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Drama and darkness in true story

14/1/2019

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Innocence: a true story of a journey from darkness into light    
Ludovic C.M. Romany

I fully support the premise of this biography. It highlights the appalling levels of abuse towards children particularly but also the violence prevalent in New Zealand society, the terrible levels of domestic abuse and the increasing abuse by women. 
    The need for us to confront the terrors forced on the innocent by those who are meant to love and protect is paramount. For anyone to speak up, to challenge those who committed the abuse, to face scepticism and disbelief from family and friends takes such courage. And for Wi Peepe, not only was his childhood one of severe neglect, abuse and crushing poverty, there were the later added struggles with substance abuse as well. 
    The author, Ludovic C.M. Romany begins with a foreword making what seems to be a vital explanation about his first meeting with the seven year old beggar, Wi Peepe. There was drama and darkness and this section left me expecting the resolution of their next meeting, when that first sad introduction would, years later, be acknowledged as a kind of powerful eureka moment – ‘That poor, lost starveling was you?’ Yet this never happened and for me this left a sizeable gap in their story.
     Belief is vitally important for anyone who has been abused and I wanted to believe everything I read. If even a third of what was stated happened to this man, then it would be terrible enough. Yet, things jarred. 
     Another problem for me was that Wi chose to write in the first person, using the child he was as the story-teller. This is a difficult premise and it didn’t work for his young years. Too often the child of pre-school to mid-teens was given the maturity and understanding of adult hindsight. For example: ‘An old adage came to mind, ‘That out of every adversity comes some good.’ This from an eleven year old with the barest of education. 
     I have an issue with the section given to the story of Wi’s capture and taming of a wild horse. Would an underfed, starving child of eleven have the strength to capture a wild horse? Would he have managed to control this bolting, terrified, unsaddled, unbridled creature? Would he have trained it to obey his hand commands, all in less than one hour? From the moment I read this I was unsure, and spoke with someone who has a lifetime of equestrian training and breaking behind her. The answer was no. If Wi did indeed manage this feat, I offer my sincerest apologies. But, I’m sorry, I have my doubts.
     There were strange contradictions. 
Pg 86: ‘No one would believe me if I told them what Mum had done to me, or what Jimmy had done, for that matter.’ Yet time and again family members knew the character of the various abusers, at times had witnessed their terrible violence. 
Pg 78: Uncle Bill: ‘He’ll end up killing someone soon and that’ll be it.’
     I appreciate there are cultural differences at play, with a Pakeha reader of these Maori relationships, but surely loving grandparents or aunt and uncles as Wi had, would have moved heaven and earth to keep this child safe? They knew of the abuse but time and again they chose to not intervene to protect a child they loved. Then again, maybe that merely highlights another frightening aspect of domestic abuse. The enabling.
     Pg 111/112 ‘The authorities knew of the difficulties and abuse in our home environment. They knew about the broken bones and the whippings.’ Yet there was no one to take Wi out of that environment until he was in his mid-teens? When Wi did experience great positivity from authorities, being sent to a Health Camp, given to loving foster care I’m unsure why he didn’t contact them again when he was returned to the people who abused him. I appreciate people in traumatic situations don’t and can’t always think straight yet Wi makes much of his maturity, his street-smarts, his survival skills, his ability to think clearly through these times. Surely with a beacon to walk towards and acknowledged arms to care, highly tuned survival skills would have led him where he would be safe?
     There are obviously plenty of things that need to be addressed in Pakeha and Maori society regarding drinking, violence and abuse, both physical and sexual. Wi bravely brings scenes to life that reinforce the images and the kind of people New Zealand was first introduced to in mainstream media through Once Were Warriors. God help the children growing up to perpetuate a life of abuse and fear through knowing no other life and God thank those like Wi who saw and experienced the worst yet came through with their humanity and ability to love and nurture. 
     If I have my doubts about some things portrayed, I don’t doubt that awful, unforgivable things happened to a child who should only have known love.
     Kia kaha.
Review by TJ Ramsay
Title: Innocence:
A true story of a journey from darkness into light
Author: Ludovic C M Romany
Publisher: Copy Press Books
ISBN: 9780995104006
RRP: $34.99
Available: bookshops
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An absorbing read

7/1/2019

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​I Have Loved Me A Man: The Life & Times of Mika
by Sharon Mazer 
with a Foreword by Witi Ihimaera

