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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
I borrowed this book from a friend on her reccommendation. It is now, hands down, in my top five favorite books list. After I returned my friend's copy, I went and bought my own. I didn't write a review as soon as I finished because I want to read it again to really be able to marshall my thoughts, but I still haven't gotten to a re-read, and I wanted to at least put in my rating for it, so here's a non-review just to say it is amazing. It gets dark, it is full of light, it has some dry humor, it has some hints of surrealism, it has a beautiful voice, it is from New Zealand, and you should read it.
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
CW’s listed as moderate, as there aren’t graphic descriptions of the abuse, and it’s indirectly alluded to in most of the novel. Nonetheless, it’s a main theme of the novel and may be difficult for readers to grapple with.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
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
Spellbinding. Heartbreaking. Harrowing. Hopeful. Magical.
Immediately immersed me into its world. I dreamed of them, of places I’ve never been.
Oh I hated and loved them all.
What an amazing book.
Immediately immersed me into its world. I dreamed of them, of places I’ve never been.
Oh I hated and loved them all.
What an amazing book.
Read the content warnings and decided I wasn't feeling up to all that right now. I like the way the story is told though so I may come back to it someday.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
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
Despite the indulgent spirituality peppered throughout and the often hard to follow stop/start faux-poetic quality of the prose, I was still really rooting for this book. I genuinely connected with the three main characters at first, flaws and all, and I was enjoying some of the experimentations she was doing with the language, though most of them don't work--I still admire the spirit of it. (I did like that she indented character's inner monologues, that seems like a good convention that should be used elsewhere)
But the book quickly moves into territory which I thought reprehensible. So, spoilers, but basically a child gets abused. It is violent and not pretty. This, in most cases, would be fine. I don't want my books to sugarcoat the real world, or to create flawless perfect characters. It's how Hulme then handles this abuse that infuriates me. First, there was lip service to how bad child abuse is. OK, fine, that's a good first step.
But then, the book slowly shifts its position, dropping hints that it is OK to slap your child over the head sometimes when he is making you angry... it's only when you completely maim them is it not ok... And even then, it's forgivable when you love the child and the child loves you, right? In fact, child protective services and the cops and doctors and psychologists, they are supposedly looking out for the interest of the child, but they don't REALLY know him. They don't GET the bond that they've formed! They're not really listening to what he really wants, which is to go back to his abusive father.
And oh, about that abusive father? Don't worry, we can forgive him, because he went on some spiritual journey, met some Maori elder who told him about some god in a river which he is looking after. I mean, not like that was not totally random and out of left field, and what does that have to do with his abusive behavior? He hasn't really earned your forgiveness or anything, but look, he had a tough life growing up, and then his wife died and lots of sad things happened in his life, so give him a break will ya? Besides, he found some random god! So like, that's gotta be worth some kinda redemption right? Because spirituality and magic and stuff...
Also, the kid is shrouded in mystery, which is fine, but we're not gonna explain anything, not really, just gonna say he was traveling with a bunch of coke heads, that should explain the fear of needles thing! Which is the least of the mysteries, really... I mean, the kid has a voice, can scream, knows words, can write, can even mouth words silently, but won't talk... why is that? Oh, coke heads... hmmm
And that ending was just like "OK everyone lives happily ever after, let's sweep everything under the rug, because now there's magic, and so they can all be together and never experience abuse ever again". After creating relatively complex and flawed characters, I'm surprised Hulme thought this Deus Ex Machina type of ending was really gonna cut it. It's like she stopped trying/caring.
I don't mind child abuse being addressed or even being portrayed without judgement. But this book goes too far, in that it actually says child abuse is okay, as long as the abuser has found spiritual enlightenment and promises, I mean, really promises he won't ever do it again, right? (wink, wink)
But the book quickly moves into territory which I thought reprehensible. So, spoilers, but basically a child gets abused. It is violent and not pretty. This, in most cases, would be fine. I don't want my books to sugarcoat the real world, or to create flawless perfect characters. It's how Hulme then handles this abuse that infuriates me. First, there was lip service to how bad child abuse is. OK, fine, that's a good first step.
But then, the book slowly shifts its position, dropping hints that it is OK to slap your child over the head sometimes when he is making you angry... it's only when you completely maim them is it not ok... And even then, it's forgivable when you love the child and the child loves you, right? In fact, child protective services and the cops and doctors and psychologists, they are supposedly looking out for the interest of the child, but they don't REALLY know him. They don't GET the bond that they've formed! They're not really listening to what he really wants, which is to go back to his abusive father.
