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marioncromb's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I really enjoyed spending time in the NZ setting with these characters and the ways they clashed and grew together. The book sets up several mysteries at the start that are fun to unravel and come back to at the end, although maybe some moral unease on my end at the enjoyment in unraveling one of those mysteries being '
The book is very long though and in the second half I was definitely flagging in places where it felt morr indulgent or repetitive. Its a little deus ex machina at the end as well, i wasn't totally convinced things could be fixed that easily, realistically. Although arguably it is about the hope of things being better, this time.
Graphic: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, and Grief
Minor: Cannibalism, Addiction, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Drug use, Excrement, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Colonisation, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Acephobia/Arophobia
wytherwytch's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I found this book very intriguing. I can't help but think that this book is some how autobiographical on the part of the author. One character in particular - Kerewin Holmes - doesn't seem terribly far removed from our author, Keri Hulme. I cannot help but wonder if Keri can relate to other two characters and their experiences as well and bearing in mind the subject matter, that really does give me pause for thought. Many decry this book for its subject matter of child abuse and violence... but I suspect that this is more autobiographical than many give credit.
Bearing in that in mind, this is a beautifully crafted story. It's main themes, I would say, are family and forgiveness. That might be out of place for some in today's world but in other ways Hulme was well ahead of her time with her asexual main character for one
I know many can't handle the veer from reality to the mystical at the end but it seems to me that Hulme was also touching on something personal here. Something about forgiveness. And if so the ending might not be everyone... but also makes total sense
Personally I didn't always appreciate the poetic writing but I understand this is Hulme's voice. And as such, I respect it.
The more I reflect, the more I think this book was well deserving of the Booker
Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Abandonment, Violence, and Child abuse
Moderate: Grief, Medical content, Suicide attempt, and Cancer
Minor: Pedophilia, Animal death, and Vomit
nquinlan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Racism
Minor: Pedophilia
memezaharamole's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
As a New Zealander living overseas, the use of Te Reo Maori and references to the homeland really helped ground me in this book. One of the best I have ever read.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Cancer, Medical content, Addiction, and Pedophilia
meghar's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Blood, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Violence, Racism, Physical abuse, Cancer, Child abuse, and Medical trauma
anacereading's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Drug use, Suicide attempt, Violence, Child abuse, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Blood, Abandonment, Ableism, Vomit, Animal death, Bullying, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Medical content
Minor: Death of parent, Excrement, Confinement, Car accident, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, and Racial slurs
kodi_rae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse and Medical content
Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Death, and Grief
Minor: Body shaming
writingcaia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Kere, a half Māori woman broken from her family, removed too from her art and her will to live, hides herself in her tower until one day having sneaked inside her abode she meets the mute and wild Simon, the long blond haired and sea foam eyed young kid the flotsam brought after a shipwreck, the only survivor of it, unable to speak for reasons unknown he can’t explain anything about who he was but there’re the strange markings on his body and something took his voice from him and made him fearful and wild. Unable to communicate his traumatised child thoughts and feelings and the reason he steals, breaks and enters peoples’ houses and acts so strangely he drives is “adoptive” father and rescuer, the Māori pakeha-life Joe completely crazy, especially since after he lost his wife and baby son. Unable to deal with Simon’s trauma and its consequences and his own loss and suffering violence seems Joe’s only option to deal with the havoc of it all. But, love is still very deep in them and it will bind these three characters unexpectedly, or maybe Simon wished it so.
There’s so much more to say about this book, this story, it moved me, it changed the way I see trauma and the violence of it on the mind and that is inflicted.
This is not an easy read, the writing is very introspective, very poetic, changes in narrative format all the time, plays with words, but you get to see the inner works of their traumas, and also their hopes, their love, another thing that makes it harder to follow is that the POV changes without warning, and there’s also a lot of Māori expressions (which I only found out in the end were most of them translated at the end of the book, still…), and, then, there’s the brutality, the unfiltered violence.
I fell in love with this tale very quickly although it took me longer than usual to get through it. I won’t recommend it to squeamish, easily disturbed people, everyone else yes, it’s such an ode to the Māori survival among the pakeha, the borderline between being one and the other, loving the roots and respecting them, while adapting to the pakeha world, it is also an ode to different people, mixed and broken, to love of all types even aromantic and asexual, which I found amazing in a book released in 1984. This was a novel debut by a Māori poet, immediately booker prize winner and a classic in the making. I definitely wish I can reread it soon. So, yeah, go read it.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, and Self harm
Moderate: Acephobia/Arophobia, Colonisation, and Sexism
Minor: Drug abuse, Animal death, Cancer, and Child death