Vanuatu

I read parts of Black Stone and the titular story from The Story of the Eel (I could’t find the book anywhere, nor can I find the name of an editor or compiler or any authors, nor can I figure out how this book got added to my list, so it’s a near-total mystery to me). They were fine. That is all.

1. Lali: A Pacific Anthology, Albert Wendt, ed., 1980
2. Black Stone, Grace Mera Molisa, 1983
3. The Story of the Eel and Other Stories, various, 2004

Solomon Islands

Whew. Some truly terrible selections from the Solomon Islands. I actually read John Selwyn Saunana’s poem Cruising Through the Reverie (which was available on the internet at the time though the link is broken now) and couldn’t make heads or tails of it. I thought maybe it was above my head, but then I read his earlier novel The Alternative and realized it was probably just terrible. Equally awful were Suremada and the half a short story by Julian Maka’a that I was able to source. Slightly less awful were Raetemaot and the collection of folklore as told by children, Custom Stories from Choiseul. The selections in Lali were the best of a bad bunch.

1. Lali: A Pacific Anthology, Albert Wendt, ed., 1980
2. Civilized Girl, Jully Makini, 1981
3. Custom Stories from Choiseul, Colin Rugebatu, 1995
4. Raetemaot: Creative Writing from Solomon Islands, Julian Maka’a, 1996
5. The Alternative, John Selwyn Saunana, 1982
6. Suremada: Faces from a Solomon Island Village, Rexford T. Orotaloa, 1989

• Givers of Wisdom, Labourers Without Gain, Alice Aruhe’eta Pollard, 2000 (did not read)
• Cruising Through the Reverie, John Selwyn Saunana, 1972 (replaced with The Alternative)
• Is Anyone Out There?, Julian Maka’a, 2012 (did not read)