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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
This book took me forever to read.
IT WAS POETIC AND I APPRECIATE THAT. Otherwise, eh.
IT WAS POETIC AND I APPRECIATE THAT. Otherwise, eh.
A phenomenal, warping, gut-punch of a read. Just amazing.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
One of those books that I've read so long ago, but it still sticks with me.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Wow! This book. Completely stunning. The writing is spectacular, playful and so sure of itself. It made me think about so much but mostly about how life is never black or white and that people are better than their worst actions. What a compassionate and nuanced book this was. One of my best reading experiences this year.
I picked up this one as part of my Popsugar Reading Challenge 2022: A book with a character on the ACE spectrum.
I realized it fits multiple categories, though:
* A book you know nothing about. The only thing I knew about it when Whitfield picked it up from his library was that it would fit in the ACE spectrum prompt. Nothing else.
* A book by a Pacific Islander. Keri Hulme is Maori according to the biography blurb.
* A book that features two languages. I found out what a hongi is, which is something I had noticed before in videos of Haka but didn’t know anything else about it. There is a dictionary of Maori phrases and words in the back. Beautiful language.
* A book about a found family. This found family is incredibly dysfunctional, but it’s not like blood families aren’t dysfunctional. It still counts.
* A book set in the 1980s. I don’t know if it’s ever overtly stated that it takes place in the ‘80s but it was published in 1983 and the fashion and tech seems to be ‘80s, so I’m thinking it is a fair assumption.
The prose is beautiful. The story is intriguing. The characters are three-dimensional and flawed, while still making them human and likable. The child abuse is heartbreaking, but I do like that Joe is not made into a mustache-twirling villain. Nuanced.
I realized it fits multiple categories, though:
* A book you know nothing about. The only thing I knew about it when Whitfield picked it up from his library was that it would fit in the ACE spectrum prompt. Nothing else.
* A book by a Pacific Islander. Keri Hulme is Maori according to the biography blurb.
* A book that features two languages. I found out what a hongi is, which is something I had noticed before in videos of Haka but didn’t know anything else about it. There is a dictionary of Maori phrases and words in the back. Beautiful language.
* A book about a found family. This found family is incredibly dysfunctional, but it’s not like blood families aren’t dysfunctional. It still counts.
* A book set in the 1980s. I don’t know if it’s ever overtly stated that it takes place in the ‘80s but it was published in 1983 and the fashion and tech seems to be ‘80s, so I’m thinking it is a fair assumption.
The prose is beautiful. The story is intriguing. The characters are three-dimensional and flawed, while still making them human and likable. The child abuse is heartbreaking, but I do like that Joe is not made into a mustache-twirling villain. Nuanced.
challenging
emotional
reflective
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
I really struggled to rate this book. There are many difficult situations and there are times when it seems very unacceptable things are almost made to seem acceptable. But I think the author is trying to say it’s not that simple. There are so many sides to every story. We can change as humans. We may not. And it is also about an experience very different from my own, that of someone with indigenous Māori ancestry. Reading reviews, others criticized the author for writing about the Māori when not Māori enough. This seemed ironic to me as it is something the main character also faced.
Too gorgeous, too moving for words. I can't imagine a more deep-cutting and compassionate story about trauma and healing.
And Hulme isn't afraid to love words for their own sake, in English and in Maori, in the way that I unfortunately learned was "weird" when I was a kid and have a hard time returning to in my own writing. This gives me some courage to F it and write in the language of the soul.
And Hulme isn't afraid to love words for their own sake, in English and in Maori, in the way that I unfortunately learned was "weird" when I was a kid and have a hard time returning to in my own writing. This gives me some courage to F it and write in the language of the soul.
challenging
dark
funny
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
By and about a Maori woman, centered on the character's struggle to find peace with herself and the mute orphan boy and his rough and tender foster father who come into her life, the book is a complex portrait of the intersection of modern and traditional New Zealand life. Maori mysticism weaves through the lives of the central players, presenting a lyrical passage into that deeper other world as the woman, child and man seek meaning for themselves, separately and together. Beautiful.