letter to her Filipina immigrant mother, who raised Annabelle and her two younger siblings largely singlehandedly in Fort Myers after their dad passed away unexpectedly. Tometich's mother was far from perfect (she's the "felon" alluded to in the book's subtitle), and Tometich's childhood was quite challenging if we're using the adverse childhood experience (ACE) scale, but as Tometich narrates through her childhood, teenage years, career journey, and becoming a parent herself, it's clear she's gained a lot of insight into her mother's background and experiences that give her a well-rounded appreciation for her mother. From a narrative perspective, I felt like the memoir could have focused more on Tometich's adult years, as reading in-depth childhood stories told in a child's perspective (the first 2/3 of this book) usually serve the author more than the reader, and make it clear a lot of retrospective reconstruction has been performed, as hardly any adult remembers that level of detail about mundane elements of their childhood.

Further reading - Asian-American memoirs:
The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI by Fei-Fei Li
Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Missed Translations: Meeting the Immigrant Parents Who Raised Me by Sopan Deb
All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung
Private Equity: A Memoir by Carrie Sun
Made in China: A Memoir of Love and Labor by Anna Qu
They Called Us Exceptional: And Other Lies That Raised Us by Prachi Gupta

[Mediaman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unremarkable memoir that tries to be something it isn't. By the end I wasn't sure what this author was trying to do with her very small-minded life story: Was she trying to draw empathy for her unhinged Filipino mother? Promote a political stance on the stand-your-ground law? Become a feminist empowerment role model for other women?

Whatever the case, this fails. It's densely written, from a woman with little training in writing. She tells us that while she ran a catering business she got her start in a part-time job cutting stats copy in the sport department of a local newspaper. Somehow that led to her eventually becoming the food critic and sadly that represents what is typical of bad journalism today. Her ability with numbers translates into a lot of plainly-stated facts that lack emotion or creative writing.

This is also another in a long line of recent "crazy mother" books, where the author thinks we'll be surprised at the antics of a bossy, abusive woman. The problem is that in comparison to similar books this is pretty tame, beyond the fact that the mom shot at someone running away from stealing the fruit of her mango tree.

The writer keeps repeating that if only her mother had shot a few second earlier, while the thief was in the act and facing her, then there would have been justification under the Florida stand-your -ground law. But justified shooting over some mangos? Is she serious?

The whole book seems too lightweight and unnecessary. Unless you are a Fort Myers resident that loves mango trees this isn't worth your time.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was hooked from the start. I'm already at war with squirrels eating my tomatoes so I can't imagine if a person messed with my (imaginary) mango tree. But, this memoir is more than stolen fruit, it's about the author's relationship with her Filipino mother growing up in Florida. The author is so honest about her family life and as time passes, she gains more insight into her mother and her mom's yearning for her family and country, who are so far away.

I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.

[Gigi Ropp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know very little about Filipino culture, so this was a riot to read! The personal stories were so engaging and colorful, but the timeline was a little bit confusing. Overall, a great memoir for a very specific audience!

[Tara Cignarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall Grade: A-
Personal Stories: A-
Writing: A-
Best Aspect: Very open and interesting memoir.
Worst Aspect: I was lost sometimes with the time line but it didn’t ruin the memoir.
Recommend: Yes.

[kimberly]

I hate to DNF an early copy of a book but I’m having such difficulty connecting with the storytelling and making it through this. Each time I set it down, I lack the desire to pick it back up and when I do, I immediately want to put it back down.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really hate it when a book claims to be about one thing and is actually about another. This is a classic example. The subheading claims it is "A memoir of fruit, Florida, and felony", and the blurb text deliberately leads you to believe the book will be primarily about jail and crime involving the author's mother and mangos. That would have been interesting to read about. In fact, the book is a standard, dry memoir about the author's own life.

After a brief introduction that sets up the felony/mango situation, again leading you to believe that this will feature prominently in the book, the author jumps back to her earliest childhood and proceeds to walk through all the details of her life in excruciating, boring detail. She only returns to the mango story at the very end - literally 92% through the audiobook is where she finally got back to it.

I don't care about the author - I cared about the story I thought I was getting. Her story itself could be interesting on its own merits; she's biracial, her family is dysfunctional and her mother abusive. I probably would have been interested in reading that from the get-go, if it had been accurately advertised, but it infuriates me when books are marketed deceptively to trick you into reading them. This is exactly what was done with this one. Joke's on me, I guess, for falling for the equivalent of click-bait. 2 stars.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don’t be fooled by the bright cover, there are a lot of dark moments inside. The mango tree is certainly present throughout but the “felony” is not at the heart of this story, the “F” left off the cover, family is.