The author is an academic specialising in theatre and performance studies, and, as stated in the publisher’s explanatory publicity, in this book she ‘takes readers inside the social revolution that has moved New Zealand from the 1960s to the present day through the story of…gay Māori performance artist: Mika.’
    Adopted at birth into a Pākehā family, Neil Gudsell, later Mika, is the natural son of a Pākehā mother and a Māori father. From an early age he knew that he was gay, and embraced that knowledge. Somewhat later, he discovered his Māori heritage, and that, too, he embraced with enthusiasm. 
    As an openly gay Māori adolescent in Timaru in the 1960s and 70s, it might be expected that his life would have been a constant struggle against prejudice and worse, but from the beginning Mika seems to have had an abundance of insouciant self-belief as well as considerable physical strength and athleticism, and thus was able to be what he is without disguise and only minimal overt hostility directed against him.
    Later, in Christchurch, Mika (still Neil Gudsell at this stage) developed his physical and artistic skills through aerobics, jazzercise and various types of dancing, and from this base he established a career as a performer, and, for a time, as a television and movie actor.
    With the support of others, such as Carmen and Dalvanius Prime, Mika developed his own style typified by an exuberant physicality and sexuality, and was soon directing, dancing, singing and generally starring in a series of performances in New Zealand and overseas, particularly at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. There was always a political edge to these performances, a deliberate fostering of Gay Rights and Aids awareness, and they also incorporated the imitation of aspects of traditional Māori ritual, stylised Māori or Pasifika costume and set design and the use of props such as taiaha.
    Mika’s idiosyncratic interpretation of Māori culture was not always welcomed by Māori traditionalists, nor did his ‘camp’ style have much appeal to those who saw it as something quite distinct from ‘high’ art. But, as the author notes, Mika is a performer, a ‘quintessential showman’, whose whole approach challenges any such distinctions. The author describes Mika’s performance art as ‘postcolonial camp’, and as such, as being ‘celebratory but not utopian, political without being prescriptive, and critical without losing its sense of humour.’
    To some, the major interest in this book will be in the author’s analysis of the ways in which New Zealand society’s attitudes to matters of sexual identity and race have changed since the sixties. Others will be more interested in Mika the performer and the man. But an attempt to identify Mika is something like trying to shape a recognisable figure from quicksilver. Clearly there is something protean about him, just as there is about his performances. Perhaps the most identifiable trait is his empathy with young people, particularly Māori and Pasifika, who are struggling to establish a personal identity. In this regard, he has established a Trust with the mission to ‘ignite young minds and transform bodies towards better lives through the performing arts and physical culture.’
    The book is copiously illustrated with photographs from Mika’s own collection. Some of these are decidedly uninhibited, but that is Mika’s style. As Witi Ihimaera says in his Foreword: ‘He’s still fabulous… Still a star.’
    Whether your main interest is social history or the career of Mika himself, this is an absorbing read.
Review by Tony Chapelle
Title: I Have Loved Me A Man: The Life & Times of Mika
Author: Sharon Mazer 
Publisher: University of Auckland Press
ISBN: 9781869408862
RRP: $59.99
Available: bookshops
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A real gem

28/12/2018

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Guardians of Aotearoa: Protecting New Zealand’s Legacies
Johanna Knox & Jess Charlton

