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Political shenanigans

31/1/2018

A Sovereign Nation
by D.A. Crossman

This novel is futuristic and set in New Zealand. I thought the title of the book was most appropriate. The word sovereign implies the nation is autonomous under a supreme ruler acting independently without outside interference. In the context of the novel the title is ironic, emphasised by the sentence, “We are at the mercy of the precipitous and the reckless.”
The story contains many duplicitous characters but I felt I never got to know many of them, in much the same way as most of us never get to know those in power and those whose fingers, but not their fingerprints, are in the political plot.
From the point of view of a novel I felt I would have liked to have known the characters better. There were a large number of them and I needed to go back and re-read sections to mentally reposition names and characters.
The story concerns the political intrigues, power play and murders taking place behind the headlines in a nation on the brink of insolvency. It is set in the year 2023, which is within the foreseeable future. A novel, by its nature is fiction and does not have to be a prediction of future events. But I had difficulty extrapolating the New Zealand I know to the vision the author portrayed about five years into the future.
I noticed the occasional grammatical error but it was not enough to detract from the flow of the story. The occasional use of the “f” word could potentially upset some oversensitive readers.
The book would appeal to those interested in political shenanigans. The print version is perfect bound and well presented with an appropriate cover.

Review by Peter Thomas

Title: A Sovereign Nation
Author: D.A. Crossman
Publisher: Starcross Publishing
ISBN: 978-1975823269
RRP: $9.95
Available: Paperback; ebook for kindle
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0756RTG1R

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Significant issues raised

24/1/2018

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A Short History of the New Zealand Wars
by Gordon McLauchlan

The writer states that his aim was to ‘write a short, accessible story of the New Zealand wars’ in the hope that readers would gain ‘some understanding of… where we have failed and where we have triumphed.’
These worthy intentions have certainly been realised. Neither preachy nor polemical, McLauchlan presents a balanced summary of recent scholarly research on the topic.
   The major incidents of the wars are outlined. For instance, we are reminded of the astonishing skill displayed by Kawiti in the construction of the pā, Ōhaeawai and Ruapekapeka, and of the fact that the Māori forces were never defeated in the north. The dispute over the Waitara block and the subsequent Taranaki Wars, and the growing wariness as to British intentions in the Waikato, are both explained.
The attempt to unite opposition to further encroachments, the King Movement, is put in context, as are the crucial battles at Rangiriri and Ōrākau. The battle at Gate Pa, ‘the most devastating defeat experienced by the British during the course of the New Zealand Wars’, is described, as is the subsequent defeat of Rāwiri Puhirake and his allies at Te Ranga two months later.
A separate chapter is devoted to two men of remarkable military genius – Riwha Tītokowaru in Taranaki/Whanganui, and Te Kooti Arikirangi in Poverty Bay/Te Urewera. These names are also associated with two of the best-known military men on the other side – Gustavus von Tempsky with the former, and Captain Gilbert Mair with the latter – and with the religious movements Pai Mārire and Ringatū respectively.
   Tītokowaru again features alongside Te Whiti and Tohu in the non-violent resistance at Parihaka on 5 November 1881, when the pugnacious Native Minister, John Bryce, led 1600 constabulary against the settlement, to be met by singing children who offered them food. Bryce’s response was to order the destruction of the village and the arrest of the leaders.
   McLauchlan’s focus is clearly on the conflicts between Māori on the one hand, and the British and settler (and kūpapa) forces on the other, which means that he pays only slight attention to the internecine (and at times contemporary) conflicts between Māori groups. For example, some reference is made to the first of the Musket Wars, the campaigns of Ngāpuhi led by Hongi Hika, but Ngāti Toa’s fearsome Te Rauparaha and his nephew Te Rangihaeata, notable for their conflict with (among others) Waikato Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto, Rangitāne and Ngāi Tahu, receive a mention only in relation to the Wairau Affray of 1843 and the Hutt Valley skirmishes of 1846.
   A central place is given to the Treaty of Waitangi – the misunderstandings regarding its interpretation and the way it was used to ‘justify’ confiscations after the designation and defeat of ‘rebels’. We are reminded, too, that there were always people, on both sides, who wanted peace rather than war; and of how a sense of betrayal, triggered in part by difficulties in reconciling written with customary law, led even some of these to turn to war.
    The author also discusses how for many decades after, little attention was paid either to the Wars themselves or the injustices that Māori suffered in the aftermath. It wasn’t until the late 1950s that a start was made in giving a scholarly and balanced view of the conflicts. A little later, the ‘Māori Renaissance’ of the late 1960s led to such milestone events as Dame Whina Cooper’s hikoi of 1975, the establishment of the Waitangi Tribunal in the same year, and the successful occupation of Bastion Point in 1977-78. From then on there have been determined and on-going efforts to compensate in some manner for the injustices that had been inflicted on Māori, particularly in relation to the right, guaranteed by the Treaty, to the undisturbed possession of land and other taonga. The matter of exactly what the granting to the Queen of ‘sovereignty’ (kāwanatanga) meant to the chiefs when they signed the Treaty, in particular if it meant the cession of the right to self-government, is still a matter of debate.
  In the introduction, McLauchlan observes: ‘Without sincere respect for the past, we remain rootless in the present and flounder towards the future.’ This book deserves a wide readership, not the least because it encourages closer investigation of the very significant issues it raises. These events from our not-so-distant past have intrinsically shaped us, and their effects are very much with us still.