The mango tree is Tometich’s mom’s pride and joy and in addition to bearing delicious fruit, it links her to her Filipina roots. The best moments for me in this book are the ones in which the author discusses her identity and the visits to the Philippines.

Also, I appreciated her candor in discussing familial relationships, especially the dynamics between her prejudiced grandmother and Filipina mom…this could not have been easy to revisit. Loved Tita Perla though and her appearance took down the temperature during some serious times.

My only criticism really is that her mother was such a dominant force at times it feels like she’s the center of the memoir, and when I realize we’re seeing it through Annabelle’s POV it feels like a separate book.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memoir of Annabelle Tometich's dysfunctional family and her Filipina mother who eventually shoots a man for stealing her mangoes. Just a solid, decent memoir of a woman's messed-up childhood and eventual place in the world as local newspaper food critic.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Copy provided by publisher]

READ IF YOU LIKE...
• Dysfunctional families
• Trying to understand your parent
• Grappling with brown skin among whiteness

I THOUGHT IT WAS...
A well-crafted memoir about a tough mother's idiosyncrasies and the children she raised. Annabelle's Filipina mother escaped her large family by coming to the U.S. as a nurse. Annabelle spent her childhood attempting to survive the storms of her father, a lackadaisical white man, and mother's thunderous fights. When tragedies strike the family in quick succession, Annabelle has to step up to care for her siblings, even though the only thing she wants is to lean into her whiteness and be "normal."

It feels like it's been a while since I read a straightforward memoir written chronologically. Maybe that contributed to how quickly I sank into Tometich's captivating story. But once you get into it, you realize that there is some welcome complexity. There is, in particular, some symbolism involving Wite-Out that was Tometich's writing at its strongest.

Overall, I felt like I couldn't appreciate the full significance of how Tometich told her story until I finished the book. And when I did, I was impressed. There's a reason why there's not too much about her Filipina side. There's a reason why her mom just seems crazy the whole time. We're seeing through her perception at the time, which is what makes the brief adult perspective at the end powerful.

This is Tometich's memoir but, in many ways, it felt like her mother's. Her mother is the central figure, larger than life, terrifying. What her mother has had to face and the harm she's inflicted go hand in hand. I'm glad her story, at least what her daughter knows of it, has been told.

[Brooke Zubal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so excited to get my hands on an advanced copy of this book. It was everything I hoped it would be. Annabelle has a beautiful way with words and a natural and conversational style of writing that truly helps you feel her complex story. I laughed, I cried… I highly recommend!

[Isom Rigell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! Takes place largely in our neighborhood so I was invested, but so well written, funny and emotional.

[Jeannine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir is very well structured. At the beginning, we meet our narrator, Annabelle, in present day. She’s in court because her mom has been arrested for shooting a BB gun at a guy trying to steal mangoes from her yard and ended up shooting out the back window of his car, which is a felony. Over mangoes? It sounds a little absurd and crazy.

Then the memoir goes back 30-odd years to when Annabelle was a child, and her Filipino mom and white dad were just trying to make ends meet in Fort Myers, Florida. She tells us her family story; the bumps and bruises of her childhood and, let’s be honest, physical and emotional abuse that happened along the way. We learn what the mango trees mean to her mom, and we learn how her mother- who was a little bit of a hoarder, but also a hard worker who had nothing handed to her - ended up valuing those mangoes so much. Annabelle tells us how she basically raised her sister Amber and brother Arthur, and her eventual escape from her mom. But the story doesn’t end there, with Annabelle and her siblings eschewing her mom and her ways and navigating adulthood alone. It’s a full circle story arc that ultimately offers reason and understanding, at which point we catch back up to present day, and this time, everything makes a lot more sense. I really enjoyed it.

