Island of Shattered Dreams

by Chantal T. Spitz, Jean Anderson (Translator)

Finally in English, Island of Shattered Dreams is the first ever novel by an indigenous Tahitian writer. In a lyrical and immensely moving style, this book combines a family saga and a doomed love story, set against the background of French Polynesia in the period leading up to the first nuclear tests. The text is highly critical of the French government, and as a result its publication in Tahiti was polarising.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Indigenous, 20th Century, War, Translated Fiction, French Literature

172 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

ETA: The more I think about this book, the more it sticks with me. I'm upping it to 4.5 stars.

As I regularly say to my students, "look past the horrible cover, because you can't see the horrible cover when you're reading the book, and the book is great."

The writing in this book is absolutely beautiful. It's very poetic, with Indigenous Tahitian culture shining through. The importance of a connection to country is evident throughout the story, and the amount of criticism that's heaped on French colonisation and French nuclear testing in the Pacific is pretty great.

It's full of love stories, both tragic and ridiculously happy, and the characters are absolutely wonderful. Definitely one that will stay with me.

[Priya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a beautifully written book that tells the tale of a place through the lives of one family that tries to spread the love of land, culture and traditions and retain them in the face of strong winds of change that are forced on them.

Set in French Polynesia, this is the first book ever published by an author from Tahiti and what a book it is! Combining a look into the politics that caused the island to become a nuclear missile base for the French government with absolutely lyrical prose that tells of the Maohi people and their way of life, it's a treat to read even though the tone is inherently sad, telling of an inevitable loss for the islanders.

The islanders have to face the fact that their quiet and self contained lives and the beauty of their island are going to be a thing of the past with all the so called development because of the nuclear base.
A base that threatens the environment and health of their people and whose negative effects are being ignored. Even before that the one family that is focused on in the narrative embodies their way of life; their search for identity and the war between the indigenous and the white people which is especially distressing for children who are born with a mixed ancestry.

The translator has done a terrific job of conveying the emotions of the characters. I really enjoyed learning about a place I didn't know much about in this way.

[Kiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chantal Spitz holds the honor of being the first indigenous Tahitian writer to publish a novel: The Island of Shattered Dreams. What makes her novel even more monumental, however, is the story it tells of nuclear testing in French Polynesia, and of the ensuing degradation and displacement of indigenous land and bodies. In 1991, when it was first published, these stories of colonization just began to be told through the eyes of the colonized, whereas before the colonizers controlled the narrative. The control Spitz maintained over this narrative by interweaving the oral tradition of the Mā’ohi while writing in French (the colonizer’s language) was impressive, although some aspects of the language/tradition were lost in translation (as the translator notes). I will attribute the moments of dissonance I felt when reading, moments that resulted in this low rating, to this loss. I hope I can make it up by rereading the novel in the original French one day.

Aside from issues with the fluidity of the language, I appreciated the novel’s politicized romances, especially between two of the main characters: Terii and Laura. Terii is a Mā’ohi leader who rallies against the nuclear testing, and Laura is the lead engineer for the missiles. Needless to say, their love is complicated by her complicity in the destruction of his home land. I think Spitz does well in executing the complexities of their story. The other romances feature similar complications, with each partner coming from a different ethnic background and having to navigate a world different from their own.

Apart from the romances in this novel, another integral thread to consider is the modernization and assimilation of Mā’ohi society, that which comes with colonization. Throughout each generation in the novel, the ramifications of white settlement are clear: loss of land and loss of language. Or, as the youngest characters frequently express, loss of the Dream — their ancestors’ Dream. What makes the loss so painful for them is that it begins almost in a stupor, without the Må’ohi fully aware of the process until it is out of their control. And what makes the novel so touching for me was watching the way that the Dream lives on in those characters, as they slowly regain control by upholding their values and history in the home and, at the end, by writing them down for future generations.

[Heather Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is tragically beautiful. A novel by an indigenous Tahitian writer, this book is both horrifically sad and optimistically happy.