This book is a real gem. Johanna Knox interviews a range of New Zealanders and weaves their own narrative into a compelling story over a few pages; Jess Charlton has provided photographs of the subjects in their own environments or homes.
    There are young and old, recent immigrants and tangata whenua, men and women. Some are already well known, but all are essentially community activists, local guardians. They reflect different communities in a geographical sense or are preserving traditions.
    Of the preservationists, I was particularly interested in the story of Graham O’Keefe, who runs the ‘print shop’ at MOTAT in Auckland. This involves preserving the older forms of producing print before computers, especially the Heidelberg machines that he was an expert in and uses to teach new enthusiasts. Lloyd and Joan Whittaker have a large collection in their museum of musical instruments on Waiheke Island. 
    Many of the subjects are environmental activists and a lot appear to live in the Wellington region, as do Knox and Charlton. But there is also Ann Graeme who runs the Kiwi Conservation Club, and appears on the title page with her donkey. Of the younger participants, Bryce McQuillan and Angela Simpson are ecologists who have published photos of invertebrates and a specific guide to New Zealand spiders; and Helene Vivienne Fletcher who writes a blog about autoimmune disease. There is a whole group of Young Birders New Zealand based in the South Island. And an older couple, living in Golden Bay, are actively searching for the South Island Kokako.
    In this sort of book there will always be particular favourites. I was particularly interested in Helen Dew from Carterton, which is the home of a ‘green dollar’ scheme, and a perhaps unlikely bastion of alternative currency concepts. But I was particularly captivated by the story of the ‘bat lady’, Catriona Gower. She has emigrated from England in search of bat species, and finds herself forming a new bat group in the Catlins, while keeping in touch with a favourite (Rose) by Skype. 
    The photography by Jess Charlton complements these stories wonderfully, especially in the chapter on Debbie Stewart, who has a falcon landing on her shoulder. Charlton has also mastered the creative use of lens flare, as seen on the front cover image, and in some of the portraits within the book, where she uses it as a kind of halo effect.
    The book has a nicely sympathetic design for the images and a very considered layout of the text. It features progressive and well qualified subjects, but who are community based and active in their very specific fields, without wanting to seek the limelight.  
Review by SA Boyce
Title: Guardians of Aotearoa: Protecting New Zealand's Legacies
Author: Johanna Knox; photography: Jess Charlton  
Publisher: Bateman
ISBN: 978 -1-86953-902-3
RRP: $59.99
Available: bookshops
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Detailed descriptions of rescues

20/12/2018

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Emergency Response: Life, Death and Helicopters
by Dave Greenberg

This is a wonderful, easy to read non-fiction book describing Dave's progression from a school-hating youngster in New York, USA, to a man showing extreme determination to achieve his dream job, a crew person on Life Flight – the Westpac Rescue Helicopter service in Wellington.    
    This same determination shaped the man he was to become – brave beyond words in impossible rescue missions, and a team member one hundred percent, which is so essential in critical situations. He quotes his mother “It's too bad that people have to suffer for you to be happy”, but he reconciled this with the fact that he was helping people in desperate circumstances.
    Emergency Response has a good, but simple quality of writing, with many photographs showing some of the manoeuvres Dave and his colleagues experienced.  
    This book should appeal to a wide audience from ages 15+, as we all seem to have a (possibly morbid) curiosity for traumatic occurrences, and a great admiration for the brave and often fearless men and women who put their own lives on the line to rescue others. His descriptions of rescues are detailed, respectful of the parties involved, not overly gruesome, but with enough information to keep the reader's interest.
    Dave is totally honest about the few events where there were problems with potentially disastrous outcomes, how these were averted, and important lessons learned, shaping the service that runs today.
    He is very open about his feelings of hurt, rejection and then anger when his post of Wellington Operations Manager was disestablished during a restructure of the Life Flight Trust organisation. But his attitude to life and the knocks it can give you, is a wonderful example of how to cope with bitter disappointment – keep calm, assess your strengths and use them to move forward. He continued as a crew person for another two years, then accepted that after 25 years in the service it was time to hang up his helmet, proud of his contribution to the growth of Life Flight over the years.
    Obviously, in medical situations, and flying, there are many abbreviations and I found I had to keep referring to previous chapters to remind myself of what they were. Dave does explain what they are the first time he uses them, but I think it would have been beneficial to have a glossary of terms/abbreviations at the beginning, or end, of the book for a faster reference. Also, in his preface, he states he has converted all measurements to the metric system and then, on the first page of the book refers to a “forty-foot yacht”.
    However, this book gives a great insight to the rescue service, and how Dave's life was shaped by his dedication for the job. He describes his family and friends, the love he has for them, and the support they gave him over the years – so we get a picture of Dave the man as well as Dave the rescuer.

