Flaxroots Productions

A challenging experience

5/18/2017

The Roaring Silence: A compendium of interviews, essays, poetry, art and prose about suicide

This book is a compendium about suicide. And that makes it hard to review. I can say that Amelia Harris and Julia West have done a good job in the editing and design of the book. Certainly the design is impressive, both in the cover and the page layout.
     The Roaring Silence is a mixture of text and art, with some interviews in the first section. Then comes some poetry, followed by the art and cartoon work on higher quality paper. This is followed by a section called ‘Raw’, a title which conveys the kind of writing by the authors, and then there’s another prose section at the end.
While the reader will expect to read about some really ‘raw’ and painful experiences, these are mainly the stories of survivors. Most of them are by locals trying to exist in communities, and cope with personal issues and their role in families. There is also some writing from professional authors living overseas. This adds to the mix but I wondered whether the underlying theme, how New Zealanders deal with this issue, was somewhat diluted. But mostly I wondered whether any amount of writing could actually change – if not minds, then perhaps – perceptions. Apart from the more factual subject matter in some of the interviews, everything seems so subjective.
     Due to the very personal experiences being shared it is difficult to refer to the specific pieces of writing in The Roaring Silence. Though I did find Natasha Lay’s piece very effective, ‘Death and Taxes’, which has also been performed as a play. The writing refers to the experience of a friend, named Sylvia, who begins to regain control of her own situation through her perseverance in filling out her tax return. The interaction with a phoneline staffer adds perspective, but the tale is designed to show how to de-stigmatise the conversation about suicide. As Lay writes, people usually don’t want anything to do with discussing the suicide option, which is a way of demonising it.
As the reviewer should I state a personal position as well? I’m squeamish about suicide because my cousin killed herself, and the family did get some warning about her state from a friend. Confronting the subject matter in The Roaring Silence has not really changed my mind on this, or the assumed link with a depressive illness being a cause. In this case it turned out to be a history of partner control and abuse, rather than an assessment of individual psychological illness, that was causative. I think this kind of situation has not been highlighted in the book, i.e. reactions to bad relationships.
     Anyway, I was impressed with the artwork in the book, and thought there could have been more. In fact, I think it would be easier to read the book if the artwork and cartoons were interspersed with the text, rather than being in a separate section. But, overall, The Roaring Silence is a challenging experience and worthy of consideration.

Review by S A Boyce

Title: The Roaring Silence: A compendium of interviews, essays, poetry, art and prose about suicide
Editor: Amelia Harris
RRP: $30.00
Publisher: The Depot Press
ISBN: 978 0473 377458
RRP: $30.00 + post
Available: Email: margaux.wong@depotartspace.co.nz

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Fast paced thriller

5/9/2017

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The Chinese Proverb
by Tina Clough

The minimalistic, but striking cover hints at the premise of the novel; if you save a life you are now responsible for the person you rescued.
Afghanistan war veteran, Hunter Grant, willingly embraces this concept when he finds a stranger near death on his remote Northland bush property. The mystery deepens when he discovers she’d been shackled and was prepared to die rather than be recaptured by her tormentor; whom she refers to as Master.
By page two I was hooked by the foreboding sense of danger and I wanted to know Dao’s backstory of how she’d been enslaved and escaped, and why she was still being hunted.
Emotionally scarred by his war experiences, Hunter has maintained a distance within his relationships with women. Now he has to open up his feelings so he can handle Dao’s fragile physical and mental state, and gain her trust so she will divulge the secrets of her past life, before Master tracks her down and eliminates her.
Hunter, places himself firmly in the firing line as they unravel the mystery of Dao’s life, but Dao is more than a victim, she’s a survivor, who has her own role to play in her destiny. As the story develops the complexity of her character is revealed. The bond between Scruff, Hunter’s dog, and Dao enhances the human aspects of the unfolding drama, as the details of her horrific ordeal are uncovered.
The book pages are cleanly presented in a no fuss style. There’s a clearly defined timeline as the story is filtered through Hunter’s point of view. Crisp descriptive language visually portrays the rural forest settings and the urban cityscape of Auckland.
Suspense fuels this tightly written and fast paced New Zealand thriller that grips from the beginning.