Tales of never-ending love and inevitable heartache, this novel follows a family, village and culture changed by the French Government’s decision to build a nuclear plant in French Polynesia.

There are so many beautiful poems, and so many parts of the book that could literally be dropped in a novel written in 2023 that would still apply, and be both truthful and relevant.

The author *sees* and can bluntly yet eloquently put into words what so many ignore.

[dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Tout ce que nous lisons a été écrit par des étrangers. On en arrive presque à croire qư'on est vraiment comme ils nous décrivent, alors que tu sais bien quils n'ont rien compris. Un véritable lavage de cerveau. Il est temps d'écrire notre histoire vue par nous-mêmes. Lavage de cerveau à l'endroit."

du coup lisez ce livre !!

[Tawallah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this book blows my mind. Firstly, it is the translated work of a Ma ōhi female writer detailing the history and current status on a Polynesian island. But this is done in less than 200 pages. And it was enough to tell her story. And enough to make you want more.

We live in an age when #ownvoices and reading marginalized people and cultures is seen as essential. Everyone touts the well written works and I’m joining with this work. Somehow the author writes in a minimalistic way but it is yet lyrical. There is prose and poetry throughout which mesh perfectly. I was even able to visualize parts of this book so well, not an easy task for me. And I connected because I could see the pattern of colonialism that affects other islands as well. And yet she is able to capture the nuances of feeling and motivation of characters that sometimes more established authors fail to deliver using more complex writing styles.

So I can’t wait to read more from this author. The translator did a fantastic job in trying to bring the nuance of oral language to written word. Not an easy feat. But her desire to faithfully reproduce this book for English readers is commendable.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

a powerful book and one that resists simple explanation/interpretation

[✿ jessica ✿ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh Lord of Heaven
How terrible it is to leave to my Sons
The legacy of another people
Because I couldn’t find the courage
To keep true to the world of my Fathers!

This is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read, I think I had tears in my eyes by the end of the first chapter. This is a MUST READ for Pacific Islanders - with the beauty of our oral traditions, culture and histories up against colonialism and exploitation of the islands and its people set in 20th century French Polynesia. Just wow.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy was Terii’s “love affair” - and if you read the story you will know why I find it yucky *cough* falling for a woman complicit in colonialism *cough*.

…there’s nothing more dangerous than a colonised people standing tall.

[Majdouline · Rating 5 out of 5]

ASTONISHING ! The writing is so lyrical so beautiful in on hand and the content is so deep in another hand.
A book which has generated a broad set of emotions from admiration to shame.
Tahiti is a part of France and as such it is portrayed in a specific manner in the continent, at school or in the media. Reading this book made me realised that i am clueless and that I never asked myself the right questions.

Will read more from this author and from other pacific islanders authors.
The Mohari's culture is fascinating..

[Tawana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Kinga Kunyik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lumineuse ! Une prose précise et boulversante (trés poetique á la fois, évoquant la tradition orale polynésienne) qu'il faut lire plusieurs fois et qui nous invite toujours á réfléchir ...

[cloudybooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully lyrical account of the destruction of indigenous culture, people and environment by French colonialists. Utterly heartbreaking.

[Mary]

The only thing worth commending is the author exposes the negative effects of colonization on Tahiti. Places like Tahiti and Hawaii are seen as “paradise,” destination sites for getaway trips for settlers and tourists, but that’s at the expense of the indigenous populations living there. The epilogue was particularly insightful.

I could have done without the so-called love story, which was all too insta-love anyway. Besides, an anti-colonial Mā’ohi and a guilt-ridden Frenchwoman who’s complicit in the whole nuclear missile project in his country...uh, no thanks.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book completely and utterly blew my mind. It traces the stories three generations of a Mā’ohi family from Tahiti, and how all three generations were affected by colonization and the commodification of the labor of indigenous people.