Review by Fran Hartley
Title:Emergency Response: Life, Death and Helicopters
Author: Dave Greenberg 
Publisher: Penguin Random House NZ
ISBN: 978-0-14-377166-1
RRP: $40
Available: Trade Paperback (NZ/Aus), Ebook
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Stunning book excellent and accessible

15/12/2018

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Galleries of Maoriland: Artists, Collectors and the Māori World, 1880-1910
by Roger Blackley

The dates are of particular significance, as this is the period that began with the common assumption by Pākehā that Māori were a dying race, and ends at a time when the evidence of Māori ‘renaissance’ showed that the assumption was wrong. In that thirty year period the term ‘Maoriland’ for Aotearoa/New Zealand was common currency amongst Pākehā as they attempted to establish a unique identity for themselves as white New Zealanders, in part by appropriating, and frequently misinterpreting, certain aspects of Māori culture to this purpose. Much of the art of this period reflects this; but, as the author points out, the process was one in which Māori themselves were closely involved in a number of ways. 
    The artists Lindauer and Goldie were active during this time, and both are best known for their portraits of Māori individuals. We learn that often the Lindauer portraits were commissioned by the subjects themselves, and that many of these are still in the hands of descendants and are greatly revered. This is just one way in which the author demonstrates that Māori were at times much more than simply the subjects of European artists, but were intimately involved in decisions regarding the way they and their culture were depicted. Thus the subjects of many of the Lindauer portraits have clearly chosen their own ‘modern’ attire, distinctly different from Goldie’s subjects who are mostly dressed in traditional cloaks and holding artefacts that display them as examples of the romanticised, noble but dying race of the European imagination.
    The book covers the often devious and culturally insensitive, and at times frankly fraudulent, methods of collecting and using Māori artefacts (termed ‘curios’ in the European world, but often sacred taonga, the use and display of which should have been subject to tikanga). The prime example here was probably Walter Buller, who used his position as a lawyer in the Native Land Court (and his close association with Lindauer) to build a large personal collection of art and artefacts. 
    We also learn of the casual racism in some of the ‘art’ of the period, and in particular that of the influential illustrator Trevor Lloyd. This section of the book is accompanied by illustrations that must surely, and necessarily, make us cringe. As something of a balance to this we are reminded that in truth Māori artists of the period were producing works that displayed a universal beauty and an intensity of drama that was probably unequalled by anything European artists in New Zealand were producing. Undeniably among the finest examples of art in the book are the panels produced by Tene Waitere for Rauru, the specially commissioned wharenui that was fraudulently spirited out of the country to finally end up in Germany. They are breath-taking, and show that Māori art was not just alive and well, but was adapting and developing in astonishing ways.
    Some attention is given to literature and music, but the major emphasis is on the visual arts, and for those for whom this is their major interest the book is a treasure trove. To take just one example with a fascinating history, there is Lindauer’s portrait of Terewai Horomona (given the title ‘The Maori Poi Dancer’) that so enchanted the Prince of Wales when he saw it in 1886 at a London Exhibition that he proclaimed it one of the most beautiful pictures he had ever seen. When Buller (who had arranged for its hanging in the New Zealand Court at the Exhibition) heard of this comment, he immediately despatched it to the Prince as a gift, along with a five thousand pound contribution to the Prince’s Imperial Institute. His reward was to be created a KCMG.
    This is a stunning book visually, and the text is also excellent – and accessible. The arguments are sometimes provocative, but always meticulously referenced and scholarly. It takes us along fascinating if sometimes disturbing pathways towards a greater understanding of what it meant to be colonised or coloniser, and reminds us of how fortunate we are that Māori culture plays such a large part today in determining our national cultural identity.
Review by Tony Chapelle
Title: Galleries of Maoriland: Artists, Collectors and the Māori World, 1880-1910
Author: Roger Blackley
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 9781869409357
RRP: $75
Available: bookshops
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Involved in historical story

10/12/2018

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Between Two Worlds
by A.N. Arthur

“Between Two Worlds” is an historical novel set in New Zealand in the early period of the past century heading into the uncertain world around the time of the Great War.
    Here I must confess I enjoy reading historical novels as the authors usually do a lot of researching of conditions of the time and weave a story about the central characters that is totally believable. The situations may not have occurred to just one person but are taken from a set of family stories with more than a grain of truth in them.
    This novel is about two young men, Samuel and Jimmy, growing up and making their way in a world fraught with poverty. We are drawn into their lives and romances then, as war is declared, the story involves not only their decisions but the feeling of their families and friends when the call to arms is made.
    Some found it a big adventure, others struggled with the feelings of the conscientious objectors. Those men knew it was wrong to kill another fellow human being and by refusing they were branded cowards and treated appallingly by their fellow citizens and the Army alike. In “Between Two Worlds” we get glimpses of the treatment of these men by their fellow soldiers, and it was not a pretty sight. 
    We see men crazed with shell-shock who suicide in utter despair and others who somehow manage to survive as the horrors of war encompass them; and then their return home to family, physically broken in body mind and spirit.
    We also get glimpses of the treatment of the Germans who lived in New Zealand at the time, and the prejudice against the Chinese. Many of these were naturalized Kiwis but were immediately branded as “enemy” and treated as such.
    “Between Two Worlds” is the second book of what will be a trilogy. The first, "Orphanage Boys", is about Samuel and Jimmy when they were younger, and this book is a follow-on from their orphanage life to manhood.
    I read this book in under a week as I got very involved in the story and the lives of the men and their families. 
    In the author’s note at the end of the book, A.N. Arthur summed it up beautifully as she states that war is not glorious or honorable. The overpowering feature of war doesn’t happen on the battlefields. It happens in our families and homes, in our communities after peace is declared and it taints each generation beyond itself.
    How true is that.  