[Christina O?Hara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I genuinely cannot bring myself to finish this book. I cannot tell if I just dislike the genre of memoir fiction or if this book is just boring. My book club picked this book because they thought it would be about the crime. No, it is about this woman’s life (or at least the first 230 pages are) — and her life story is very lackluster. It isn’t unique in any way. It is well-written and it details the narrator’s life. It does a good job of that. As for being interesting or captivating in any way? It fails terribly. I’m sorry that the author has had a few tragedies befall her, but there is nothing in this book that is exceptional— no great takeaways or remarks on society at large (except, perhaps, that white people are afforded privileges and are somebodies… which, I mean, it’s 2024 and that is no surprise to anyone)

I am currently on p. 227 and dragging myself through it because I don’t commit to books and then leave them unfinished. But boy, is this book a DRAG. And not in the way that Shakespeare is a drag. It’s just dull and uninspiring. I have no idea what we’ll even discuss at the book club. Her uncle’s suicide? Her father’s maybe suicide? This is such a typical life experience, esp for people with mental health issues within the family; the only exception of the crime committed by her mother, which is by no means justified by her difficult life circumstances and is maybe discussed for about two pages in the beginning. It’s just a boring read and I’m sorry I bought the book.

I also didn’t agree with her take on her “nobody”ness. My fiancé happens to be from a town that few people know of and happens to be of mixed race and honestly shares a background much similar to hers. He never discusses his past with shame and is proud of himself. But the amount of self pitying this woman has was just grating on me the whole time. It would be tolerable if there were something truly atrocious that happened to MAKE her a nobody, but I can’t seem to find anything in her story that is worse than my fiancé’s, and that truly renders her story more than boring— it is genuinely unpalatable.

And hey, maybe it’s just me. Maybe I don’t like sappy memoirs where I read about 10 pages about some boy she ends up marrying and it may just be the genre. But I’m entitled to my opinion.

[Likestotravel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Mango Tree A Memoir of Fruit, Florida and Felony made me laugh and made me cry. Annabelle Tometich describes a tortured life rich with family drama extending from Florida to the Philippines. The clash between her Filipina mother and her American father plus his mother fuels the saga as tragedy after tragedy slams this beleaguered family. The central role of the mango becomes symbolic of the sweetness along with the bitterness, even lending its evocative juice to the story. This unique book offers an intimate look into a different culture, complicated by the nature of this multicultural family.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the opportunity to read this ARC.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book ❤️ there’s not a ton of books by Filipino authors / about Filipino culture out there, and this book being written by a half Filipina made me feel very seen

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can’t exactly say I’ve untangled my feelings on this but 4 stars bc Filipinas from Fort Myers solidarity

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Elizabeth Luce · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book with the contemporary timeline
and topics. The author is able to tell a family tale of dysfunction and yet balance it with good as well. It’s riveting to read.

[Dalia Colon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the memoir of a Fort Myers journalist. It starts with Annabelle’s mother being jailed for shooting at a man who stole mangos from her tree.

From there, we get the backstory that led up to this moment: Annabelle’s mom’s emigration from the Philippines to the USA, Annabelle feeling out of place growing up as a mixed-race child in Southwest Florida, several family tragedies, her mom’s mental health health spiral and how Annabelle views the mango shooting incident in hindsight.

I appreciated the author’s honesty and writing style—especially her description of Christmas in the Philippines and everyday life in Florida in the 1980s to early 2000s. I’d recommend this one.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book for anyone who has ever felt "other" or "nonimportant" growing up. It is a book that features Filipino culture, but its readership should not be limited to those who are Pinoy. I love this book for expressing the same thoughts and feelings I had growing up. I recall the teasing and name-calling. But it's a different world today, one where cultures have been stirred together. We have grown to recognize we can not all be the same and to value that which makes us unique.

[Cathie · Rating 5 out of 5]

To view my review, go to my blog post FoodLit Dishcoveries - The Mango Tree

Released 4/2/2024 - pick up a copy!

[Bill reilly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Filipino culture is at the center of Annabelle Tometich's story of growing up as a mixed-race child of an American father of Slavic descent and a mother from a large family in the Philippines.
Josefina was a brilliant student who graduated from a Catholic high school in Manila and learned English while growing up only speaking Tagalog. She met her future husband while working twelve hours shifts at a hospital as an RN. Her photographic memory astounded co-workers. The marriage was a volatile one with young Annabelle witnessing brutal violence. The final battle ended with fine broken china scattered throughout the house.
An unexpected death left Josefina widowed when Annabelle was only nine with a younger brother and sister. The demanding mother was despised by her mother-in-law who called her a "chink." The children were always well fed by their frugal mom and eventually Annabelle graduated from college and became a food writer at a Florida newspaper.
The beginning and end of the book tell the story of how Josefina was arrested for shooting a bb gun at a departing SUV after the driver had pilfered some mangoes from one of her trees.
In between are some beautiful and heartfelt moments from an extremely gifted storyteller.