It talks about three relationships, all of whom involve people who you'd think are an opposite sides of political or social spectra:
- Toofa, a Mā’ohi woman who falls in love with a French plantation owner
- Their Emere, who struggles with being biracial, and Tematua, a man who takes pride in his Mā’ohi heritage
- Emere and Tematua's son, Terii, an anti-nuclear activist, and Laura, a French nuclear scientist

Through these three relationships, the book explores all the complexities of Mā’ohi heritage and struggling with that identity in a country occupied by colonizers, culminating in the use of Tahiti as a nuclear testing sight by France under De Gaulle. This book's language is very minimalistic, which makes the story stark and thought-provoking. It prompted me to do a lot of reading up about the colonization of Tahiti, and is a great reminder - especially to European readers - that it's not just Americans who can be racist colonizers.

My one criticism of this book is that the characters felt more like a means to an end (that is, the ending of the story) rather than fleshed-out, complex people, but it's a very minor "me and not you" kind of thing so I'm still rating this book a relatively high 4 stars.

Highly recommended!

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[Margie · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 This is a beautiful, soulful book. The family story unfolds slowly, but in a very short space the author conveys a remarkably clear picture of the indigenous Ma'ohi life and culture in French Polynesia pre-WWII and how this community was affected by French colonization. It is both political and moving.

[Ginny Ip · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We were born on the island of shattered dreams"

This book made me feel very sad and angry, especially the epilogue because it reminded me of Hong Kong and its own history of colonialism and shattered dreams. Four stars.

[Missy J · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book of 2025. Beautifully written, yet heartbreaking and tragic. This is the first novel written by a French Polynesian writer. She traces the modern story of French Polynesia through the story of a family and shows the confusion and pain that colonialism caused. We begin with the story of Tematua. He grows up on a smaller island and when he becomes a teenager, the French arrive, asking for manpower to help the Motherland fight against Germany. The islanders don't understand what Germany is nor anything about the war. Several young men, including Tematua sign up and only five (including Tematua) return from the war. Tematua never talks about his experience during the war. Then we turn to the story of Emere. She's the result of an affair between a young Tahitian woman Toofa and an older, married and rich English man, who owns land. Emere grows up torn between these two worlds. Her mother completely believes in the white man's world but is heartbroken that things didn't work out with the English man. Her father only sees Emere occasionally but is generous in giving her land. Emere falls in love with Tematua and even though her family wishes she could have marred someone of higher status, they agree to her marriage. Emere becomes a teacher on the small island lives a modest life together with Tematua. They have three children: Terii, Eritapeta and Tetiare. Much of the second half of the book focuses on Terii. He grows up loving his island life but for high school he moves to the larger island and lives with his grandmother Toofa. That's when he realises how the way of life of the Polynesian and the outsider clashes. He returns back to his island when the French make plans to build a nuclear site on his home island. His English grandfather happily sells the land to the French government and even though the family protests, it is in vain. Later, Terii forms a romantic relationship with a French woman, who turns out to be one of the main engineers building the nuclear plant. The relationship is doomed from the beginning but Terii's family is still graceful enough to accept her. I got confused with Eritapeta and Tetiare. Eritapeta somehow disappeared in the second half of the book. Tetiare is full of anger and only finds a way through writing to release her thoughts about the Polynesian experience. The book is beautifully written, especially the poems, prayers and chants that are spread throughout the story. The story and the language are simple but still managed to convey the heaviness of the pain. I just struggled a bit with the two sisters towards the end and somehow got confused. Overall, this book shows the Polynesian side of the story very well.

[Biblibio · Rating 5 out of 5]

First and foremost: I loved this book. Seriously. It's one of my favorites of the year. I read it practically in a single sitting and felt like I was devouring the book whole, in the best possible way.

Island of Shattered Dreams by Chantal T. Spitz and translated from French by Jean Anderson is genuinely one of those books I just want to shove into the hands of as many readers as possible. And why shouldn't I be able to? Alas, this is not a particularly well-known work and Spitz is not a particularly well-known author, though I hope to rectify both of these cultural errors.