Editor’s note: Orphanage Boys was reviewed by FlaxFlower in June 2017
Review by Merilyn Mary
Title: Between Two  Worlds
Author: A.N Arthur
Publisher: Rangitawa Publishing
ISBN: 9780995104617
RRP: $38
Available: Hard copy and Kindle, can be ordered from the publisher, any bookstore or on Amazon
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Brim full of information

5/12/2018

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Te Kōparapara: An Introduction to the Māori
Edited by Michael Reilly, Suzanne Duncan, Gianna Leoni, Lachy Paterson, Lyn Carter, Matiu Rātima, Poia Rewi

I found this thick paperback volume of immense interest and thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in an overview of Māori in Aotearoa from pre-European times through near annihilation to regeneration and positive potential futures. 
    The volume was initially intended as a cogent and comprehensive introductory resource for university students at the University of Otago and it is this indeed, but the wide-ranging contents are brim full of information and personal anecdotes that will appeal to the so-called ‘average reader’. Although academically generated, the book is easy to read and comprehensively referenced, with a quite massive bibliography, copious tables, a plethora of illustrations and an abundant glossary. 
    I also want to point out that the book also contains valuable insights and information for the professional scholar o te ao Māori [of the Māori world]. I found myself going off to research further the fascinating story of Thomas Chaseland, an Aboriginal Australia sealer in Bass Strait in the late 1700s, as just one example.
    The volume is divided into three separate yet interrelated sections, which feed into and back from one another: a reflection of the interconnected Weltanshauung of Māori. These sections are – 
    Part One – He Tumu – Foundations
    Part Two – Tāhuhu Kōrero – Histories
    Part Three – Tākiri te Ata - Futures
    The tone is well balanced and sensible throughout and never emotive, given there is every reason to be if one is Māori, after the cauldrons of colonisation ransacked the race and their after-effects continue today. Think Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The facts of the matter are always presented calmly and are backed up by the extensive notes pertaining: any fingerpointing of blame is muted, but the calm statements of truth speak for themselves. 
    For example, the conclusion to the chapter delineating 1840 to 1863 states soberly –
     New Zealand’s governors made little effort to engage Māori chiefs within the workings of the nascent state from the start of colonisation...The government’s primary relationship with Māori concerned acquiring land for Pākehā settlement...Despite the humanitarian ideals with which the Treaty had been formulated, the underlying dynamic of colonisation, as imagined by nineteenth-century Pākehā, meant that conflict, if not inevitable, was not surprising (p.208).
    Another interesting aspect of the tome is that the overall approach is Ngāi Tahu in orientation and thus geographical locations, historical events, important personages and especially dialect are primarily Te Waipounamu in focus. Thus the title – he kopara is Ngāi Tahu for a bellbird, rather than he koromiko or he komako. It is refreshing and significant that this iwi is to the fore throughout and that this especial ambience in no way diminishes the content; rather it strengthens it, for all the contributors are in the same waka. I did find it odd, however, that the publisher is University of Auckland Press.
    In summary, given that, “there is no single Māori reality...Māori identity is a complex issue” (p. 392-3), this book firmly reinforces the point that Māori of whatever iwi are and always have been and always will be, resilient, adaptable, innovative. They are staunch to their kaupapa, willing to stand up for their rights, culturally and therefore epistemologically distinct, and complex yet holistic in cosmology and ontological foundation. I always knew this, of course, yet this book further reinforces the point. The only issue I have is that there is not a te reo version, eh.
    Ko te pai rawa atu tēnei pukapuka. 
Review by Vaughan Rapatahana
Title: Te Kōparapara: An Introduction to the Māori World
Editors: Michael Reilly, Suzanne Duncan, Gianna Leoni, Lachy Paterson, Lyn Carter, Matiu Rātima, Poia Rewi
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 978 186940 867 1
RRP: $69.99
Available: bookshop
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Romance with distinct ‘kiwi’ backdrop