Review by Wendy Scott

Title: The Chinese Proverb
Author: Tina Clough
Publisher: Lightpool Publishing
ISBN: 978-0473379261
RRP: $34.99
Available: Bookshops

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Something of exceptional value

5/1/2017

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Māori Oral Tradition: He Kōrero nō te Ao Tawhito
by Jane McRae

Most New Zealanders will be familiar with certain names, incidents or texts from Māori oral tradition: migration stories, or the exploits of Māui, for instance. These are from a tradition of huge variety and depth, much of it transcribed during the nineteenth century either directly by Māori, or through collections assembled by interested Pākehā.
This book offers a way of looking at those traditions, dividing them into categories according to their structure and purpose. So we have genealogies (whakapapa), sayings and proverbs (whakataukī), narratives, histories, stories and myths (kōrero), and songs and chants (waiata)
Illustrative examples in Maori, with English translations, are given throughout. Even those with little knowledge of Māori language will find it rewarding to read aloud the Māori versions, in order to hear the rhythms and imagine the dramatic pauses and emphases – those things that are lost in translation and, to some extent, simply by being put into writing.
Language both affects the way the world is viewed and, in turn, is heavily influenced by that world view. In considering Māori oral traditions, the author demonstrates how particular words and phrases, or particular names, were used to prompt the recollection of incidents or other people or stories associated with them. Thus what might seem to a reader of the transcripts to be overly brief or incomplete narratives would have been, to the listeners on the marae, oral performances rich in meaning.
Throughout the book, there is commentary on and illustration of the way the traditions reflect the inner life of Māori in the old world – the deep significance of immediate family and of wider social groupings, of ties to land, of key ancestral figures, of reciprocities, the satisfaction of victories and the pain of defeats. There is drama. There is poetry. It is a literature unique to this country, yet it is an important part, too, of universal oral traditions, and thus of world literature. Furthermore, as the author points out, these oral traditions continue to be “a real and influential part of the Māori world.”
The author says: “Knowledge in the oral society…did not come from one kind of text alone…” Indeed not; and the same could be said of the ‘literary’ world. A reading of the novels from, say, Victorian England, will provide a deeper, more intuitive knowledge of what it was like to have been a part of life there, in that time, than could any history book. We understand the past best when we experience it through the literature, oral or written, of those who lived it.
It is impossible in a brief review to pay sufficient tribute to the accessible style in which this book is written, and to the many significant issues that are raised in it. The author states that one of her main aims in writing it was to encourage Māori language and literature students to discover more of the riches to be found in the “manuscript trove” of transcribed oral literature; and surely any such student reading the book would be enthused. But for the general reader, the book offers insights into the contribution Māori oral tradition can make to an understanding of what it should mean to be a New Zealander, and what it means to be human.
Auckland University Press has played its part in making this book pleasurable. The layout is neat and reader-friendly. The scholarly endnotes, and the comprehensive bibliography and index, are useful without being obtrusive. It has that rare thing, a cover that enhances the text, the symbolism incorporated there being succinctly explained in a note on the reverse of the title page. Physically, the book provides the sort of tactile and visual pleasure that is exclusive to an admirably assembled combination of ink and paper.
But of course it really comes down to the text, and without doubt the author has written something of exceptional value. Read it. Be enriched.

Review by Tony Chapelle

Title: Māori Oral Tradition: He Kōrero nō te Ao Tawhito
Author: Jane McRae
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 978 1 86940 861 9
RRP: $45
Available: bookshops

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Story will stay in reader’s memory

4/19/2017

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Brushstrokes of Memory
by Karen McMillan

As befits the title, and the profession of the main character, this novel has an artistic cover and well-chosen internal design. It’s an attractive book.
Will the literary content support the visual appeal? I haven’t read this author’s work before, so for me it’s a case of starting with a blank canvas.
Storyline – after an accident Rebecca has memory loss. Almost ten years of her life have disappeared. In her words:

I went to the bathroom and glanced at myself in the mirror and then looked at myself again with alarm. I had fine lines around my eyes, forehead and mouth that I had never seen before….I took my glasses off and the lines disappeared; I put my glasses back on again and there they were. I had thought I was doing okay for my age, but it turned out I just hadn’t been able to see myself properly because my eyesight had deteriorated.