Island of Shattered Dreams tells the story of an Indigenous Tahitian family with some inter-generational worldbuilding, but mostly focused on Tematua and Emere's love story in its first part, and later on how their children's lives unfold. Love is central to so much of this book, which is probably part of why I loved it so much. There's love in so many different contexts, and with so many different outcomes, all packed into a fairly short novel. And it works. Mā’ohi culture is also central in this regard, whether in providing a cultural context for love and storytelling (also explained in Anderson's translator's note) or even in how the novel opens, with a segment wholly written in Reo Mā’ohi and then followed by French (here obviously translated into English), contrasting creation stories.

The writing is excellent. The story flows brilliantly, making it one of those books that - again - you just can't set aside. There is poetry beautifully integrated into the text at large. And the story itself is powerful, educational for those who don't know much about Tahitian history, and necessary in the context of modern discourse regarding colonialism and the Pacific specifically. I honestly don't know what I can say other than: READ THIS BOOK. Island of Shattered Dreams deserves such a wider readership, whether in French, English, or any other language (and what's the excuse for not translating this work into countless other world languages? French is readily translated, after all......). And I, personally, would really love to read more of Chantal T. Spitz's writing, which is as-of-yet untranslated...

[Kitty Red-Eye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Years ago, I watched a very old movie based on a Native American legend. A strange movie, where most of the story was told in text slides (silent movie slides) and most of the filmed scenes were dancing. «The wizard was defeated by our hero. Now he dances the dance of the bee.» - then five minutes of dancing.

This book is a bit like that, just with poems making up a great deal of the text. The story feels like a fable, with the ancient Land as a lost garden of Eden, and all the characters finding Great Love, which is then decleared in poetry. It is quite beautiful, but I dont always enjoy the style. It feels remote, as in a fable or legend. But I guess that is the point?

The lost paradise is a bit difficult to believe. I just dont believe that life before modernity was so perfect. That everyone were beautiful and found their absolute love and everyone were happy and content. There must have been something not so nice. Hunger, disease, infant mortality, jealousy, power struggles… something! You won’t learn about that from this book, only feel the paradise which is inevitably lost.

But I still liked the book very much! I dont know how realistic it is supposed to be. The author speaks of the islanders’ own traditions, which they have been taught to despise and forget, and with this book tries to reclaim. I can’t imagine that she hasn’t succeeded. It is a strange little book, part fable and part poetry, and in a way I wish I had read it years ago. The things she says about love, between man and woman and between parents and children, are wonderful.

It is also difficult for me to understand the depth of the need for reclaiming one’s own culture. I have never felt that pain. I have a lot of respect for the people who do the work of rediscovering their own roots, though. It adds to the world, to human experience, to ways of living and of seeing life, the world, other humans.

This book was a first in its own culture. Massive credit for that. And the book is beautiful, the love is beautiful, the Islands sound beautiful.

[Cubierocks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ooooh, I really wanted to like this book so much, but unfortunately, it just wasn't for me.

First, I want to say that I really appreciated the time Spitz took in crafting the language in this piece, for it was beautifully written and I enjoyed how mythology was interwoven throughout the story. Overall, structurally, this was a great effort to condense a large story into a small book. Spitz is at her strongest when she delves into Tahitian history, the devastation of colonization, and voices of the Indigenous people, such as in the very beginning and in the epilogue. Though this is the first translated novel by an Indigenous Tahitian woman, I hope to see far more in the future and will absolutely be on the look out for more works covering this important history.

That being said, this felt like a novel of "so and so fell in love with so and so because they are in love and beautiful" about eight times over, with a constant assertion of the superiority of romantic love. It was unnerving seeing how the book seemed to emphasize that women are only fulfilled when they are wives and mothers and any effort to stray from this path would lead to devastation and regret. I understand that this is supposed to be a romantic epic, but I wasn't convinced of any of the romances and I wish there was more acknowledgement of the characters' lives beyond this aspect. Additionally, there was a lot of ableism that I wasn't prepared for and wasn't necessary to the plot. Since I'm somewhat sensitive to the above issues, this story didn't work for me. That's not say others can't enjoy this story, but for me, I felt as though I was bracing myself throughout the whole piece.

