She didn't plan to write about her infamous "mango shooter" mom. At least not entirely.
Instead, Annabelle Tometich started out writing what she thought was a cookbook ― an obvious move for the former food writer and restaurant critic for The News-Press and Naples Daily News.
But her mom ― a dominant force in Tometich's life ― ended up dominating the book, too. And instead of a cookbook interspersed with family stories, it became a full-on memoir about Tometich's chaotic childhood and her love/hate relationship with her fiery, whip-smart, complicated Filipina mother.
The resulting book, "The Mango Tree," hit store shelves April 2 and has been racking up positive reviews and mentions in The New York Times, The Washington Post and other publications.
Tometich says there were lots of tears, laughter and soul-searching while writing "The Mango Tree." And along the way, she came to appreciate how Josefina Tometich's hot-tempered personality shaped her own.
"It was understanding that the parts of her that are good are OK to hold onto," says Tometich, sitting at the kitchen bar in her Fort Myers house. "I think a big part of me was like, 'No, we don't want to be anything like her ... '
"But then it's like, 'Well, no. There's actually these really brilliant things she did. And these really life-saving things she did.' It was trying to accept parts of her. And all of her."
'The Mango Tree' tells a tale of fruit, Florida and felony
"The Mango Tree" − subtitled "A Memoir of Fruit, Florida, and Felony" − revolves around her mom's 2015 arrest for shooting a BB gun at a couple she claimed was stealing her mangoes. But it also examines Tometich's life growing up in a volatile, sometimes violent Fort Myers household; the racism she encountered as a mixed-race Filipino-American in Southwest Florida (including from her own grandmother); her mom's beloved mango tree; and her journey to eventually accept her mother ― warts and all.
"She's like this great enigma," Tometich says. "Why does she do the things she does? Why is she the way she is?"
Tometich launched a book tour for "The Mango Tree" this first week of April with stops in California, Georgia and several Florida cities, including Fort Myers, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Coral Gables and Gainesville. She already has two more books in the works: A children's book and a follow-up memoir about her years as The News-Press food critic Jean Le Boeuf.
Here’s what else Tometich had to say about "The Mango Tree." This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
News-Press/Naples Daily News: I love the book. It's beautifully written. Why did you write it?
Tometich: I joke ― I half-joke ― that it's like a mid-life crisis for me (laughs). But in 2019, I had a job offer to go to the Tampa Bay Times. Their restaurant critic had just left to go to the Washington Post. And I couldn't take it, because my family's here and my husband's here and my life is here. And it didn't make sense to uproot everything and move.
So I turned down that job offer and, like, spiraled into this hole of, "Are you ever going to leave your home town? Are you ever going to do anything beyond Fort Myers?" And it was like, "If you can't be in journalism, then how else can you do something with your career that's different?" And I was like, 'Oh, I'll write a book. Easy! (laughs)
When was this?
This was 2019. … It actually started as a cookbook. I always had this idea of all these quirky things that happened to myself and my family. I was not thinking of it as a memoir ― just these little essays and recipes.
But for a long time when (former News-Press breaking-news reporter) Mike Braun's story came out in The News-Press, if you Googled "mango shooter," the very first result was my mom. Her mugshot and everything in The News-Press.
Yeah, of course (laughs)
And the second result was this Absolut Vodka cocktail that was a mango shooter cocktail. And I was like, "That's hilarious. That's just funny."
Your two worlds converging…
Yeah! And so, in my head, I thought that was fodder for something.
It's not a cookbook: It's a memoir
How long ago was this?
2015 was the arrest, and her trial and everything. And this is four years later. She was still on probation, and it still felt very fresh. And I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.
So I started this cookbook/essay collection that was a mess (laughs). To get a book deal, you have to have an agent. So I queried a couple of agents, and they were just like, "We don't understand what this is." And I was like, "I don't really understand what it is, either."
And I was talking to my friend Artis Henderson (a Southwest Florida writer who's also featured in "The Mango Tree"). And she was like, "The recipes are interesting, but if you can take these essays and fit them together, then you have a really strong memoir."
And I was like, "I'm not writing a memoir. I'm writing a cookbook." And she said, "No you're not."
Good advice, Artis!
Yeah. Then it was like, "Well, I have to admit it's a memoir now." For forever, I called it a cookbook.
Then I figured out the mango tree component: The fact that this tree was planted a year before our dad died and it fruited right when we were about to pick up everything and move to the Philippines, and the shooting and then Hurricane Irma. It became this very convenient structure: These are all these major plot points of my life coinciding with this tree.
And then it just came pouring out. I think the vast majority of it I wrote between June and September of 2020 (while on furlough from The News-Press).
What was it like going back and revisiting all those memories? You had a chaotic childhood. And then your dad died. And there's the racism you encountered in school. Was it hard to go back and focus on some of those painful memories?
It almost felt indulgent. Because I don't like to sit with those memories, you know? But then to think about it and put yourself back in your little kid head was weird and interesting.
And there were plenty of tears. There was lots of grief in my childhood. And it was almost nice to kind of sit with that little kid for a bit and be like, "But look: Here we are now. It's all fine now, and it worked out."
