What an amazing book! Newzealanders write extremely well about their own landscape and this is a great example. You can see the mists, smell the bush and feel the dampness in your bones.
This is the story of Te Rauparaha, a native chief who was in the North and South islands of NZ in 1820'-1840's. He was a fierce warrior and proud of his tribe ( Ngati Toa) and his land. In the story he persuades the captain and crew of the Elizabeth to carry his warriors from Kapti Island to Banks Peninsula to engage in slaughter and conquest. He also guised his people through the North Island's desert like landscape to settle further south. The descriptions of the landscape endow it with almost supernatural powers.
There is a lot of early NZ history in this book but not in a history-lesson kind of way. The main portrayal and telling of Te Rauparaha's life and conquests is chilling and mesmerising.
Incredibly well written it is one of the best NZ novels I have read. Clayton is in his early twenties and a student, what amazing talent.
Can't wait to read more of his work.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
The world we found | Thrity Umrigar
I really enjoyed this book. It gives the reader an insightful look into modern Indian culture and its juxtaposed with modern American life.
The story develops around four women who have been friends from childhood, have drifted apart in adulthood but are called together by Armaiti who is diagnosed with cancer. Armaiti wants the four to be reunited before she dies.
Laleh is happily married to her college sweetheart. Kavita is a lesbian in a stable relationship and has a great career as an architect. Armaiti is the rebel who fled India to America and married an American. Nishta married her college sweetheart who has become a devout and strict Muslim and will not allow her to travel with the others.
The plot is simply the journey the four have to take to come to terms with their past and the suture they must face without Armaiti. It is well paced and interesting and the characters really are well developed. They each have an individual story to tell and they have a shared story that is evolving.
The story develops around four women who have been friends from childhood, have drifted apart in adulthood but are called together by Armaiti who is diagnosed with cancer. Armaiti wants the four to be reunited before she dies.
Laleh is happily married to her college sweetheart. Kavita is a lesbian in a stable relationship and has a great career as an architect. Armaiti is the rebel who fled India to America and married an American. Nishta married her college sweetheart who has become a devout and strict Muslim and will not allow her to travel with the others.
The plot is simply the journey the four have to take to come to terms with their past and the suture they must face without Armaiti. It is well paced and interesting and the characters really are well developed. They each have an individual story to tell and they have a shared story that is evolving.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Mr Rosenblum's List | Natasha Solomons
What a great little book this turned out to be! Don't be put off by the cover (twee) or the comment by Paul Torday saying "charming"....It is a much better book than that. This one we won't judge by the cover.
Sadie and Jakob Rosenblum are refugees arriving in England fleeing from Nazi Germany. They have left their Jewish relatives behind and realize as news of the war unfolds that their families have been murdered in camps and ghettoes.
Upon arrival in England Jakob is handed a pamphlet with the title: While you are in England, Helpful Information. And it prescribes how to become assimilated into English life and accepted as an Englishman. Jakob sets his hear on this and follows the list meticulously, making helpful annotations and additions to the list as the years go on. The last item on the list is to become a member at a golf club. And this he cannot do as he is rejected because he is a Jew.
Parallel to his story we have Sadie's story which is one steeped in sadness and the inability to assimilate because she is a German Jew. She has lost her family and mourns them deeply, she has an accent and a funny turn of phrase given her first language is German and she cannot relate to the Englishwomen she meets. She is beautifully drawn in the narrative and I feelt saddened by her, wanting her to be able to come to some place of peace.
Jakob decides to buy some land and build his own golf course and the main part of the book is the going about of this venture. Sadie is dragged from London to the country and has to reintegrate herself all over again. She moves deeper into depression and grief which push her outside, literally. She discovers the garden surrounding the cottage, learns the seasons, rediscovers her mother's cookbook and puts herself back together through the gentle pace of living in the country.
Jakob creates the first few holes by hand, obsessed with Bobby Jones, the creator of Augusta. The locals object and oppose the golf course and shun Jakob and Sadie because they are Jewish but in the end come to admire the doggedness with which Jakob pursues his dream of becoming the member of a golf club, and the endless baking Sadie undertakes to work out her sorrows.
Yes, there is a happy ending of sorts which I felt the characters richly deserved.
I loved the experience of reading this book, it's not twee or charming or chick lit. It touches on many deep emotions, the plight of refugees and the deepest desire we carry in us of wanting to belong.
Sadie and Jakob Rosenblum are refugees arriving in England fleeing from Nazi Germany. They have left their Jewish relatives behind and realize as news of the war unfolds that their families have been murdered in camps and ghettoes.
Upon arrival in England Jakob is handed a pamphlet with the title: While you are in England, Helpful Information. And it prescribes how to become assimilated into English life and accepted as an Englishman. Jakob sets his hear on this and follows the list meticulously, making helpful annotations and additions to the list as the years go on. The last item on the list is to become a member at a golf club. And this he cannot do as he is rejected because he is a Jew.
Parallel to his story we have Sadie's story which is one steeped in sadness and the inability to assimilate because she is a German Jew. She has lost her family and mourns them deeply, she has an accent and a funny turn of phrase given her first language is German and she cannot relate to the Englishwomen she meets. She is beautifully drawn in the narrative and I feelt saddened by her, wanting her to be able to come to some place of peace.
Jakob decides to buy some land and build his own golf course and the main part of the book is the going about of this venture. Sadie is dragged from London to the country and has to reintegrate herself all over again. She moves deeper into depression and grief which push her outside, literally. She discovers the garden surrounding the cottage, learns the seasons, rediscovers her mother's cookbook and puts herself back together through the gentle pace of living in the country.
Jakob creates the first few holes by hand, obsessed with Bobby Jones, the creator of Augusta. The locals object and oppose the golf course and shun Jakob and Sadie because they are Jewish but in the end come to admire the doggedness with which Jakob pursues his dream of becoming the member of a golf club, and the endless baking Sadie undertakes to work out her sorrows.
Yes, there is a happy ending of sorts which I felt the characters richly deserved.
I loved the experience of reading this book, it's not twee or charming or chick lit. It touches on many deep emotions, the plight of refugees and the deepest desire we carry in us of wanting to belong.
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