In any case, with the publication of this novel, I hope more Indigenous-written work from Tahiti becomes widely available so I can read even more perspectives and stories.

[Natalie Coyne · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 rounded down to 4 stars. I really wanted to be able to round this up to 5, but I kept hovering over the fifth star, and it just didn't feel right. I felt I had to round this down to 4, sorry. To be clear, though, I enjoyed this book and really appreciated it. It was very impactful to read this story about the colonization of Tahiti by an actual Indigenous Mā'ohi author.

The disclaimers at the start of the book about certain aspects being popular in traditional Mā'ohi storytelling, such as repetitiveness and taking breaks for poetry, were, to me, unnecessary. I actually really enjoyed these aspects, and I didn't even really notice repetitiveness (but I'm not French, and I didn't read the original French version, I read the English translation, so that might be why).

Just what brought this down is, I think, the pacing felt off for me at times. It's quite oddly paced for a book that's only 168 pages. It is quite slow for a lot of the book, a lot of the primary conflict doesn't take place until after the halfway point. Then, for the character meant to represent a lot of the conflict (Laura), that story gets wrapped up in, what, 2 or 3 chapters? Of course, it's more important to explore how Tahiti still experiences negative impacts of ongoing French colonization, and I appreciate that so much of that was explored in the epilogue. But, yeah, the pacing just was quite off with this book, to me at least.

That being said, I'm still really glad I read this and I'd still definitely recommend this to others (though definitely not worth the $45 for a paperback copy, just spend the $5 for the Kindle version, I read the Kindle version).

[Elilith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Je comprends l'importance qu'a pu avoir ce livre a l'époque où il a été écrit et honnêtement, je suis absolument non initiée à tous ces problèmes en tant que française métropolitaine (privilégiée donc). Si je devais noter ce livre par l'importance du message qu'il fait passer je mettrais bien évidemment 5 étoiles mais je préfère noter un livre par rapport à ce qu'il m'a personnellement apporté et à quel point j'ai apprécié le lire et bon ... Déjà j'étais au courant des horreurs colonisatrices de mon peuple et de ces essais nucléaires au mépris de la vie humaine, donc je n'ai pas "appris" grand chose et je suis autant outrée après lecture qu'avant. Deuxième point, je trouve le style certes très joli mais au final assez assommant sur toutes ces pages. Pour terminer il n'y a pas vraiment d'histoire, les personnages ne sont pas vraiment différents, ils parlent tous de la même manière, ressentent globalement les mêmes choses (on nous dit que non mais pourtant les faits sont là, on les différencie très difficilement). Bref je n'ai pas vraiment apprécié cette lecture et j'ai l'impression d'être passée complètement à côté de quelque chose, je pense que c'est plus ma faute que celle du livre mais ça reste mon ressenti.

[Isen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Island of Shattered Dreams follows three generations of a Ma'ohi family, starting in the early days of colonisation and ending with the launch of a nuclear test under De Gaulle.

The language is simple but beautiful, laced with poignant similes, metaphor, and poetic insertions. The story as such is of secondary importance, and the author's voice dominates throughout. It creates the impression of a tale being told round a campfire, where the storyteller is not so much interested in developing a plot but in pushing through a moral. This is presumably completely intentional, given that a recurring theme of the book is the verbal tradition of the Ma'ohi versus the written tradition of France.

Obviously the book is heavily moralistic, but this did not detract from my enjoyment of the book because its very purpose is to be moralistic. It's an attack on French colonialism, and more generally on French culture and values, in the guise of a novel. You don't have to agree with it to find it compelling.

[Mandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Island of Shattered Dreams is the first novel published by an indigenous Tahitian author--in 1991. Tahitian culture is primarily oral, and I appreciated how Spitz--both unencumbered by a local written literary tradition and resistant to French literary ideals--incorporated that into the novel's form. I learned a lot about Tahitian culture, too, though I was left with questions that further cultural context might've addressed. Is, for instance, the souls-meeting-souls, love-at-first-sight hyperbolic romance a facet of how love is described in Tahitian culture? Or rather an aspect of the author's style I just didn't like? Between the cultural differences and translation from French, it's hard to parse what might've been weaker writing from intentional choices I don't have the information to understand. Either way Laura was annoying! And either way, I am glad to have read this, to have a small window of insight into a culture's deep respect for the land, for life on a motu, and in the shadow of French nuclear weapons testing.

