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isobel_'s review
3.5
Enjoyed
Was looking for something less modern
Great book but didn't hit the nail
Was looking for something less modern
Great book but didn't hit the nail
rebekahf's review
5.0
Myths are the origin stories of every culture and civilisation. From the Middle-East and the Mediterranean, to Scandinavia, Asia, and the Americas, myths provide a map of meaning. Here in New Zealand, a catalogue of Māori mythology enriches our lives and culture.
Pūrākau: Māori Myths Retold features some of Aotearoa’s origin narratives re-written and re-imagined by some of our most distinguished Māori storytellers. As editors Witi Ihimaera and Whiti Hereaka state in their introduction, “we have a duty as kaitiaki...to pass our legacy from one generation to another... to keep the whakapapa going forward into the future”. The writers featured in this collection act as modern-day storytellers for the same purpose as their tīpuna. They inform and entertain at the same time.
Read my full review here:
https://www.nzbooklovers.co.nz/blog/p%C5%ABr%C4%81kau-m%C4%81ori-myths-retold-witi-ihimaera-and-whiti-hereaka-editors
Pūrākau: Māori Myths Retold features some of Aotearoa’s origin narratives re-written and re-imagined by some of our most distinguished Māori storytellers. As editors Witi Ihimaera and Whiti Hereaka state in their introduction, “we have a duty as kaitiaki...to pass our legacy from one generation to another... to keep the whakapapa going forward into the future”. The writers featured in this collection act as modern-day storytellers for the same purpose as their tīpuna. They inform and entertain at the same time.
Read my full review here:
https://www.nzbooklovers.co.nz/blog/p%C5%ABr%C4%81kau-m%C4%81ori-myths-retold-witi-ihimaera-and-whiti-hereaka-editors
trishreadsbooks's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
sofipitch's review
adventurous
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
Overall a really good collection, some of my favorites were written by Witi Ihimaera, who I didn't realize wrote a novel on my tbr. I didn't realize by "retold" many of these would be set in modern day. I didn't find it a bad choice overall, there were just a few trying too hard to be different or interesting they circled around to being boring
vincentkonrad's review
5.0
Incredible. It’s a thick book but so compelling that that doesn’t matter.
There’s a dialogue by Wilde in which the insufferable Gilbert argues that too much is written for the page and not for the voice, and it suffers for it. The majority of this collection would have pleased him, as the language flows aurally and one feels they are being told a tale rather than that they are reading words on a page. Suppose it comes with an oral tradition.
Some of the pieces have been written for the book, but the majority are collected from existing work spanning the last forty odd years. Their arrangement allows the reader to get a grasp of the mythology as a whole, while the individuality of each piece lets them stand out on their own significance. This also initiates one into the sense of reality that these myths have; they are at once true events that happened and just stories, perhaps with an aetiological purpose or a moral. Having read about a character in one context (Tangaroa as one of a bunch of rowdy sons with divorced parents), they remain that instance while also taking on other forms (Tangaroa as god of the sea who must be placated), being at once a familiar and a strange entity; a real human and a god.
The bringing together of these pieces allows for themes to emerge from the whole, which again initiate one into the tikanga that they represent. Ihimaera cheekily notes that the theme of asking permission to use things may be relevant to arrogant young writers (who may be later accused of plagiarism).
While there were a couple that I wasn’t into, that’s my problem for opposing certain forms (most poetry; story via interview). This also represents very much of a canon, with little from younger writers, but this is partly its purpose. Can hardly fault a work for following its own rules, and as a primer on Māori writers it gives a good taste of the big names that one has heard many times but neglected to actually read anything of.
Thoroughly entertaining, and whet my appetite for more of the same—in particular it got me excited to read ‘Black Marks on the Whit Page’, which I have had sitting there for a while without quite rousing the interest to open it.
There’s a dialogue by Wilde in which the insufferable Gilbert argues that too much is written for the page and not for the voice, and it suffers for it. The majority of this collection would have pleased him, as the language flows aurally and one feels they are being told a tale rather than that they are reading words on a page. Suppose it comes with an oral tradition.
Some of the pieces have been written for the book, but the majority are collected from existing work spanning the last forty odd years. Their arrangement allows the reader to get a grasp of the mythology as a whole, while the individuality of each piece lets them stand out on their own significance. This also initiates one into the sense of reality that these myths have; they are at once true events that happened and just stories, perhaps with an aetiological purpose or a moral. Having read about a character in one context (Tangaroa as one of a bunch of rowdy sons with divorced parents), they remain that instance while also taking on other forms (Tangaroa as god of the sea who must be placated), being at once a familiar and a strange entity; a real human and a god.
The bringing together of these pieces allows for themes to emerge from the whole, which again initiate one into the tikanga that they represent. Ihimaera cheekily notes that the theme of asking permission to use things may be relevant to arrogant young writers (who may be later accused of plagiarism).
While there were a couple that I wasn’t into, that’s my problem for opposing certain forms (most poetry; story via interview). This also represents very much of a canon, with little from younger writers, but this is partly its purpose. Can hardly fault a work for following its own rules, and as a primer on Māori writers it gives a good taste of the big names that one has heard many times but neglected to actually read anything of.
Thoroughly entertaining, and whet my appetite for more of the same—in particular it got me excited to read ‘Black Marks on the Whit Page’, which I have had sitting there for a while without quite rousing the interest to open it.
dels_bookmarks's review
4.0
These are not your childhood stories of Maui slowing the sun.
These are grown-up short stories, poetry, and other writings of Māori myths of creation, atua (gods), heroes, and monsters, mostly set in contemporary times.
It’s confronting, fresh, and often unexpected.
Highlights for me were:
These are grown-up short stories, poetry, and other writings of Māori myths of creation, atua (gods), heroes, and monsters, mostly set in contemporary times.
It’s confronting, fresh, and often unexpected.
Highlights for me were:
soph_mills's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Incest
emosheeran's review against another edition
slow-paced
1.5
I can’t believe I’m finally done reading this book, it felt never-ending. I’m sad to say I found this incredibly boring, and multiple times I didn’t even want to pick it up and continue.
I pretty much knew from the get go I would not enjoy this considering that in one of the first stories, erections and sex with soil were part of the subject matter. I went into this hoping to expand my knowledge of Māori myths, but I wasn’t expecting there to be this much sexual content. It just completely changed the mood for me, and I realised many of the stories probably wouldn’t be up my alley.
I only liked 5 of them— Born. Still., Tāwhaki: Real Life, Hinepūkohurangi and Uenuku, Moving Mountains, and Kurungaituku— out of the 33 in the book. Pretty sad. There is plenty of variation in the formats here, so I’m sure there will be something to like for everyone though. I found the fact that there was a fictional oral history of a band to be particularly cool.
Half a star gets given for the few stories I liked.
I pretty much knew from the get go I would not enjoy this considering that in one of the first stories, erections and sex with soil were part of the subject matter. I went into this hoping to expand my knowledge of Māori myths, but I wasn’t expecting there to be this much sexual content. It just completely changed the mood for me, and I realised many of the stories probably wouldn’t be up my alley.
I only liked 5 of them— Born. Still., Tāwhaki: Real Life, Hinepūkohurangi and Uenuku, Moving Mountains, and Kurungaituku— out of the 33 in the book. Pretty sad. There is plenty of variation in the formats here, so I’m sure there will be something to like for everyone though. I found the fact that there was a fictional oral history of a band to be particularly cool.
Half a star gets given for the few stories I liked.
kaitoro_walker13's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5