And oh, about that abusive father? Don't worry, we can forgive him, because he went on some spiritual journey, met some Maori elder who told him about some god in a river which he is looking after. I mean, not like that was not totally random and out of left field, and what does that have to do with his abusive behavior? He hasn't really earned your forgiveness or anything, but look, he had a tough life growing up, and then his wife died and lots of sad things happened in his life, so give him a break will ya? Besides, he found some random god! So like, that's gotta be worth some kinda redemption right? Because spirituality and magic and stuff...
Also, the kid is shrouded in mystery, which is fine, but we're not gonna explain anything, not really, just gonna say he was traveling with a bunch of coke heads, that should explain the fear of needles thing! Which is the least of the mysteries, really... I mean, the kid has a voice, can scream, knows words, can write, can even mouth words silently, but won't talk... why is that? Oh, coke heads... hmmm
And that ending was just like "OK everyone lives happily ever after, let's sweep everything under the rug, because now there's magic, and so they can all be together and never experience abuse ever again". After creating relatively complex and flawed characters, I'm surprised Hulme thought this Deus Ex Machina type of ending was really gonna cut it. It's like she stopped trying/caring.
I don't mind child abuse being addressed or even being portrayed without judgement. But this book goes too far, in that it actually says child abuse is okay, as long as the abuser has found spiritual enlightenment and promises, I mean, really promises he won't ever do it again, right? (wink, wink)
I think this is my favorite book I've read all year. It was devastating and wonderful and a thousand things in between. It made me cry from hollowness and from bright, fizzy, overflowing joy. It was certainly one of the most emotionally complex things I've ever read. Both of the adults had such ugly flaws that you think you would hate them on principle, but there is never a moment when you aren't conscious of the fact that Kerewin and Joe are good people, great even. There's such lovely, intricate creation here.
And Simon, my gentleheart, my sunchild, my unstoppable force, I'll love you forever. God, I'm crying just thinking about him. I'd give him the world.
I loved the magical realism at play, the depth of the point of view, the cultural significance, the vaguely attended to or utterly unanswered mysteries, and the sheer oddity of the form. There's more love in my body than I know what to do with.
...
"What a pity, she thinks, as she drops the bottle at the woodpile's edge, that we humans don't have aesthetically pleasing skeletons. None of the elegance and beauty of your humble mollusc. Just a knobbily serrated jumble, headbone connected to the breastbone etcetera etcetera. On the other hand, maybe just as well... something might decide to start collecting us...."
"I was thinking yesterday, what a waste it all was... I'd worked hard, pakeha fashion, for nearly six years, making money to make a home. And the one thing I never made was a home..."
"And then the terrible bare unbelief. I had no shield for that mood of death. I could not believe so much of me could be cut out so swiftly, leaving only a gaping depth of anguish."
“But hands are sacred things. Touch is personal, fingers of love, feelers of blind eyes, tongues of those who cannot talk…”
And Simon, my gentleheart, my sunchild, my unstoppable force, I'll love you forever. God, I'm crying just thinking about him. I'd give him the world.
I loved the magical realism at play, the depth of the point of view, the cultural significance, the vaguely attended to or utterly unanswered mysteries, and the sheer oddity of the form. There's more love in my body than I know what to do with.
...
"What a pity, she thinks, as she drops the bottle at the woodpile's edge, that we humans don't have aesthetically pleasing skeletons. None of the elegance and beauty of your humble mollusc. Just a knobbily serrated jumble, headbone connected to the breastbone etcetera etcetera. On the other hand, maybe just as well... something might decide to start collecting us...."
"I was thinking yesterday, what a waste it all was... I'd worked hard, pakeha fashion, for nearly six years, making money to make a home. And the one thing I never made was a home..."
"And then the terrible bare unbelief. I had no shield for that mood of death. I could not believe so much of me could be cut out so swiftly, leaving only a gaping depth of anguish."
“But hands are sacred things. Touch is personal, fingers of love, feelers of blind eyes, tongues of those who cannot talk…”
I struggled with the writing style. Could have pushed through but once we got to Joe's inner thoughts it just wasn't something I wanted to read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia
Powerful, poetic, culturally immersive, challenging. SpoilerNot everyone likes the way the child abuse is explored and ultimately responded to in this book, but as someone who works with abused children and therefore by extension, at times, their abusers, I need people to start to understand the complexity of child abuse. This book asks you to look at the systemic, societal ways we shape people into violence, and demands that you immerse yourself in the complexity of people and their environments. You're not supposed to excuse the child abuse (and the ending may leave some people feeling that's the point, though I disagree), but you are asked to do more to try and understand it which, when we are all complicit to a degree, is an admittedly uncomfortable experience.