Poorhara by Michelle Rahurahu. THWUP (2024). RRP $38. PB, 344pp. ISBN 9781776921287. Reviewed by Emma Hislop. Tragedy and comedy are perfectly paired in Poorhara, the debut novel by Michelle Rahurahu (Ngāti Rahurahu, Ngāti Tahu–Ngāti Whaoa), a road trip story that swings between the hilarious and the heartbreaking in magnificent fashion. ‘If the ceiling burst, the landlord might think of selling…
Kataraina by Becky Manawatu. Mākaro Press (2024). RRP: $37.00. PB, 284pp. ISBN: 9781067011307. Reviewed by Jack Remiel Cottrell. Kataraina is the follow up to the acclaimed Auē by Becky Manawatu, but it would be a bit of a misnomer to call it a sequel. Or a prequel, to be honest. Kataraina is something of a…
Forms of Freedom: Marxist Essays in New Zealand and Australian Literature by Dougal McNeill. OUP (2024). RRP: $45. PB, 248pp. ISBN: 9781990048760. Reviewed by Dani Yourukova. Lately, it seems like everyone wants to talk about endings. The end of winter. The end of term. The end of the year. The end of the world. The…
Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist by Jill Trevelyan, Jennifer Taylor and Greg Donson. MUP (2024). RRP: $70. HB, 256pp. ISBN: 9781991016768. Reviewed by Jenny Partington. Edith Collier: Early New Zealand Modernist paints a portrait as vivid and lively as one of Edith’s own artworks. Despite working alongside celebrated artists such as Frances Hodgkins, Edith…
Bad Archive by Flora Feltham. THWUP (2024). RRP: $35. PB, 256pp. ISBN: 9781776922062. Reviewed by Hannah Patterson. Personal essays take many different forms. They can be fragmented and vignette-y (see: Blueberries by Ellena Savage and Tinderbox by Megan Dunn), they can border on poetry (see: Bluets by Maggie Nelson), they can lean into argument and…
Vultures by Jenny Rockwell. Dead Bird Books (2024). RRP: $30. PB, 59pp. ISBN: 9781738618231. Reviewed by Dani Yourukova. Vultures is a vibrant debut from Tāmaki Makaurau poet Jenny Rockwell, lush with emotionality, nosebleeds, glow-in-the-dark Jesus statues, religious shame and grave dirt. A candid coming-of-age narrative set in church basements and girls’ bathrooms, which contains a…
undressing in slow motion by Michael Giacon. Michael Giacon (2024). RRP $30. PB, 99pp. ISBN: 9780473707743. Reviewed by Angus Smith. As both a debut collection and one written by a queer septuagenarian, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Michael Giacon’s undressing in slow motion is preoccupied with the concept of time. From the opening dedication ‘in questo…
Tidelines by Kiri Piahana-Wong. Anahera Press (2024). RRP: $25. PB, 40pp. ISBN: 9780473710163. Reviewed by Tracey Sharp. At Te Ahua Point, sitting high above the rugged coastline of Piha in West Auckland, stands the pou of Hinerangi. Hinerangi, a beautiful and chiefly tūpuna of Te Kawerau ā Maki (tangata whenua of the area now known…
The Raven’s Eye Runaways by Claire Mabey. Allen and Unwin (2024). RRP: $24.99. PB, 336pp. ISBN: 9781991006820. Reviewed by Laura Borrowdale. The best children’s literature riffs on the literature that has come before it, and few forms are as codified as fantasy adventures. The echoes of pint-sized heroes and heroines and the monsters they have…
Still Is by Vincent O’Sullivan. THWUP (2024). RRP: $30. PB, 122pp. ISBN: 9781776922093. Reviewed by Tim Grgec. I never got a chance to read Vincent O’Sullivan at university. He lectured in the English department at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington and was made an emeritus professor long before I arrived. I knew the name,…