**New Zealand (general thread)
KeskusteluReading Globally II
Liity LibraryThingin jäseneksi, niin voit kirjoittaa viestin.
2cushlareads
I'm a New Zealander, so reading NZ books is not reading globally for me, but there is so little discussion on here that I'm going to post my NZ book reviews to this thread. I hope that's ok.
The Book of Fame by Lloyd Jones - 3 1/2 stars
In August 1905, the All Blacks went to the United Kingdom to play rugby. This book is Lloyd Jones’ fictional account of that tour. If you’re a New Zealander who isn’t a rugby fan, fear not – neither am I and I really liked this book. He makes rugby beautiful and poetic. Anyway, there is surprisingly little direct commentary on rugby things, and when there is, it’s exciting. It’s much more about the reception the All Blacks got when they started walloping every team they played for the first 30 or so games, becoming celebrities, and being in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales at a time when New Zealand’s ties to those places was so strong but very few New Zealanders got the chance to go back there. The writing style is sparse and it’s written from the point of view of the whole team. I loved the style. I would have liked more character development and a bit more about what happened once they came home.
Here are a couple of excerpts to give you an idea of the style. (It was hard to pick – there are lots of good bits!)
“There are other moments that need to be acknowledged, spoken of, catalogued. Moments that simply occupy time between conquests.
The walk along the chalk cliffs
he snare of history
in the whitish air
No one talking, and
because of it
quite naturally our thoughts
turning to
Vikings.
Or at Scarborough, the striped deckchairs
the ferris wheel
the buttoned-up English
Tyler’s throwing a dart
and winning a stuffed rabbit
and us throwing it round a bit
until Jimmy Duncan scratched his chin
and thought he’d mention
an error he’d seen creep into our play.”
Recommended if you… are a rugby-lover, interested in how New Zealanders’ sense of identity has developed, or like poetry in your novels. I will be moving Jones’ other books up Mt TBR. (3 1/2 stars, nearly 4.) ( )
The Book of Fame by Lloyd Jones - 3 1/2 stars
In August 1905, the All Blacks went to the United Kingdom to play rugby. This book is Lloyd Jones’ fictional account of that tour. If you’re a New Zealander who isn’t a rugby fan, fear not – neither am I and I really liked this book. He makes rugby beautiful and poetic. Anyway, there is surprisingly little direct commentary on rugby things, and when there is, it’s exciting. It’s much more about the reception the All Blacks got when they started walloping every team they played for the first 30 or so games, becoming celebrities, and being in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales at a time when New Zealand’s ties to those places was so strong but very few New Zealanders got the chance to go back there. The writing style is sparse and it’s written from the point of view of the whole team. I loved the style. I would have liked more character development and a bit more about what happened once they came home.
Here are a couple of excerpts to give you an idea of the style. (It was hard to pick – there are lots of good bits!)
“There are other moments that need to be acknowledged, spoken of, catalogued. Moments that simply occupy time between conquests.
The walk along the chalk cliffs
he snare of history
in the whitish air
No one talking, and
because of it
quite naturally our thoughts
turning to
Vikings.
Or at Scarborough, the striped deckchairs
the ferris wheel
the buttoned-up English
Tyler’s throwing a dart
and winning a stuffed rabbit
and us throwing it round a bit
until Jimmy Duncan scratched his chin
and thought he’d mention
an error he’d seen creep into our play.”
Recommended if you… are a rugby-lover, interested in how New Zealanders’ sense of identity has developed, or like poetry in your novels. I will be moving Jones’ other books up Mt TBR. (3 1/2 stars, nearly 4.) ( )
4Nickelini
the Sky People, Patricia Grace, 1994
Cover comments: I pretty much like any cover done with intense blues, so I like this one too.
Comments: The Sky People is a collection of short stories by Maori writer Patricia Grace. Most of them concern Maoris who live in modern day New Zealand and are at the low side of the socioeconomic ladder.