     You’d want to recover those years, wouldn’t you? Naturally, Rebecca does. But her husband, and her best friend, would both prefer that she doesn’t recover all the memories – for different reasons. However, as time passes there’s one crucial fact that they agree she needs to know. It’s an enticing scenario, and one that had me more than willing to read on.
     The narration switches chapter by chapter, so the viewpoints of each of the three are revealed. Rebecca’s current thoughts are supported by entries from a diary she kept during a key time in her comparatively recent past.
     The characters are very real – each one having her or his own voice. The writing is good, apart from some phrases, particularly within dialogue, that come across as a little forced.
     This is a story that is bound to stay in a reader’s own memory as each one of us must wonder how we would cope under similar circumstances.

Review by Norma D Plum

Title: Brushstrokes of Memory
Author: Karen McMillan
Publisher: McKenzie Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-473-37435-8
RRP: $34.99
Available: Bookshops

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Excellent advice on mortgages

4/12/2017

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Hammer that mortgage (revised, updated)
by David Tillman

David Tillman is a banker turned labourer turned mortgage broker, and he brings his lifetime of dealing with mortgages to this book. He covers every aspect of first obtaining, then reducing a mortgage as quickly as possible.
The book covers all the known techniques of reducing the cost of a mortgage over its term – dealing with interest stress testing, revolving lines of credit, offset mortgages, splitting loans into fixed, revolving and floating portions, combinations of these ideas, and includes guidelines for deciding which is the right method for you. The book uses examples of typical couples to illustrate the various techniques of managing loans.
It covers such ideas as the “Latte mortgage” where the money spent on a daily cup of coffee is added to the monthly payments, showing how savings of tens of thousands of dollars of interest over the term of a loan can be made. If these topics seem too complicated then David advises seeing a mortgage broker to guide you through the options available to you.
This is a second edition of the book, and it now includes a very good section on using Kiwisaver to obtain a deposit and then get a loan. There would be few New Zealanders who are totally familiar with all the assistance available to them from Kiwisaver, and this alone is worth many times the cost of the book.
There are many tables and graphs showing the effects of increasing the monthly or weekly payments, and these make compelling motivation for following his recommendations.
Tillman’s section on stress testing a mortgage should be required reading for the many young people who do not seem to regard a mortgage as a debt, but just as a fact of life as they have no intention of paying it off, even regarding the increasing value of their property as spending money. This book points out the disaster that can follow such an attitude, if interest rates rise and house values fall even a little. He bases his projections on an interest rate of 6%, which seems historically low, so if rates rise above this then all sorts of problems arise.
He includes a section on his own story, telling how he obtained a loan and then paid it off in five years, despite being in a low paid job, but devoting all his energy to clearing the debt.
I think it is an excellent book, I liked the appearance of the text, and the layout of the chapters, but feel that more space could be devoted to the complex business of combo loans, because these can be tailored to an individual’s circumstances and they can offer the most savings, while still offering a reasonable lifestyle. Some of the stories, while making good points are a little simplistic and trite.
Overall, I think everyone thinking about borrowing, or even those with an existing loan should get a copy of this book.

Review by Harold Bernard

Title: Hammer That Mortgage
Author: David Tillman
Publisher: Mortgage Freedom NZ Ltd
ISNB: 978-0-473-37154-8
RRP: $29.99

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Well written stories

3/24/2017

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The Lost of Syros
By Emma Timpany

Emma Timpany is a New Zealand-born writer who currently lives in Cornwall, England, where she has been successful with her entries in several short story competitions.
This collection is slim but all 16 stories are worth reading as their author shows herself to have mastered the genre.
They are well constructed, the situations and observations perceptive, and the writing is well-judged – not verbose or overdone. Word use is well chosen to reveal scenes and evoke thoughts and memories in the reader.

