Patricia Grace is a major New Zealand novelist, short story writer and children鈥檚 writer, of Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa and Te Ati Awa descent, and is affiliated to Ngati Porou by marriage. Grace began writing early, while teaching and raising her family of seven children, and has since won many national and international awards, including the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize for fiction, the Deutz Medal for Fiction, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, widely considered the most prestigious literary prize after the Nobel. A deeply subtle, moving and subversive writer, in 2007 Grace received a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to literature.
Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu is named after the Maori god of war, and thus it makes sense that he follows his brothers Pita and Rangi into the midst of WWII and joins the Maori Battalion. His story begins with a letter, and with enclosed journal entries from overseas, and "there are details in them that none of us ever speak about" (12). In many senses, this story could belong to any solider of WWII. Yet this story is uniquely different, as it follows three brothers and uncovers deeper secrets than those harbored in the war.
When Tu's family relocates to Wellington, they plan that Tu will be the brother that goes off to school and takes on the task of being a lawyer--they've put their hopes in him. It is already clear that Pita and Rangi are going to join the war efforts, and thus is becomes even more significant for Tu to remain at home with his mother and sisters. Yet, Tu wrote that "At seventeen I just didn't want to be a boy any longer and felt a need to break out of the family protection that has always coated me" (25). There are many Maori men and youths that joined in the war effort, and because "casualties have been extremely high and replacements are needed" recruiters were signing the Maori up at high numbers, even without proof of age (33). Even though there were cases where "younger brothers could be sent home in cases where they are more than two from the same family," Tu himself talks about knowing "of where there were five but three have died already" (35). Undoubtedly, the conditions of WWII were awful, but the one thing the brothers have going for them is that they all found each other, at one point, in the same company. They also meet up with several cousins and other important Maori chiefs.
There are many culturally specific moments in the text, including the art of the taiaha, that are discussed and add unique dimensions to the story. The authenticity is something Patricia Grace should be praised for, and in a bleak novel about war, it is good to see some of the positive attributes of Maori culture shining through. The chiefs Hemi and Gary are seen carving into their rifles, as well as painting their faces, with ornate Maori art. They are also seen showing traditional warriorhood; "We heard him shout, telling us to charge -- saw the arms splayed, the dropped tongue, the whites of eyes as we burst out from the room at a crouching run, firing our guns and making as much noise as we could" (193). Hoki atu ra' is also talked about in terms of giving "you leave so you can march out and go off to join the ancestors in that other dimension" (203).
Yet, be warned that like most novels about war, there will be many characters that you connect with (on various levels) that are killed. Three notable deaths are . And, towards the end you uncover a family secret that Tu has been keeping. Throughout the novel there are different stories and different narrators speaking, including a 3rd person omniscient that gives background to the family's life in Wellington. It is in Wellington that the brothers meet Jess, who later drops off a baby that belongs to one of the brothers. .
The end of the novel takes on an anti-war sentiment, one that is both heartbreaking and reaffirming. I will post this brilliantly written passage(s) below, but will leave it as a spoiler in case you would like to be surprised:
This is a beautiful narrative, one that can speak to those of us that have/have not been to war, those of us that are/are not Maori. It has a rich culturally inclusion of Maori specific content and context, but also allows for outsiders to come and read more about the Maori Battalion. Simply put, one of my favorites, despite its moments of sadness.
Tu relates the experiences of three brothers who join the Maori Battalion in World War II and end up fighting together in a nightmarish campaign in Italy. In some ways it's a typical horrors-of-war story. But it is couched in an exploration of the Maori people's struggle to find a place in 20th century New Zealand.
The story is told in a largely non-linear fashion, interspersing Tu's memories and diary entries from the war with third-person narration of the family's pre-war life in Wellington. Grace uses the different settings as foils for each other, so that we can see the differences in the brothers' attitudes to war echoed in their experiences in the city, and especially in the different ways in which they relate to a white woman, Jess, who becomes a key figure in all of their lives. Sometimes this juxtaposition is handled more deftly than others; though the backstory feels crucial, it is not as engaging as the war scenes. The Wellington scenes sometimes feel like a lot of set-up that could have been either shorter or more exciting (or, possibly, both).
But it's a really good book. The research is meticulous and well-incorporated, and the story itself is deeply affecting. I didn't even know about the existence of the Maori Battalion before I picked up this book, and I finished it feeling heartbroken and outraged and wanting to learn more. Highly recommended for all readers.