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had mixed feelings about this one. I loved the way that the Ma’ohi oral tradition is incorporated into the narrative to illustrate the way that the people are intrinsically linked to the land and their ancestors. This is done in a strongly lyrical and metaphorical way, but without ever feeling like fable or ‘magical realism’. The book is concerned with the legacy of colonialism in Polynesia, and specifically with the French nuclear missile testing programme. These issues are framed using the story of a romance between a local Ma’ohi man and a French engineer working on the project, and unfortunately that all felt very ‘insta-love’ and not credible to me. I would probably have liked to read more detail about the implications of the nuclear testing project and the political activism of some of the more peripheral characters, and less of the love story. Still very glad to have read this.

[Bornfree1313 · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!! So beautiful and poetically written!! It was hard for me to get started on this book for poetry just isn't my thing but this book brings a powerful message on how arrogance, prejudice and superiority can ruin a culture. This has been proven over and over throughout history.


And yet, if we wished, if we knew how … To find again the path of ancient wisdom That knows each man is unique because different That each man is rich with this difference That accepting difference engenders love. Accept others and love them for their difference Keep our differences because they are our riches Unite our riches to give birth to a shining tomorrow Create a new country, with a humane society Where each, remaining himself, becomes the other. Make a world where every man without distinction Free, equal and our brother in his difference Takes part, body and spirit, in his own way, In the renaissance of our lost dignity.

[Kasey Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Today's read: *Island of Shattered Dreams* by a Mā’ohi author Chantal T. Spitz & translated by Jean Anderson

This is the first ever novel by an indigenous French Polynesian writer. Written as half poetry, half prose, it is set in French Polynesia beginning with the first visiting colonialist and ending with the first nuclear test missle launched in Polynesia by the French government, despite local protest. It follows the generations of one Mā’ohi family, their loves and losses as they mix with their colonizers and try to find a way to live in the changing world without losing their heritage and traditions.

It is estimated that over 100,000 people in Tahiti and other Polynesian islands and New Zealand were affected by nuclear fallout before above-ground testing was ended. Underground testing continued until the mid 1970s, threatening the area with water contamination and tsunamis.

[Suzesmum · Rating 4 out of 5]

51📱🇵🇫FRENCH POLYNESIA: HUAHINE🇵🇫🏝This is the first ever novel by a Mā’ohri woman to be translated into English and it is an absolute gem. Set on the island of Huahine (part of the Leeward Island group of the Society Islands), this both a multi-generational family saga and a political criticism of the French Government’s policy of nuclear testing, which lasted from 1966-1996. Captain Cook, European colonisation, nuclear testing, and World War II are all topics that are common to the Pacific, so it’s no surprise that Spritz covers most of them. Her writing is a unique mix of poetry and prose and it’s simply beautiful 🏝🌏📚

[Andrew Tupper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, lyrical, poetic, shocking, and short - this is a book that grabs you and stays. It should be required reading for anybody who travels in the Pacific and seeks to understand what it is like to be colonised. The book is partially about the French and nuclear testing, but it could be about the English, the Dutch, the Germans, the Americans, and even the Australians or New Zealanders in other countries. Most of all though, it's about the experience of a dignified and sophisticated society under colonial rule, and about some of the undercurrents that us colonists could never understand. Well worth a read.

[Aden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really thought-provoking book that doesn't seem to be widely read. I am so glad my professor pointed me towards this book, as I wouldn't have read it otherwise. Blending poetry and prose, this book says so much in 160 pages about colonization, family, identity, and the power of storytelling. I will say that halfway through, this book switches to a love story that I did not find as engaging as the family history of the first half. Overall, a fascinating and important book written by an Indigenous Tahitian author.