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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It's a lighter stream-of-consciousness than say, Toni Morrison's works. As well as a much lighter allegory than say Life of Pi. Maori mythology weaves in and out throughout the tale. Along with those styles, the chapters are structured in such a fluid style that keeping track takes work. The first half is part of the weaving, whilst the second focuses on their individual journeys. Hulme's prose is poetic and possibly the pivotal reason I remained with it. I was glad I did. The ending chapters feel disconnected from the first and that's possibly my only real criticism.
Hulme does a fabulous job of creating a sense of isolation. Of place and soul. The rugged landscape of New Zealand's South Island coastline is a magnificent backdrop and symbol.
I found the child abuse difficult work to walk through. Yet, not as difficult as I would have thought. Perhaps it's the novel's other-worldliness, the child's maturity, the child as Christ symbol, the necessity to know about these occurrences, or Hulme's storytelling abilities. Troubling yes, but somehow it all made sense and was necessary to understand.
I didn't feel deeply for any of the characters, and yet, they are so well-developed, that I needed to know about them. They are too terribly flawed to connect with, but that is their purpose in this tale. This is a character-driven novel where just enough occurs to keep them tied to the real world of movement, but always playing second-fiddle.
It's an intense ride, one that I'm unsure whether to recommend. Possibly only to those who care for such intensity and mysticism. I am glad for reading it. It touched me and troubled me. Yet it was a lyrical journey that stayed with me for some time afterwards.
Hulme does a fabulous job of creating a sense of isolation. Of place and soul. The rugged landscape of New Zealand's South Island coastline is a magnificent backdrop and symbol.
I found the child abuse difficult work to walk through. Yet, not as difficult as I would have thought. Perhaps it's the novel's other-worldliness, the child's maturity, the child as Christ symbol, the necessity to know about these occurrences, or Hulme's storytelling abilities. Troubling yes, but somehow it all made sense and was necessary to understand.
I didn't feel deeply for any of the characters, and yet, they are so well-developed, that I needed to know about them. They are too terribly flawed to connect with, but that is their purpose in this tale. This is a character-driven novel where just enough occurs to keep them tied to the real world of movement, but always playing second-fiddle.
It's an intense ride, one that I'm unsure whether to recommend. Possibly only to those who care for such intensity and mysticism. I am glad for reading it. It touched me and troubled me. Yet it was a lyrical journey that stayed with me for some time afterwards.
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
****SPOILERS, BUT I’LL WARN YOU, FIRST****
This is one tough book to read. Both figuratively and literally. At it’s heart, the novel is a bildungsroman about three people who feel irredeemable, and the effect that has on their relationships with each other and those around them. Primarily there is Kerewin Holmes, a social outcast estranged from her family. She meets Joe Gillaley and his foster son, Simon. Joe harbors an awful, villainous mean streak stemming from childhood trauma and the death of his wife and son. Poor Simon cannot speak and was found washed ashore after a shipwreck that likely saved him from some terrible situation, but left him mentally scarred and on the receiving end of Joe’s terrible fault.
It is a beautifully written book, but it is quite modernist in that it will constantly shift from first person to third person, or from prose to poetry (or a prose poem). Character viewpoints will change with little warning. I found it a wonderful read, but I would not be surprised to find it off putting for many.
Additionally there are aspects of Maori culture that inform the deeper meanings of the book that are lost on me.
But overall, even at well over 500 pages and about a relatively uncomplicated story, I was absolutely hooked. I loved it, and kept at it even things got tough, or turned strange at the end (I’ll explain but it’ll be spoiled).
****SPOILERS****
****READY?****
Ok, so Joe beats the ever-living shit out of Simon. Hulme does not spare the reader, and she doesn’t go overboard with it. Just the right amount of awful, so that you see Joe as a flawed human but making choices the reader wants to see him pay for. Which, he does, but it feels weird when it happens.
Essentially, there’s the expected falling out between the trio, leading to Joe nearly beating Simon to death and going to jail and losing custody. From there, depending on your interpretation, it dives into either magical realism or alternate reality. Be prepared for it changing and roll with it.
This is one tough book to read. Both figuratively and literally. At it’s heart, the novel is a bildungsroman about three people who feel irredeemable, and the effect that has on their relationships with each other and those around them. Primarily there is Kerewin Holmes, a social outcast estranged from her family. She meets Joe Gillaley and his foster son, Simon. Joe harbors an awful, villainous mean streak stemming from childhood trauma and the death of his wife and son. Poor Simon cannot speak and was found washed ashore after a shipwreck that likely saved him from some terrible situation, but left him mentally scarred and on the receiving end of Joe’s terrible fault.
It is a beautifully written book, but it is quite modernist in that it will constantly shift from first person to third person, or from prose to poetry (or a prose poem). Character viewpoints will change with little warning. I found it a wonderful read, but I would not be surprised to find it off putting for many.
Additionally there are aspects of Maori culture that inform the deeper meanings of the book that are lost on me.
But overall, even at well over 500 pages and about a relatively uncomplicated story, I was absolutely hooked. I loved it, and kept at it even things got tough, or turned strange at the end (I’ll explain but it’ll be spoiled).
****SPOILERS****
****READY?****
Ok, so Joe beats the ever-living shit out of Simon. Hulme does not spare the reader, and she doesn’t go overboard with it. Just the right amount of awful, so that you see Joe as a flawed human but making choices the reader wants to see him pay for. Which, he does, but it feels weird when it happens.
Essentially, there’s the expected falling out between the trio, leading to Joe nearly beating Simon to death and going to jail and losing custody. From there, depending on your interpretation, it dives into either magical realism or alternate reality. Be prepared for it changing and roll with it.
challenging
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book is extraordinary and heart shattering and beautiful, and also should be on more booklists of novels featuring queer First Nations characters. Talking about Kerewin to friends I feel like that clip of Willem Dafoe talking about his character in The Boondock Saints: “she’s an asexual hermit but she has a special connection with wordplay and playing guitar— there are many interesting things about her !!” Simon is a scrap of sunshine, painfully resilient as the receptacle for multiple adults’ accumulations of trauma, and ultimately is the healing catalyst needed if only those hard hearts will dare let it happen. Joe’s reckoning with the pain of his pain, the harm he has caused, is critically essential sitting-with for every would-be abolitionist. The deeptime of Māori storying ripples and tremors its way into the narrative in layered rupture, until finally, from the rubble, the rough stitches of repair might be made possible…
I loved every line of this book, the slipperiness of interiority and bird’s eye view, the visceral swings from exquisite joy to bonecrushing despair, the harsh and storied landscapes, the histories homed in a body. This one will stay with me a long time.
I loved every line of this book, the slipperiness of interiority and bird’s eye view, the visceral swings from exquisite joy to bonecrushing despair, the harsh and storied landscapes, the histories homed in a body. This one will stay with me a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cancer, Child death, Death, Self harm, Terminal illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abandonment
Familial estrangement, ace-phobia/anti-ace sentiment, self loathing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes