Recent Read: The Uncle's Story - Witi Ihimaera
Spoiler Alert!!!
The following review may contain spoilers for the above novel.
- - -
You remember that book you hated studying in school? The one you had to carry around in you bag for 3 months, trying to get through it and analysing it to death every English class? You probably wrote a pretty shoddy essay on it, an essay which no doubt featured all the same arguments and perspectives every other student was putting forward.
Witi Ihimaera's The Uncle's Story is not that book.
Michael Mahana's personal disclosure to his parents leads to the uncovering of another family secret - about his uncle, Sam, who had fought in the Vietnam War. Now, armed with his uncle's diary, Michael goes searching for the truth about his uncle, about the secret the Mahana family has kept hidden for over thirty years, and what happened to Sam.
Set in the war-torn jungles of Vietnam and in present-day New Zealand and North America, Witi Ihimaera's dramatic novel combines superb story-telling with unflinching realism. A powerful love story, it courageously confronts Maori attitudes to sexuality and masculinity and contains some of Ihimaera's most passionate writing to date. *
This book is the 2nd of 4 which I have to read for one of my university classes this semester and, when I started it, I just wanted to burn through it as quickly as possible while also retaining something of the storyline and themes. After all, I work 9am-5pm 3 days a week, plus attend classes and complete weekly readings, and there are another 2 novels to read after this one. Lingering over a book isn't really much of an option these days.
Well, I did burn through The Uncle's Story (even though it's almost 400 pages long and my free time has been reduced to twice a day train rides and half hour lunch breaks)...I just didn't expect it to be because I couldn't put it down.
The story opens with Michael on his way to his twin sister's wedding. He's a New Zealand Maori...and he's gay. Coming out to his family leads to his being promptly disowned, after which he returns home to find his boyfriend has left him. Overall, not a good start for our journey with Michael.
Michael begins the story in a very vulnerable position. He lacks self confidence and purpose; he doesn't know how to reconcile his very masculine culture with his sexuality. It is only as he begins to learn about his uncle Sam, an uncle he didn't even know existed until now, that he begins to understand himself. His growth over the course of the novel is subtle, so subtle you don't even realise it's happening until it's already happened, but it works perfectly.
Ihimaera tells a story within a story here. As we follow Michael, we also follow Sam, whose story about his time in the Vietnam War, and his friendship and romance with his friend Harper, is told through a series of retellings from other characters who knew him. Sam has an inner strength that Michael lacks in the beginning, but he is oppressed in a different way, constantly under the thumb of his powerful and well-respected father, who feels the world must be the way he sees and wants it.
The journeys of Michael and Sam mirror each other, as both young men struggle with who they are, and who their culture and families say they should be.
I found a quiet sense of foreboding woven throughout the novel, and I had a good feeling from about midway through that I knew what was going to happen, at least in regards to Sam. I was right but I loved these characters so much that I wish, even now, that I wasn't. That's the thing about this story: the characters. They're so real you can believe they actually exist.
Ihimaera writes with a quiet confidence that wrapped me up from the first page and carried me through to the end. His voice layers the drama and comedy to just the right degree, and it was so...warm. His voice was warm, which is not something I've ever said about another book or writer before.
Strangely, I haven't decided if I'll look into more of Ihimaera's work. I probably will, but it's more that I just want to read this one story over and over again.
Either way, one thing's for sure: this is one school book which won't be seeing in my resale pile.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
* Source
----------------
Now playing: Reba McEntire - Turn On The Radio
via FoxyTunes
The following review may contain spoilers for the above novel.
- - -
You remember that book you hated studying in school? The one you had to carry around in you bag for 3 months, trying to get through it and analysing it to death every English class? You probably wrote a pretty shoddy essay on it, an essay which no doubt featured all the same arguments and perspectives every other student was putting forward.
Witi Ihimaera's The Uncle's Story is not that book.
Michael Mahana's personal disclosure to his parents leads to the uncovering of another family secret - about his uncle, Sam, who had fought in the Vietnam War. Now, armed with his uncle's diary, Michael goes searching for the truth about his uncle, about the secret the Mahana family has kept hidden for over thirty years, and what happened to Sam.
Set in the war-torn jungles of Vietnam and in present-day New Zealand and North America, Witi Ihimaera's dramatic novel combines superb story-telling with unflinching realism. A powerful love story, it courageously confronts Maori attitudes to sexuality and masculinity and contains some of Ihimaera's most passionate writing to date. *
This book is the 2nd of 4 which I have to read for one of my university classes this semester and, when I started it, I just wanted to burn through it as quickly as possible while also retaining something of the storyline and themes. After all, I work 9am-5pm 3 days a week, plus attend classes and complete weekly readings, and there are another 2 novels to read after this one. Lingering over a book isn't really much of an option these days.
Well, I did burn through The Uncle's Story (even though it's almost 400 pages long and my free time has been reduced to twice a day train rides and half hour lunch breaks)...I just didn't expect it to be because I couldn't put it down.
The story opens with Michael on his way to his twin sister's wedding. He's a New Zealand Maori...and he's gay. Coming out to his family leads to his being promptly disowned, after which he returns home to find his boyfriend has left him. Overall, not a good start for our journey with Michael.
Michael begins the story in a very vulnerable position. He lacks self confidence and purpose; he doesn't know how to reconcile his very masculine culture with his sexuality. It is only as he begins to learn about his uncle Sam, an uncle he didn't even know existed until now, that he begins to understand himself. His growth over the course of the novel is subtle, so subtle you don't even realise it's happening until it's already happened, but it works perfectly.
Ihimaera tells a story within a story here. As we follow Michael, we also follow Sam, whose story about his time in the Vietnam War, and his friendship and romance with his friend Harper, is told through a series of retellings from other characters who knew him. Sam has an inner strength that Michael lacks in the beginning, but he is oppressed in a different way, constantly under the thumb of his powerful and well-respected father, who feels the world must be the way he sees and wants it.
The journeys of Michael and Sam mirror each other, as both young men struggle with who they are, and who their culture and families say they should be.
I found a quiet sense of foreboding woven throughout the novel, and I had a good feeling from about midway through that I knew what was going to happen, at least in regards to Sam. I was right but I loved these characters so much that I wish, even now, that I wasn't. That's the thing about this story: the characters. They're so real you can believe they actually exist.
Ihimaera writes with a quiet confidence that wrapped me up from the first page and carried me through to the end. His voice layers the drama and comedy to just the right degree, and it was so...warm. His voice was warm, which is not something I've ever said about another book or writer before.
Strangely, I haven't decided if I'll look into more of Ihimaera's work. I probably will, but it's more that I just want to read this one story over and over again.
Either way, one thing's for sure: this is one school book which won't be seeing in my resale pile.
Rating: 5 out of 5.
* Source
----------------
Now playing: Reba McEntire - Turn On The Radio
via FoxyTunes