I was disappointed with most of the stories. Grace writes in a cryptic style with many unexplained point of view changes, changes in voice, and unusual words and sentence structures. I got the feeling the author was saying "if you don't understand me, I'm not going to explain it to you." Of the stories that were a little more straight forward, I still had trouble determining the point of the story. Despite this, a few of the short stories were really excellent. My favourite was "Ngati Kangaru" where a Maori family launches a plan to take back New Zealand using the same methods Europeans used to conquer it themselves. Funny and clever.
Recommended for: someone looking for Maori literature.
Rating: 3 stars
Cover comments: I pretty much like any cover done with intense blues, so I like this one too.
Comments: The Sky People is a collection of short stories by Maori writer Patricia Grace. Most of them concern Maoris who live in modern day New Zealand and are at the low side of the socioeconomic ladder.
I was disappointed with most of the stories. Grace writes in a cryptic style with many unexplained point of view changes, changes in voice, and unusual words and sentence structures. I got the feeling the author was saying "if you don't understand me, I'm not going to explain it to you." Of the stories that were a little more straight forward, I still had trouble determining the point of the story. Despite this, a few of the short stories were really excellent. My favourite was "Ngati Kangaru" where a Maori family launches a plan to take back New Zealand using the same methods Europeans used to conquer it themselves. Funny and clever.
Recommended for: someone looking for Maori literature.
Rating: 3 stars
5chlorine
I'm currently reading Once we're warriors, by Alan Duff.
The book is about a Maori family living in a Maori neighborhood, where most people are unemployed and were alcohol and violence abound. It is so far a powerful but very grim, hopeless book.
I have seen the movie inspired by the book about ten years ago, which is what prompted me to (belatedly) read the book. I'm not sure I remember it correctly but it seems to me that the character of the father/husband is given more attention in the book, so that we get a tiny grasp of how he can be such an abusive, alcoholic, bully. I find that quite interesting.
The book is about a Maori family living in a Maori neighborhood, where most people are unemployed and were alcohol and violence abound. It is so far a powerful but very grim, hopeless book.
I have seen the movie inspired by the book about ten years ago, which is what prompted me to (belatedly) read the book. I'm not sure I remember it correctly but it seems to me that the character of the father/husband is given more attention in the book, so that we get a tiny grasp of how he can be such an abusive, alcoholic, bully. I find that quite interesting.
6spiralsheep
I read Potiki, by Patricia Grace, which is a novel set in a Maori community in Aotearoa (New Zealand) about family, cultural and economic survival, and how all are linked to environmental caretaking.
A traditional Maori whānau community, the Tamihanas, and their way of life, already under pressure from generations of settler-colonialism, are threatened by ruthless developers who want their land. Their allies, other Maori, local people resisting change, and environmentalists, prove ineffectual against big business with government and the police on their side, but the Tamihanas have a deep-rooted connection to their homeland and their extended family which gives them strength. The story also effortlessly includes disabled family members as half the main point of view characters.
Quote: "She made her way along by the water's edge singing, sometimes talking as she went. Every now and again she would bend and pick something up. If it was something that either lived or could live - a crab, a shellfish or a weed - she threw it into the sea. If it was something that did not live and could not - paper, plastic or tin - she put it into her bucket to take home."
A traditional Maori whānau community, the Tamihanas, and their way of life, already under pressure from generations of settler-colonialism, are threatened by ruthless developers who want their land. Their allies, other Maori, local people resisting change, and environmentalists, prove ineffectual against big business with government and the police on their side, but the Tamihanas have a deep-rooted connection to their homeland and their extended family which gives them strength. The story also effortlessly includes disabled family members as half the main point of view characters.
Quote: "She made her way along by the water's edge singing, sometimes talking as she went. Every now and again she would bend and pick something up. If it was something that either lived or could live - a crab, a shellfish or a weed - she threw it into the sea. If it was something that did not live and could not - paper, plastic or tin - she put it into her bucket to take home."
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