Jade Kake reviews Bird Child & Other Stories by Patricia Grace

E toru ngā pou o tēnei pukapuka. i te tuatahi – te onamata, i te tuarua, te wāheke, i te tuatoru, te wātū. This beautiful new collection by Patricia Grace is divided into three sections, each positioned from a different time or context.

This first loosely draws on pūrākau and pre-colonial Māori life. The title story, ‘Bird Child’, is thoroughly researched, experimenting with unique point of view and revealing tantalising glimpses of pre-colonial Māori life and thought. Stories such as ‘Mahuika et al.’ and ‘Sun’s Marbles’ are playful, fun, providing a fresh take on classic pūrākau.

The second is made of the ‘Mereana’ stories, loosely autobiographical stories set in World War II and the post-war period in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. The period was, historically, one of immense change for te iwi Māori, and Grace’s writing draws on both firsthand experience and posits this within a wider societal and historical context, the personal and political intermingling seamlessly. It’s the small details that stand out – such as jamming a sheet in the window so that the ship of soldiers departing for war would see it from a distance – capturing the spirit of the time and immersing the reader in another time and space.

The third section is made up of new stories and these are mostly set in the present day (with the exception of ‘The Machine’), with small vignettes from a variety of point of view characters. Most of these are relatively short, punchy, slice of life stories with a unique point of view (or a unique point of view shift) and have a strong emotional resonance. Many deal with themes of loss and grief, offering new meditations on the familiar and universal.

Grace’s use of language is masterful. A few favourites “thin figure of his wife in the white bed, teeth and eyes breaking out of her face” to describe the point of view character’s wife in ‘Matariki All-Stars’. Some fishy metaphors appear in ‘Boils’ – “her bottom eyelids pulled down as if by little fish hooks with the red bait showing…” and “a face daubed and fish-looking, piping thin air again before disappearing…” Another favourite from the same story “she was thin and papery, with a torn, scrap face, a crumple of lemony hair, and watery eyes which looked as though they had been pushed in with dirty thumbs.”

The collection also includes the use of te reo Māori. The extensive use of te reo Māori within the context of English language prose is a feature particular to New Zealand literature (pioneered by our literary kaumātua, including Patricia Grace and Witi Ihimaera), and to this specific stage of the revitalisation of our language. In this reviewer’s opinion, this is an important part of the normalisation and reclamation of our language. Perhaps Grace’s literary descendants may one day write captivating stories solely in te reo – heoi anō, mō tēnei wā, he puna ērā pakiwaitara o te whakaohooho me te whakamana, ki te kite i ā tātou pakiwaitara mai i te tirohanga Māori, waihoki ki te kite i te wairua Māori i roto, ahakoa e whakatakotohia ana ngā rerenga i te reo Pākehā.

Fans of Patricia Grace will be immediately won over by this rich and immensely readable collection. Grace, of course, is evergreen, and will no doubt attract new readers with this new volume, who will then have the pleasure of discovering her immense back catalogue. The cover illustration is also wonderful, created by Grace’s granddaughter, the talented Miriama Grace-Smith. E te kaituhi, e te kui, tuku mihi ki a koe i te puta o tēnei taonga hou ki te ao. Nō mātou te waimarie.

Reviewed by Jade Kake