The diagnosis is pleurisy. Outside, a gorgeous spring’s dispensing its own medicine, a string of warm blue days. Katie’s told to rest and eat, and do nothing else. I fill her room with bluebells. She says they smell like honey. An elderly maid, her skin as crumpled and brown as a walnut shell, brings Katie gooseberry jam on thin slices of buttered bread cut into little triangles. Food to lure fairies from their lairs, Katie calls it.

Many are of the stories are set in New Zealand, but there are other locations to provide variety. The title story, for instance, is a memory of a holiday in the Greek Islands, recalled from its narrator’s residence in London.
Lengths vary from under three pages to ten pages – none too long for their subjects. The choice of narration in each case is appropriate. The order in which they are placed, and the interior design could be tweaked, but these are minor quibbles in a collection of well-written stories.

Review by J.M.

Title: The Lost of Syros
Author: Emma Timpany
Publisher: Cultured Llama Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9932119-2-8
RRP: RRP £12.00
Available: Print from www.culturedllama.co.uk, Amazon, The Book Depository, Waterstone's and other online retailers.
https://emmatimpany.wordpress.com @CornishShorts

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Different fascinating story

3/14/2017

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Te Tini o Toi, Book 1
By Narena Olliver

A great amount of thought and preparation has gone into the writing of this book. Narena Olliver has worked to fuse fact with fantasy and the result is a different and fascinating story set in this country about one thousand years ago.
     Despite the title, it is not the new arrivals from Polynesia, the Tauhou under the leadership of Toi, who are at the forefront of the story, but the original race of Kaiwaiata, human-like light-skinned creatures reminiscent of the patupaiarehe of Maori tradition. Humans, they say, are closely related to them, though a mutation that occurred long ago – “like ourselves but not like ourselves”.
The matrilineal society of the Kaiwaiata is egalitarian. Though human-shaped, they nest in trees and some fly, either on the backs of huge eagles or they glide with the help of feathered suits. They are aligned with other living creatures, with which they cooperate and do not exploit. Moreover, through telepathy they communicate with other such peoples elsewhere, and precognition serves as protection from most danger.
     With the new arrivals come kuri and kiore, all of which they find “breed so fast”. And there’s the Tauhou’s practice of setting fire to the forest. Together, the result is an immediate detrimental effect on the inhabitants – birds, particularly moa and other ground-dwellers, as well as on the Kaiwaiata.
     It is not just the issues between the Kaiwaiata and the Touhou that keep the novel moving, but an added factor in the settling of old scores between the first set of canoes and the next.
     The book ends quite abruptly without a real conclusion – no doubt because there is another one to follow – Te Tini o Toi, Book 2.
     Though particularly accessible to New Zealand readers with prior knowledge of the history and traditions of this country, there are ample explanations throughout the text to guide someone new to the subject, plus a full glossary of perhaps less familiar words and terms used.
The disappointing aspect is that the author’s care taken with the preparation has been let down in the later stages of publishing. When the book has undergone more rigorous proofing to eliminate the many errors it will be a worthy addition to the fiction-folk-history of this country.

Te Tini o Toi, Book 2

Book 2 in the series carries on the story of the alternative people the Kaiwaiata, and the new arrivals from Polynesia, the Tauhou.
     It is necessary to read Book 1 first, as this second work lacks sufficient explanation for a new reader to understand the situation and characters. In fact, it is not clear why this is separate – it would be better for the two to be made into a single book.
     The sequel is shorter than Book 1, and though there is some development in the matter of relations between the two peoples, it does not add a lot.
     There is an attempt at a liaison between the races, but the result is as the Kaiwaiata feared. The Tauhou proliferate and the natural environment suffers, particularly the birdlife with the moa at the top.
Again, this book ends abruptly, with a short, prosaic epilogue stating what happened to the various characters.

