Islands of the Frigate Bird (review)

Abstract

Islands of the Frigate Bird brings together Banaban, Gilbertese, Bikinian, and white colonial experiences of the twentieth century in a fictional tale of male travel and survival. Tarte sets up the story as a genealogy that links different characters and events, from the beginning of time, two and a half billion years ago, to the future 2234, and ultimately to a group of voyagers who sailed east from Southeast Asia and landed on Banaba "prehistorically." What follows is a fragmented saga of colonization, mining, world war, nuclear testing, and the woes of [End Page 299] patrolling oceanic exclusive economic zones, all viewed briefly through the eyes of Islander and European male protagonists. It starts in the future with one particular descendant named Ion Itabirik, rewriting his ancestral stories. Thanks to global warming, his roots have been swallowed up by the ocean, displacing many atoll-dwelling folk to countries like Australia where Itabirik now lives.