Focusing on her 'mango shooter' mom
The book is as much about your mom as it is about you. Why did you decide to make her the focus?
It's funny, because I think it was more about her. Because I'm very comfortable writing about other people (laughs). But I couldn't not write about her. She's such a dominating figure in my childhood. And there was a conscious decision as an adult: "I'm not talking to her anymore. I'm not dealing with her anymore."
But that was just a compartmentalization. She's still looming there in my head. And I was kind of like, if I'm ever going to figure myself out, I've got to figure out why I can't stop coming back to her. Why I can't stop trying to figure her out.
Would you be who you are today without her?
Oh no. 100 percent not. And I feel like so much of my personality was developed in reaction to her, you know? (laughs) Because she was hot-tempered. And she was always yelling at the Publix cashiers. And I was always trailing in her wake ― "sorry, sorry" ― apologizing and making amends.
You still talk to her, right?
Oh yeah!
And I'm sure everyone's going to ask you this question: What does she think of the book?
That's the sad part. She has vascular dementia, and it's gotten pretty bad in the last two years. She doesn't drive anymore. And it's not like Alzheimer's: She knows who everybody is. She's OK, day to day, for the most part. But she really struggles with processes and procedures.
So the act of getting into the car and buckling your seatbelt and driving to wherever you need to go and then remembering how to get home ― that became a struggle for her. And she was constantly getting lost.
So one, she's never been a reader. And two, I don't know if she could get through a book right now.
Is the rest of the family OK with the book?
Yeah. My biggest worry was that they would think I was taking it too easy on our mom, honestly. So I think it's a very honest portrayal of my childhood in that house. It's not their childhood. It's not my mom's perspective, obviously. I think it's a very honest portrayal of my point of view.
You live near her, right?
She's just down the street.
It sounds like she needs a lot of care. How often do you see her?
Every day. She's here most days (at Tometich's house).
One of the things that amazes me is your recall of details in "The Mango Tree." That's something you have in common with your mother. She had a photographic memory. Do you have a photographic memory?
I used to in high school. But I was never as good as her. She had the Periodic Table memorized, down to atomic numbers and weights and whatnot.
It was weird: That summer was very odd (when she wrote that book). Certain memories played out like a film in my mind. It was like watching this film of my life and hitting pause and being like "What's over there? And what's over there?"
From News-Press food critic to memoirist: Annabelle Tometich's new career
You worked for years at The News-Press. Do you miss it?
I miss the 2015 newsroom. Or the 2010 newsroom. I miss when there were lots of people and police scanners going off and televisions on. I miss that version of the newsroom, which we're never gonna get back (thanks to layoffs over the years and most of the newsroom working from home now).
Yeah, I miss that camaraderie, too. I think everyone would rather work at home now. But you miss being around people.
But yeah, I do (miss it). The review stuff (as food critic Jean Le Boeuf), I do think I was getting ― well, not tired of it. I still loved it. There's no complaining about going out and eating and writing about it (laughs). I think I was ready for something different.
So you're a published author now. Or maybe I should say published memoirist. How do you feel about that?
Yeah, it’s wild. That was like the goal, right? And five years later, here we are.
Do you feel like this is where you'll be from now on?
I hope so. I like the pace of this life a lot ― where it's like, write a book every couple years (laughs). Versus writing five stories a week, or 10 stories a week (at The News-Press and Naples Daily News).
Well I'm glad you're going to keep doing this. The book is beautiful.
Thank you.
I can't wait to read whatever you do next.
Hopefully more (laughs)!
BOOK TOUR FOR 'THE MANGO TREE'
Tometich has the following stops scheduled for her "The Mango Tree" book tour:
- April 4, 7 p.m. at Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, Florida
- April 7, 4 p.m. at Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida
- April 10, 6:30 p.m. at Midtown Reader in Tallahassee, Florida
- April 11, a virtual event at 6 p.m. with New Orleans' Blue Cypress Books
- April 12, 6 p.m. at Third House Books in Gainesville , Florida
- April 16, 2 p.m. at South County Regional Library in Estero, Florida
- April 18, 7 p.m. (Pacific Time) at North Figueroa Books in Los Angeles
- April 19, 6 p.m. (Pacific Time) at Bel Canto Books in Long Beach, California
- April 21, 3 p.m. (Pacific Time) at the L.A. Times Festival of Books in Los Angeles
- April 25, 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Fort Myers, Florida
- May 4, 3 p.m. at A Capella Books in Atlanta
- May 18 at the Orlando Book Festival (details to be announced)
Learn more about Annabelle Tometich, "The Mango Tree" and her book tour at annabelletometich.com.
Charles Runnells is an arts and entertainment reporter for The News-Press and the Naples Daily News. To reach him, call 239-335-0368 (for tickets to shows, call the venue) or email him atcrunnells@gannett.com. Follow or message him on social media: Facebook (facebook.com/charles.runnells.7), X (formerly Twitter) (@charlesrunnells), Threads (@crunnells1) and Instagram (@crunnells1).