Can I read Purple Heart on EtoBox?

Purple Heart by Andrew Fiu is a nonfiction available to read on EtoBox.

What is Purple Heart about?

An affecting, insightful and warm memoir of growing up Samoan in New Zealand - and of coping with heart disease. Andrew Fiu came to Ponsonby, Auckland as a three-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. As a result of the damage to his heart he was rushed to hospital. Since that time Andrew has had five open heart surgeries, a record anywhere. He has spent so much time in hospital that he says he grew up there, experiencing tender and expert care from doctors and nurses but also enduring appalling racism. This memoir is the story of his hospital years, his clashes with his parents' traditional attitudes, the wisdom he learnt from his fellow patients and the medical miracles perfomed on his heart by famous surgeon Alan Kerr. It's the story of growing up a Pacific Islander in Auckland, a reflection on the bad old days when schools made Pacific Island children anglicise their names and hospitals did not have translators, an insight into the inter-generational tensions in

Who reads Purple Heart?

Author

Andrew Fiu

Publisher

Penguin Random House New Zealand

Published

2013

Language

EN

ISBN

9781775532149

Category

nonfiction

Subjects

Sociology, Biography, Medical

Rating

3.8 / 5 (43 ratings)

Updated

2026-03-14