Reviews

Where the Rekohu Bone Sings by Tina Makereti

emmalemonnz's review

5.0

Sometimes a book comes into your life and you know it will stay a long while.

Makereti's ability to make highly crafted sentences seem effortless is some kind of magic.

I grew up on the lie that the Moriori lived in New Zealand when Maori arrived and were wiped out except for the last few who fled to the Chathams (Rēkohu). That somehow makes what really happened worse. I am grateful to all the people who have done the mahi and research and untangled fact from falsehood so that I can learn about the history of my country. I am grateful to Tina Makereti for writing this story and bringing the history to life with characters and language that have lived within me as I read it, and will continue to do so for a while.

I am so glad this book exists.

trinamarie's review

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

mnboyer's review

5.0

Wow.

That was my first thought when I finished reading this novel. The impact will stay with you for quite some time. I've been sitting here for hours thinking 'wow.'

The novel discusses the intersections of being Maori, Pakeha, and the lesser known Moriori. The Moriori underwent a genocide by the Maori in the 1800s because of their peaceful tendencies--and this is probably something that you have not read about before. The story revolves around a family struggling to find their identities when it becomes clear a mother has "hidden" some of the past from them. It is touching, frustrating, terrible, wonderful... it is "wow."

soph_mills's review

adventurous emotional informative inspiring 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

5.0

leggsly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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

5.0

I love this book! I take back what I said in my Kaikeyi review about not liking historical fiction lol. This was a really captivating story from the start, even without a super complicated or twisty plot. The writing is so beautiful, and I especially liked how the voice switches during Imi’s chapters. Certain scenes had so much tension despite being relatively low-stakes, which I think is a testament to Makereti’s skill as a writer. 

I was invested in all the characters and really felt like I understood their motivations. I loved how Bigsy and Lula would hear stories about their ancestors and then we (the reader) got to live those stories. 

Also I don’t think I’ve ever read a book about New Zealand like this? I feel like I learned a lot while reading. There was just the right balance between in-text history and figuring things out based on context clues. 

I highlighted some bits that I thought were particularly lovely:

“If he could have turned himself into thin air at that moment, he would have willingly become nothing just to encircle her, wash over her.” (19)

“The ‘real’, you call it, as if the only things with real in them are the things you see and touch with your weak-flesh senses.” (123)

“Mere laid her head on his chest. He ran his fingers over her hair, still marvelling that this was even possible. ‘I can hear your heart,’ said Mere. No, he thought, it is your heart.” (154)

kurkuma_ingwer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

patroclusbro's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

thissimoneb's review

4.0

A beautiful book that really shows the complexity & emotion of connecting with your history and the land.

nicolaanaru's review

5.0

 

Where the Rēkohu Bone Sings is the debut novel by Tina Makereti (Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Āti Awa, Ngāti Rangatahi, Pākehā and, according to family stories, Moriori descent).  The story is split into three main timelines/narrative arcs - first, the 19th Century story of Mere, a young Māori woman of high standing and her best friend (and possible cousin) Iraia, who is descended from Moriori enslaved peoples.  Interwoven with this narrative is the present-day story of Lula and Bigsy, twins born under mysterious circumstances who have a lot to learn about their past.  And the third strand of this narrative is a Moriori spirit that watches over all of them while they are unable to depart into the afterlife.

Lula and Bigsy’s mother, Tui, dies and the family follows her instructions for a Māori burial at her marae by her estranged whānau.  It comes out that Tui is of Moriori descent, a distinction that her other family members ostracized her for many years ago.  This sets Lula and Bigsy on a quest to grapple with their Moriori ancestry, including inheriting a small property on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) and getting perspectives from the local community.  The siblings have to unpack not just Pākehā guilt, but now Māori guilt, as well as the whakamā of discovering Moriori ancestry in a time when (incorrect) public opinion and history largely denies existence of or disparages Moriori.  Mere and Iraia fall in love, and realizing that this won’t stand under their current class system, run away to Wellington to start their lives together.

Makereti is very skilled in forming a moving story which manages to deftly navigate very sensitive material, and impart a lot of history without making the novel feel like a history textbook, or self-righteousness.  This is an emotive story which very quickly had me invested in the outcomes for the characters, and empathizing with the repeated difficult decisions they had to make to survive in a changing society, whether connecting with a “taboo” people, reframing how one thinks of land and family, or questioning long-held beliefs.  The language in this book is beautiful and expressive, and there are many quotes I could pull out but here are a few:

Tū’s face contorted again.  Iraia saw the anger deepen, then a fleeting sorrow soften the hard man’s face.  Finally, like a spade breaking earth, sharp resolution.

But the fire kept them up, talking, laughing, reweaving their lives together to make themselves strong for a future they couldn’t predict.

Mere had become a pounding in his blood, his pulse amplified, she was the very shape of all that he knew he shouldn’t hope for.

Y’know how people-of-colour are always being described with skin the colour of chocolate, caramel, coffee, etc?  Well, here’s a first:

Later, when it was impossible to lie still or sleep, she wished she had the natural protection of her brother’s Milo skin, and for the first time ever (strangely since it was the story she was weaned on) wondered why she didn’t.

And then, there are phrases which just seem to so correctly explain facets of Māori and Moriori life:

Things make sense only in relation to other things.

We are the people of this land.  They cannot change that with their paper laws.

Understand we do not die out.  Ours is a quiet strength that knows not even the boundary of death.  You do your worst and still we are here.  Ka Ora.  We live.  Still.

NB:  Moriori history is complex and has been willfully misinterpreted over time both as a means to avoid discomfort, and a way of justifying Pākehā violence and colonization.  In brief, my understanding is this:  Moriori were Polynesians who came to Aotearoa, and then settled on Rēkohu, while Māori settled on the mainland.  In adapting to life on Rēkohu and growing a population of around 2500 people, they turned to hunting/gathering over horticulture, disestablished the class system, established their own dialect, and most importantly, established Nukunuku’s Law, which forbade cannibalism and murder, even in times of warfare. 

In 1835, roughly 900 members of the Ngāti Tama and Ngāti Mutunga iwi came to Rēkohu in search of new territories after being displaced by Pākehā.  After being nursed back to health by the Moriori, the Māori revealed their intent to declare war.  A council of over 1000 Moriori was held to deliberate the response, and ultimately it was decided that Nukunuku’s law of passive resistance and peace would be honoured.  The two iwi killed over 300 Moriori and enslaved the rest; until they were released from slavery in 1863.  The impact of slavery, loss of land, people, and culture continued to impact the Moriori, and when I was growing up, it was widely and incorrectly taught in schools that the Moriori were “an inferior race” who were “extinct”.  In February this year, the Moriori and the New Zealand Government/Crown signed a deed of settlement which transferred land back from the Māori to the Moriori, officially recognized their imi as a living people, and sets the record straight on Moriori history. 

newtread's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75