Purple Heart - Softcover

Ta'afuli Andrew Fiu

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1869418042 ISBN 13: 9781869418045

Publisher: Random House, 2006

Synopsis

In the early 1970s Andrew Fiu came to Ponsonby, Auckland as a five-year-old, part of the wave of immigration from Samoa that turned Auckland's inner city suburbs into a vibrant cultural melting pot.

At 14, he was misdiagnosed as having flu when in fact he had rheumatic fever, a disease endemic in Pacific Island communities that causes serious heart damage. Purple Heart is the account of his struggle with an uncertain future after undergoing a record five open-heart surgeries over two decades. During the long periods spent in hospital, he has watched helplessly as friends and roommates died and on two occasions has died and been revived.

This memoir is the story of his hospital years, his clashes with his parents' traditional values, the wisdom he learnt from his fellow patients and the medical miracles performed on his heart by famous surgeon Alan Kerr.

It's the story of growing up a Pacific Islander in Auckland, a reflection of a time when schools made Pacific Island children anglicise their names and hospitals did not have translators. It's an account of appalling racism and an insight into the intergenerational tensions in Pacific Island migrant families.

It's a testimony to deep friendship, boundless love, determination and courage, written with grace, love and bucketloads of humour.

About this title

About the Author

Ta'afuli Andrew Fiu was born in the Samoan village of Lefaga, Matautu. In Auckland, he attended Sacred Heart convent in Ponsonby and De La Salle College in Mangere East.

Andrew belongs to a large extended family of three brothers and three sisters, and has four children and one granddaughter.

He has had a career in advertising sales and the arts, and is co-founder and director of New Zealand media and design company Pacific Mango.

Andrew has been bestowed three Samoan Matai titles, a rare honour, especially as Andrew first became a Matai at the age of twelve, enabling him to legally vote in Samoan Parliament at this young age.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1869418042
• ISBN 13: 9781869418045
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 319