This review has been condensed from a that I published on my blog, .
Tu is the sixth novel of M膩ori author Patricia Grace, and it鈥檚 quite different to her other novels I鈥檝e read, which have all been firmly grounded in New Zealand. It鈥檚 the story of three brothers who go away to war, and of a girl who matters to all of them.
Most of the novel is narrated by Tu, responding in his later years to the questions of his nephews Rimini and Benedict. The novel is bookended by his letters to them, with his war diary set in Italy in between, along with the back story of his brother Pita in New Zealand.
Tu is much younger than his brothers Pita and Rangi, and he bears the burden of being the chosen one. When their father returned from WW1 he was a damaged man, and his violence blighted their youth. Pita stayed home from school to protect his mother, making his employment prospects even more difficult in a society where discrimination against the M膩ori was the norm. Quiet, thoughtful and an intensely private man, Pita is nothing like his knockabout brother Rangi, but both of them are determined that Tu will win a native scholarship, get an education and become the hope of the family. This sense of family responsibility amongst the M膩ori is a motif which recurs after their father dies and the family moves to Wellington: the boys share their earnings to augment their mother鈥檚 war widows pension, a pension which was inexplicably half the amount paid to Pakeha women.
This account of the Maori Battalion in Italy is well-written and constructed and I liked very much that it was presented as a diary/memoir written at the time but being addressed by the next generation with the survivor. I just somehow never properly engaged with the book - I have no idea why; perhaps I just wasn't in a reading mood? (Last time that happened I was approximately 2 years old). So, a good book, well-constructed and a believable account of wartime experience. As New Zealand authors go, this was one of the better books I have read.
This was a book recommended on a favourite podcast of mine and it did not disappoint. It is a brilliant depiction of an aspect of the second world war which does not get the story telling it deserves, namely the battle for Italy, from the perspective of a young maori man who follows his two brothers into the maori battalion. The novel starts as Tu begins to write his memories of his two older brothers for his nephew and niece. His brothers are two very different men whose lives have been dominated by managing the trauma and violence of a father returned from the first war. Tu is lucky not having experienced much of his father's response to his own demons. When the family move to Wellington, Tu who goes to a fee paying school is destined for great things and his brothers are determined that he will not then get drawn into ww2 as his oldest brother, a man who enjoys risk joins up straight away. We follow the other brother and his relationship with a vibrant young woman to whom he struggles to express his feelings. The story of the family and brothers before they enlist is told with tenderness and having read the authors history that this is based on her father's life it is understandable. The picture then of the war is a brilliant depiction of the horror of war. The writing here is perfect as it is written in the words of a soldier, there is no flowery description of the horror but that is the beauty as the soldier becomes deadened to the horror he experiences, that in itself becomes incredibly moving. This is a front which seemed impossible to win as the three brothers sit in mud faced with a battle to take the monte cassino monastery. The final part of the book is so poignant as the rest of Tu's life is shaped by what he has gone through and the losses he has the come to terms with, though as part of a generation spared serving in war I cannot imagine how an individual ever would be able to cope with the sights sounds and losses of battle, thus I put the book down overwhelmed by a truly magnificent piece of work.
This book broke my heart. Tu, Pita and Rangi are brothers who join the Maori Battalion during WWII and end up fighting mostly in Italy, which I think is where a lot of New Zealand soldiers saw most of their action (although one of my grandfathers spent most of the war in the Solomon Islands which I think was even more godawful than the war in Europe). Tu explores the experience of army life as well as the family's life before the war - the damaged father who never recovered from the trauma of World War 1, Pita's experience as the oldest child responsible for protecting his mother and siblings from his father, the family's decision to leave Taranaki and move to Wellington to seek out a better life.
At first, the switches in perspective between Tu, the happy-go-lucky youngest brother, and Pita, the reserved, angry brother, are jarring, but as you get used to them, each begins to feed into the other so that you have a much richer understanding of the boys' reasons for going to war and their experiences of it. I loved being reminded that many Maori joined up partly as a way to prove to Pakeha (white) New Zealanders that they, too, wanted to serve their country.
Grace captures the stoic male New Zealand voice perfectly in Tu's diary sections - it reminded me of my grandfather, although he wasn't Maori. I don't know how easy this would be to read if you weren't a New Zealander - there are a few passages in Maori, and some of the cultural context might be a bit mystifying if you don't know anything about NZ history, but I would recommend giving it a try anyway.