1/12/2018

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Return to Riversleigh 
by Anne Ashby

A thrill-seeking adrenaline junkie like Luke Prescott, is the last thing Shannon needs in her life right now. After the death of her reckless husband, she’s financially forced back to her hometown, much to the despair of her teenage son, who still idolises the memory of his famous father.
    The storyline focuses on the internal emotional turmoil Shannon endures as she tries to put her life back together, establish financial security, and repair her relationship with her son. 
     Luke Prescott, is still reeling from a family tragedy, which left him as the guardian of two young children he struggles to connect with. Trapped into a life as a reluctant farmer, his adventurous spirit rebels at the constraints thrust upon him so he decides to build an adventure park.
     A love affair is not on Shannon’s agenda, especially with her new boss, but it’s hard to maintain indifference the more time she spends in Luke’s company. The dynamics between these two dysfunctional families change as they learn from each other.
     The heat level is sweet romance, which on my scale equates to a story I’d be comfortable sharing with my mother. 
     As a Southland lass, I related to the setting, and I enjoyed the distinct ‘kiwi’ backdrop of rural and coastal New Zealand with a dash of adventure sport.
Review by Wendy Scott
award-winning author
Title: Return to Riversleigh 
Author: Anne Ashby
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
ISBN:  978-1509218998
RRP:  ebook US$3.74 via Wild Rose Press; US$5.72 via Amazon, or Barnes & Noble; print $US16.99
Available: paperback andKindle ebook from Amazon; http://www.thewildrosepress.com;and most online bookshops
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Classy, elegant offering of poetry

27/11/2018

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​Pasture and Flock: new and selected poems
by Anna Jackson

Why don’t more people read poetry? I’ve always felt, as a voracious reader, that poetry has the habit of deliberately disconnecting us from itself, as if there’s more merit in being cleverer than the reader, to bamboozle us, to confuse us and though these are, sometimes, worthy goals in themselves, there needs to be a connection. Poetry struggles to connect with people who have little in the way of literary education. 
    Honest acknowledgment first. This is my first review and I was intimidated by the educational achievements of the poet and thought seriously about not even attempting to review her work but after the panic faded, I realised the poet is the most capable person to analyse and critique her own work with a view to literary merit. She’s asking me to review it solely as a reader, an everyday person. So that’s what this is. I won’t mention each poem, only those that had a strong impact positively or not.
     Part One: ‘I had a dream I was a ghost’: six sequences
    The first part of this book had me reaching for the nearest research tool, Professor Google. For example: Who is/was Mayakovsky? I spent most of Part One finding references to the named writers, some I knew only by name, some as a reader of their works, but every time I was confronted by the unfamiliar, I researched, came back and had to try and rediscover the flow. I wasn’t captivated enough to go back and re-read so up to page 41 the poetry merely happened with the occasional connection. I loved the first stanza, The sun performs the introduction, for example, and gave myself a pat on the back for recognising the deliberate misquote of Oscar Wilde – 
          Now we are all flying in the gutter
          though some of us are looking at the cars.
​Also loved the first stanza under I am reacquainted with the furry fish of fraud. Little else remained though.
    As I move through the pages I am only an audience member. I’m not taken inside and rarely travel with the writer. I am watching, sometimes in the same room, sometimes through a window and once or twice the window was firmly shut. There are moments of sudden, startling clarity. Page 21 – ‘They weren’t kids’, the General replied. And after the deliberate, understated domesticity and ordinariness of place this slap of cruelty and aggression was poignant, and hurt.
    Poet: I loved the last two lines so much I went back and re-read this poem. It became one of my favourites. Bomber Star seemed so closed off in its referencing that I was completely excluded. This was a firmly shut window. Party: I enjoyed the playful, girlish naughtiness.
    The Gas Leak intrigued and interested me. Nice, wide open window here, letting in light and a warmth lacking from other offerings.
    From I, Clodia:  The rhythm, the imagery, so much to enjoy here. A stand-out from Like a flock of birds the laughter which has lingered with me –
           I would not ever wish to see my daughter
          stand as I have stood, still
          as if stitched into/a pose of despair.
I find myself wishing the poet had begun the book with these poems because it was from Page 42 that I felt she was writing to share.
    Part Two: ‘Time to hold on to the leash.’
    Lots to enjoy, moments to re-read and consider. I mention the ones I enjoyed and got the most out of: Micky the fox terrier at the zoo. Zina at the zoo. Takahe. The fish and I. It was an honour, John. Wondering how to see it. Amanda in the mirror. Roland on the outskirts – a favourite. Sylvia in the supermarket – the bitterness a sharp and lovely taste with a nicely weighted regretful, sad finish.
    Part three: ‘From just behind her eyes’ New poems.
    The cooking show. Office pastoral. Le Corbusier. To my hen-flock. Read and re-read this one. I think I like it? And I enjoy the question mark of that consideration the most. Reading Horace and thinking about Susan Sontag. A favourite. Late swim. Nothing is too wonderful to be true. Unspoken, at breakfast. Eleanor, on the beach. Radishes.
    As I close the final page, having read the endnotes and acknowledgements I am asking myself that first question: ‘Why don’t more people read poetry?’ This book kind of answers that for me. I wish it had been put together differently so the poet’s humanity, warmth and insight were on view first, not her literary endeavour. If I’d picked this book up in a shop and read those first few pages, I‘d have replaced it and would therefore have missed out on the poetry from page 42. And that would have been a pity. 
    Overall, a classy, elegant offering of New Zealand poetry.
Review by TJ Ramsay
Title:Pasture and Flock: New & Selected Poems
Author: Anna Jackson
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 9781869408794
RRP: $34.99
Available: bookshops
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How to save the planet

