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A review by translatedgems
Vā: Stories by Women of the Moana by Sisilia Eteuati, Lani Wendt Young
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
This is a collection with such a varitey of stories that simply gets hold of you. Some stories made me smile, some made me cry and some other made me want to shout in anger. Truly a must read.
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"We fortunate our parents are not the fasi type. Yes, the mother used the salu a few times. The seevae kosokoso. Maybe she threw a pot at Siaki’s head once. But doesn’t count, since he ducked. And yes, she is skilful at soul cutting with words. But then, what Samoan mother isn’t?"
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"All Māori get sliced and stabbed by racist rhetoric, no matter if it’s specifically directed at them or not. The words find us. They cut us. They force us to heal with a thickened callous. They make our souls harder."
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I wish the collections included some footnotes or an index for some words and expressions I couldn't understand.
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"We fortunate our parents are not the fasi type. Yes, the mother used the salu a few times. The seevae kosokoso. Maybe she threw a pot at Siaki’s head once. But doesn’t count, since he ducked. And yes, she is skilful at soul cutting with words. But then, what Samoan mother isn’t?"
•
"All Māori get sliced and stabbed by racist rhetoric, no matter if it’s specifically directed at them or not. The words find us. They cut us. They force us to heal with a thickened callous. They make our souls harder."
•
I wish the collections included some footnotes or an index for some words and expressions I couldn't understand.