Witi Ihimaera

This took quite a while to get through - some very confronting pieces in here. There are also some amusing, well written stories - such as Nic Low's satirical take on mining in treasured spaces.
The inclusion of artwork from indigenous artists is pleasing and the relationship between Lisa Reihana's work and Witi Ihimaera's piece form an interesting and moving conversation between the two mediums.
Some pieces fail to stand up to the high marks set by their companions in the book but overall a very well put together collection that suits coffee table as much as bookshelf.… (more)

An evocative collection of short stories revolving around Māori traditions and values in a modern setting, told from various points of view in a small town. The pride and underlying love in community is at constant - and perhaps a losing - struggle with the slow disconnect of the young people to their culture as Pākehā influences overwhelm their lives. It presents the reality and evolution of indigenous cultures in today's world with matter-of-fact clarity, not pessimistically nor optimistically. Another great addition to Māori literature.… (more)

Maori chief Koro Apirana is an old man who feels his health and strength fading. He is desperate to have an heir of his own blood to pass on the things the next leader must know. But when his grandson produces the first child of the next generation, it is a disappointing girl. Koro vows to have nothing to do with her and to look outside his immediate family for the next heir.

The girl, Kahu, makes her great grandfather the center of her life and loves him like no other. She also has inherited some of the mystical Maori powers – apparently she can speak to the whales, echoing the Maori legend of Paikea who led his people to New Zealand on the back of a whale.

The story is told by Rawiri, Kahu’s uncle who is finding his own balance between the Maori traditions and the modern world. At one point he goes to work in Papua New Guinea, where, he finds that although the plantation owner’s son is his best friend, other dark-skinned people in the country are treated poorly.

The third set of characters are a pod of whales – we are inside the pod and hear their thoughts as they travel from the Antarctic northward to the fateful island of New Zealand.

This is much more than a children’s story, although it is often depicted as such. It’s a beautiful combination of the exquisitely sad and the beautiful with a strong element of humor thrown in (Go Nanny Flowers!) , which as the author says in an interview, is like “putting an arrow in the bum”(shooting someone with an arrow in the ass) to keep it from being too overwhelming to read.

5 stars with a few tears at the end.… (more)