Potiki (Talanoa : Contemporary Pacific Literature): By Patricia Grace 9780824817060
Actually, if you are not from a time and place, you almost certainly will not understood a book at all of its levels, any more than a tourist understands a new place. This is another book I have to read for uni. So I ended the book dissatisfied, feeling that I had missed key plot elements. It's 30 years old and that means the events of the past referred to by Roimata and Hemi are in the 1940s and 1950s. That was what I knew. Also, the story was fairly one-sided; the bad guys were really bad and the good guys were really good.
There were several sections written in Maori, with additional words littered throughout the book as well. Like a number of Grace's books, Potiki has been translated into several languages. They are threatened by impeding businessmen who want to take their land and build a resort on it. What he saw was brokenness, a broken race. I'm actually not sure I do understand.
It is written beautifully, with poetry woven intricately throughout. One is darkness and another is the place of departed spirits. Grace actually makes a theme out of the fact that, at the time of the book, Maori were largely excluded from or distorted within Pakeha literature. In 2003 Grace and her husband published a work of nonfiction, Earth, Sea, Sky: Images and Maori Proverbs from the Natural World of Aotearoa New Zealand, with photographs by Craig Potton. But there's also a strong voice, and a certain rhythm to the language to which the reader quickly gets accustomed, which give the book a feeling of authenticity.
The story is an important one. It implies that no one will ever understand anyone else if they don't come from the exact same background, which is probably what started the whole mess in the first place. There is a ongoing thread through the novel about storytelling; the difference between what the children learn in schools about story vs. While teaching and raising her seven children, Grace joined a writing club and began to publish her stories. Switching between first person and third person, this loose narrative of developers trying to build a resort on Maori land revolves around the family of Roimata Kararaina and her husband, Hemi Tamihana. I also have a small photography business and am a professional writer. In Potiki, one community's response to attacks on their ancestral values and symbols provides moving affirmation of the relationship between land and the people who live on it.
This was very interesting and Patricia Grace has a very nice and captivating way to write, full of imagery. She is widely anthologized and translated into more than eight languages, and is considered not only one of the finest writers in New Zealand and the Pacific, but one of the most important writers of the post-colonial novel in English in the world today. The importance of storytelling in defining a community, and the characters' not seeing themselves reflected in the mainstream canon, is referenced several times; this book seems intended in part to remedy that lack. This only gives a sliver of the ethos of this book. I think because of my inability to understand some of the words, I also never fully developed a rhythm in my reading and thus didn't engage as well as I should have. One thing I feel is lacking is a glossary with the translation of the many Maori words to enhance the readers appreciation and knowledge.
But you know, I think that's intentional. The novel describes time as being a spiral rather than a straight line. Anonymous There are a number of international websites that will translate Te Reo Maori language into English. I saw what he saw. One is darkness and another is the place of departed spirits. Reading the large print version of this book, along with the childlike, repetitive prose style put me off this book initially. I'm looking forward to analysing it more closely later as I'm sure that will change my mind.
This compelling novel will resonate for people everywhere who find their livelihood threatened by Dollarmen -- property speculators advocating golf courses, high rises, shopping malls, and tourist attractions. Feel free to agree or disagree with any of my reviews so long as it is constructive. I earn a living as an English Professor. The simple and honest prose style draws you in quickly. It unfolds, as I feel the best stories do, at its own pace.
I think this is a book that would be really good in class discussion because even I feel pretty conflicted about it. Sometimes, it is Hemi, a man who was laid off from his job and realizes that this situation affords him the opportunity to reconnect with the land, his culture and his family. In other words, the beginning, middle, and end have their own stories to tell. Many people feel, and sometimes I am among them, tha This is a book I've been meaning to read since it was an assigned reading for some of my friends in other English classes in high school. She was a teacher in primary and secondary schools in Northland, Picton, and King County, New Zealand. It was well-developed and gave me a better understanding of Maori culture.