23/11/2018

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​Psychology for a Better World: Working with people to save the planet
by Niki Harré
 
With only a lay-person’s knowledge of psychology, at least at the academic level, I open the book with some misgivings. The subtitle, though, encourages me, especially as I know Niki Harré has done much to champion the environment. And right at the beginning I’m assured that the book is indeed for people like me –
“…contains numerous strategies for making (more) sustainable practices and policies… for the teacher…the office manager…the student…the politician…the builder…the mother…Whatever your social location, if you believe a more sustainable world is possible, then this book is intended for you.”
    It’s edition 2 of this title, being an updated look at a book first published in 2011. It’s a chastening thought that as little as seven years can make a deal of difference.
    The text is ordered into five chapters –
    Positive Emotions and Flow: Encouraging Creativity and Commitment; Copying: The Power of Doing and Telling; Identity: The Role Of Who We Are and Where We Belong; Morality and Cooperation: Making the Most Out of Our Desire to Be Good; A Self-Help Guide for Sustainability Advocates.
    The examples of case studies discussed in the chapter on positive and negative emotions are really interesting and, from them, conclusions can be made about how each mode can have its place in motivating people to act for the benefit of the environment.
Further examples in chapter 2 illustrate the human habit of copying behaviour, leading to the conclusion that “modelling is a very powerful means to learn current practices and to transmit new ones.” This includes the telling of stories, not only more formally but as gossip – an activity that can be used to very good effect in setting models of sustainable behaviour. 
    Chapter 3 changes the focus from the individual to groups, as the author considers where we stand as members of communities – local, national, international, or ideologically based, and how this affects our attitudes and behaviours. Again, we need to assess our relationship to the whole. I’m left wondering whether to sell my car and buy a bicycle.
    As interesting as the preceding chapters are, I find the 4th, on morality and consideration, even more so for its examination of the basis of ethics.
    The short concluding chapter looks at what can be done at personal, group, and civic levels.
    Written by an academic for general readership, Psychology for a Better World is well researched, very readable and accessible. At the end of each chapter there’s a list of key suggestions to help bring about change. 
    This short summary can’t do justice to the content nor to its worth to those interested in improving their knowledge of the social aspects of attitudes to sustainability.
Review by Paua Blue
Title: Psychology for a Better World: Working with people to save the planet
Author: Niki Harré
Publisher: Auckland University Press
ISBN: 9781869408855
RRP: $29.99
Available: bookshops
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