Honestly, I don't have a lot to say about this book. I didn't love it, I didn't hate it. It was just okay. Up until about 60% of the way through, it held very little interest for me. Even though half of it was written in diary form, I still felt as though I barely knew any of the characters. As for the plot, I've never read a war novel, but I certainly expected it to be a bit more...gripping. Tu, the author of the diary, says at the end that he mostly wrote while he was waiting or resting, basically just sitting around - and really, that's sometimes all I felt like I was reading about. I don't think Patricia Grace conveyed the action or horror of war in a compelling way at all, unfortunately. Her writing was better suited to the chapters describing life before the war, although even then I think writing about a character who seems to have little understanding of his own emotions, or how to convey them (Pita), is setting yourself up for a challenge.
I guess maybe I just didn't quite get it. I saw the "twists" (if that's what they were supposed to be) coming a mile off, and even if I hadn't, the lack of emotion I felt for any of the characters meant such revelations had little impact. It was an interesting look into the effect of two world wars across the generations of a family, but fell a bit flat.
I know, I know.....another war novel. No it is not. This is a story set during WWII, featuring the Maori Battalion of New Zealand. This is more than a war story. This story is told via the protagonist's journal kept during the war and afterwards. This is the story of brothers and cousins bound together by blood and culture. This is the story of loves found and lost. This is the story of the cost of war. This is the story of a culture which was used and manipulated. This is the story of a proud culture with rich, joyful traditions. This story is about being a Maori warrior, a Maori man, a lover, a son, a brother, a cousin, an uncle, and ultimately about being a human being whose life is battered and broken and then tries to heal.
The author's prose is lyrical, joyful and profoundly moving. The narrator for the audiobook was fantastic!! I learned a lot and loved Tu's courage, joy, and attitude. READ THIS!
Probably my favorite book from Patricia Grace, Tu provides a fictional firsthand account of the ww2 battles in Italy by the Maori Batallion.. Not only that but the intermixing of a first person and third person storytellimgballows the reader to immerse themselves in the sights and sounds of war then take a breather through flashbacks. The story inspired me to read more on the 28th Batallion and their role in the war. But its not just the war that made me like it.
The story of the effects of PSD on not just a family but a native family, adjusting to life in the city, and the coming of age all had me enthralled with the reading.. I especially enjoyed the struggle of some of the characters to live in both worlds but not being accepted in either.
I thought the diary entry formula would seem more realistic as the later entries seemed too good for a 17 year old to write..
It's taken me a while to build up to a Patricia Grace, however I finally picked up a book (war was a random choice, not my favourite genre) and settled in. If you are looking for a wide read across authors I would recommend this book to you. Her detail, her ability to conjure up the scenes and the way she weaves in and out and around are very skilled. The story (read the other reviews for more info) is heartbreaking and so real. It made me rant against the futility of war, the waste caused by other people's disputes and the way sadness can pass through generations. Highly recommended to all Y9-13 students and adult readers.
This is a mostly fictional account of the Mauri Battalion during WWII. Prior to picking up this book, which I found on a friends bookshelf, I had no idea that there was a Mauri Battalion. Patricia Grace does a great job of sharing the thoughts and feelings of those fighting--apparently she did lots of research and her father was a member of the Mauri Battalion. Tu, the main character, writes a journal in which he records where they are, what he is feeling, memories of home and much more. It is a quick read-easy, interesting and thought provoking.
This is a touching story of Maori culture in New Zealand and the Maori Battalion in World War 2. I found the Maori traditions at their homes in the countryside fascinating, as well as the chants, dancing and songs which they continued to practice even after moving to the city, and of course also in the war, which was in no way theirs--the seemed to feel they should join for glory. It reminded me a bit of "Three Day Road" by a Canadian First Nation native. The author is a well-known Maori writer.
I did not like this book, to me it had no plot and seemed to drag on and on. I do not recommend this book for anyone under the age of 30. It is also only good if you are interested in war and Maori culture as there are many words that you need to know in order to understand it properly.
It only got semi okay at the end when there was the scandel of the jess love triangle. That's it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
A wonderfrul book. I learnt so much about the battles in Crete in WW2 and also about life in Wgtn in the 40s. How patricia Grace can confidently and deftly speak with a man's voice is beyond me, but she does. Definiely one of NZ's greatest writers.
it's not necessarily a bad book, but i couldn't stay interested in it for the life of me. good luck should you choose to read it, or any other of patricia grace's books for that matter. they are all fairly similar.