Review by Alderaan Hoth

Title: Te Tini o Toi, Books 1 & 2
Author: Narena Olliver
Publisher: Icon Press
Available for Kindle from Amazon
Book 1: ASIN B00FIHCNVE
RRP: 3.49
Book 2: ASIN B0IF325KRC
RRP: 3.31

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Novel deals with social issues

3/2/2017

3 Comments

I Too
by T E Stazyk

This book relates the experiences of three young men, school buddies, and their progress through their postgraduate lives in New York City.
There is Ridge, a very right wing businessman intent on carving out a career in a major consulting firm. He has a girlfriend, Julia, from a mega-rich family who moves in all the ‘right’ circles and to whom money has no meaning, because her father provides more than she could ever spend. Ridge’s view of anyone who is poor or unemployed is that they are lazy and useless. Taxation is theft by the government in order to transfer wealth to the poor.
Then there is Paul, also a corporate climber, but who is much more moderate, and has a partner, Michelle, who is an HR consultant also for a major company. Paul’s company has some policies that are more enlightened that those proclaimed by Ridge’s firm.
The final member of the trio is Ben, a history teacher at a community college, teaching civics and history to people trying to break out of the vicious cycle of unskilled jobs provided by companies that see the only way to make more money is to grind down their workers by cutting hours and removing benefits. Ben is idealistic and loves to debate with Paul and Ridge the ethics and morals of their consulting projects which often involve making people redundant. Ben has a friend Asha who is a lawyer working for a social agency dealing with women’s refuges.
Ridge progresses well in his job by agreeing with everything his bosses say, until he is given responsibility for overseeing a project that attempts to factor in the real environmental impact of doing business. How he copes and changes when the bean-counters interfere with the project, and how the conspicuous consumption of Julia affects his outlook on life, are the drivers of his story.
Paul is required to undertake an aid project in Laos and comes back from that experience a changed man. He questions the effect that aid has on the local population and sees no need for capital intensive intervention in the Laotian state. He worries that his views may make him unpopular with his firm.
Ben has had to live with the insecurity of having a non-tenured position in a college facing funding cuts because his subjects do not fit the model of producing workers for industry. However, he persists in giving what he can to his pupils, and is very popular with them.
How these three resolve all the issues facing them makes a satisfying story, and there are twists in the story line.
The characters may seem a little too stereotyped, and some of the attitudes of the firms employing them are a little too forced, but this may be because there is not space in a small book to delve deeper into their characters, and they do illustrate the story.
The book jumps between narratives from each of the men and although this could become disjointed, in this case it works well. It is a very topical book, citing the Brexit event in the UK and the rise to power of big business in the United States. It raises some interesting topics regarding the environment and also such issues such as a universal minimum wage and the social responsibilities of big business.
This is a book that makes the reader examine how one regards social issues and attitudes to the environment, and as such makes a good read. I recommend it.

Review by Harold Bernard

Editor’s note: All proceeds from the sale of I Too go to support CUE Haven, a project to restore an old Kaipara dairy farm back to a native New Zealand forest for the community.

Title: I Too
By: T. E. Stazyk
Publisher: Createspace
ISBN: 978-1535581233
RRP: Paperback NZ$ 25.00, ebook NZ$ 8.00
Available as a paperback or ebook from Amazon and Amazon Kindle and as a paperback from The Book Depository; also via Auckland Library.

3 Comments

The power of a hidden truth

2/20/2017

5 Comments

Lewisville
by Alexandra Tidswell

Lewisville is a story that spans three countries and fifty-six years. Pretty impressive considering that the novel fitted comfortably within my hands as I devoured it from cover to cover.
     It begins in 1815 when a young, dirt-poor English girl, Martha Grimm, despite desperately wanting to, is told she will never be allowed to learn to read and write and must stay and look after her mother as all eldest daughters are expected to do. But Martha Grimm is ambitious, and despite this dismal prospect, sets out to change her fortune in the world, no matter what the cost might be to herself and those around her.
     We follow her journey, from rags to potential riches, that takes her and daughter Mary Ann from motherland England to a fledgling 1840s Wellington, New Zealand.
     As a reader of many genres, I’ve never been a fan of historical fiction – often weighty tomes of historical fact ladled over fictitious characters and mixed in with the repetitive nitty-gritty of their everyday lives. Lewisville however, is a wonderful, can’t-put-it-down page-turning read.
     The story is based on a family’s hidden truth revealed, explored and embellished by a descendant, the author herself. I can tell that this is a debut novel. Why? Because you can feel that a whole life has been invested into this work. The story is imbued with a passionate desire to bring an obsession to light, a need to free the characters in one’s head out into the world for all to see.
What would you do if you discovered that one of your ancestors had hidden a momentous truth by laying a shroud of mystery over it, a mystery that would have a false rumour-effect for the generations to come? This novel is what Alexandra Tidswell did with that discovery.
    Lewisville is a fantastic read, whether you’re a Kiwi looking at how it was in early Wellington settlement, an Australian observing the early convict-colony to goldrush settlement days, or English knowing what life used to be like within and without service in the 1800s. What would you do to better your lot in life? Read Lewisville and discover how Martha Grimm bettered hers.

