Tu: More Maori identity issues, this time addressed through war

January 15, 2016April 28, 2019 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 1 Comment

Tu, Patricia Grace, 2004

New Zealand, #10
Paperback, £0.69 from alibris.com
Read June 2015
Rating: 4/5
Opening Line: Dear Rimini and Benedict, You didn’t deserve ill-humour and rebuff, and I had no right to send you off with empty hearts when all you were asking was to get to know your ‘father’.
Recommended for: the insatiably curious and tragically brave

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The Whale Rider and Once Were Warriors: Maori identity in modern New Zealand

November 21, 2015July 29, 2017 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 5 Comments

The Whale Rider, Witi Ihimaera, 1987

New Zealand, # 8
Paperback, borrowed from Brent Library, London
Read June 2015
Rating: 5/5
Recommended for: optimistic environmentalists

Once Were Warriors, Alan Duff, 1990

New Zealand, #9
Kindle, £7.19
Read May 2015
Rating: 4/5
Opening line: Bastard, she’d think, looking out her back kitchen window.
Recommended for: pessimistic social justice warriors
Not recommended for: The faint of heart

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The Bone People: Eccentrics at work

September 16, 2015May 17, 2016 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 4 Comments

The Bone People, Keri Hulme, 1984

New Zealand, #7
Hardback, borrowed from Brent Library, London
Read May 2015
Rating: 5/5
Recommended for: People who have been told they’re too intense; self-identified freaks

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Plumb: The unsurprising hypocrisy of an Important White Man

September 7, 2015May 17, 2016 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 2 Comments

Plumb, Maurice Gee, 1978

New Zealand, #6
Kindle, £6.99 from Amazon.com
Read: May 2015
Rating: 3.5/5
Recommended for: The disillusioned adult children of narcissists

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Faces in the Water: Blurring the lines of reality

September 2, 2015May 17, 2016 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 2 Comments

Faces in the Water, Janet Frame, 1961

New Zealand, #5
Kindle, £3.99 from Amazon.co.uk
Read April 2015
Rating: 4/5
Recommended for: Anyone who’s ever felt their grip on reality might be slipping

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Maori Girl: Unintentional racism in the social protest novel

August 25, 2015September 3, 2015 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 8 Comments

Maori Girl, Noel Hilliard, 1960

New Zealand, #4
Hardcover, £10.11 from Alibris.com
Read April 2015
Rating: 2/5
Recommended for: Strictly for social historians interested in the early stages of Maori civil rights in NZ

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The Garden Party

August 18, 2015September 3, 2015 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 2 Comments

The Garden Party and Other Stories, Katherine Mansfield, 1922

New Zealand, #3
Kindle edition, free from amazon.com
Read April 2015
Rating: 4/5
Recommended for: Tragic loners and the unhappily married

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Polynesian Mythology

August 7, 2015January 15, 2016 ~ Kelly Dunagan ~ 1 Comment

Polynesian Mythology, Sir George Grey, 1854 (full title: Polynesian Mythology and Ancient Traditional History of the New Zealand Race, as Furnished by Their Priests and Chiefs … the man obviously could have used a good editor)