Review by Penny M Geddis

Title: Lewisville
Author: Alexandra Tidswell
Publisher: Mākaro Press
ISBN: 978-0-9941379-0-6
RRP: $35.00
Available: Paper only

5 Comments

Understanding achievement-oriented personality

2/9/2017

1 Comment

All or Nothing: Bringing balance to the achievement-oriented personality
by Mike McKinney

Do you describe yourself as ‘goal-directed’? Or ‘extremely competitive’? Do you have a strong desire to achieve? To win, at all costs? Do you push yourself to your very limits? Or maybe this describes your partner. Maybe you’re a manager and think this type of personality is all positive. If so, this book is a must-read.
     In spite of being useful for others, the book is addressed primarily to the person who sees him- or herself as an All or Nothing person. Unusually, some of it is written in the second person (e.g. “You will be pleased to hear that the goal of shifting this behaviour is not to turn yourself into an ‘average’ or ‘lazy’ person.”)
     The key to the underlying theme in the book is the word ‘balance’ in the sub-title. Although career (or sports) uber-motivated people are often highly successful, there are costs. McKinney’s aim is to present the evidence for the achievement of balance, which is not only helpful for the All or Nothing person’s sense of contentment and that of the family but, in the long run, is conducive to achieving long-term goals.
     The All or Nothing person wants perfection. Unfortunately, the world being as it is, perfection is only sometimes achievable. Mood-related problems like depression and anxiety can result when things don’t go according to plan (even the most well-developed and beautifully devised designs) and can proceed to the dreaded ‘burn-out’. When things go wrong and working to the nth degree is no longer fun, A/N people can suffer from a sudden and devastating loss of self-confidence, and a drain of their energy reserves and maybe even crash – give up altogether – meaning not only the task, but the job and everything else as well. Change (such a frightening word when the A/N person knows that hard work and lots of it has always been the secret to success) is key. As McKinney says:
You will have noticed by now [p 119] that this book is not about eliminating or ‘curing’ problems. Rather, it presents an approach of understanding what factors are operating within the individual at a given time and then considers how to modulate these.”
     Some niggles: why did the publisher choose to print the book in a wafer-thin grey font, and, worse, put the case histories in boxes using the same typeface but now on a grey background which reduces contrast even further? Easy reading is restricted to perfect lighting conditions. Second, somehow the editing allowed McKinney’s propensity to split his infinitives remain uncorrected and every one of them jars. Third, someone should have told him that exclamation points are better restricted to emails. Little niggles, but each one takes the reader away from the message. And that message is important.
     The world needs a dose of All or Nothing, but never to the extent that people hurt themselves. The A/N person is his/her own worst enemy, of course. McKinney never tries to sell his points, merely pointing out that being a successful person is possible with a smidgeon of flexibility, a healthy regard for important people in your life and the introduction of pleasurable activities that provide their own rewards. Balance.

Review by ‘Kiw1’

Title: All or Nothing: bringing balance to the achievement-oriented personality
Author: Mike McKinney
Publisher: Exisle Publishing
ISBN: 9781925335262
RRP: $34.99
Available: bookshops

1 Comment

<<Previous

A challenging experience

Fast paced thriller

Something of exceptional value

Story will stay in reader’s memory

Excellent advice on mortgages

Well written stories

Different fascinating story

Novel deals with social issues

The power of a hidden truth

Understanding achievement-oriented personality

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