Review by Tony Chapelle

Title: A Short History of the New Zealand Wars
Author: Gordon McLauchlan
Publisher: Bateman
ISBN: 9781869539627
RRP: $29.99
Available: bookshops

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Simply delightful

17/1/2018

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The Little Mouse's Tail
by Ardi Alemi, Charlotte & Russell Wanhill

This is such a glorious book! The artwork is superb, colourful and simple. As is the storytelling.
I have a 4-year old grandchild who sounds exactly like the little mouse, and would love this story. But the age range extends far beyond four years. (I read it to my 36-year old daughter!)
And the little mouse has beautiful manners – that's important in this day and age where they seem to be lacking in some children.
The pages each have a rhythm that carries this simple but valid message along.
There’s a bookread video of the story available too, in which children can join right in along with the narrator. Each character has its own voice, it's mesmerising.
The moral is simple: When something does not happen the way you want it to...
I am running out of words to describe this book. It is simply delightful.

Review by Susan Tarr

Title: The Little Mouse's Tail
Authors: Ardi Alemi translator & illustrator, Charlotte Wanhill & Russell Wanhill
Publisher: Digital Alchemist Ltd.
ISBN: 9780473392239
RRP: $30
Available: Hardcover book: d-alchemist.com/books and selected Paper Plus Stores, and available to order at The Dorothy Butler Bookshop
E-book: http://amzn.to/2yzuSxk

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Memories of living in different lands

10/1/2018

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The Ventricle of Memory: A memoir
by Shelagh Duckham Cox

Born just prior to WW2, the author starts her story with her early memories of growing up then having to be evacuated to North Wales as the attacks on Britain escalated.
There she spent the rest of the war until in 1945, with her family, she sailed to America where her Father was employed. She describes the wonder of America after the austere years of the war in Britain and then their return to Britain in 1950 where rationing was still in effect and the country still looked drab and bleak.
In a time when few British fathers envisioned a higher education for their daughters the author studied at St Andrews and describes the life as a student and the freedom within the constraints of social propriety of the time.
Marriage followed, with a rather disastrous honeymoon in a small hotel and I was rather surprised to read about the “unwritten rule that a new bride must talk to no one but her husband till after the honeymoon”.
The author describes her relationship with her beloved mother and father throughout the book and analyses the social norms of the time that made their interactions so very different from today. Even during her mother’s terminal illness there were constraints that left a lot unsaid, but emotions were still felt very deeply.
Work brought her family of now 3 children to New Zealand as part of the ‘10 pound Pom’ programme. They settled in Levin and the comparisons between her old life and the new are descriptively written.
The book is beautifully written throughout as the author remembers and describes small events in her life with great clarity and this increases the richness of the reading.
She describes historical events that were familiar to me, but living in New Zealand with a more carefree life, they did not have the same impact, apart from the sinking of the Wahine. I felt the horror of that day as I was transported back to where I was and how it affected me, my friends and colleagues as we huddled around the radio and TV listening for updates throughout the day.
Any reader will love this book as they read the author’s memories of a lifetime of living in very different lands.

Review by Merilyn Mary

Title: The Ventricle of Memory
Author: Shelagh Duckham Cox
Publisher: Mary Egan Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-473-36386-4
RRP: $34.99
Available: Bookshops

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Unsettling events in an idyllic setting

4/1/2018

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The Contest
by Carne Maxwell

Like survivors of a shipwreck, ten hugely disparate families are conveyed to an idyllic deserted island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. All they have to do is build a shelter and survive for three months. At the end of that time, the families that are still on the island will have a chance to win $30,000,000.
   To help them survive, each family has some supplies provided by the contest organiser and some more supplies that they have chosen themselves. As well, the island has plenty of fresh water, an abandoned orchard providing exotic fruit, and chemically designed green bins.
  The contest is the idea of Martin Fallaway. Although he is dying of cancer, his love of adventure and mischief prevents him from simply donating his fortune to the needy. Instead he has pitted these families, chosen at random, against nature and each other.
    Once conveyed to the island, the dangers of the tropics emerge along with the nastier side of human nature. In The Contest Carne Maxwell’s families interact with each other, figuring out who to like and trust and who to avoid. Inevitably there is deceit, spitefulness and kindness; mistrust, bigotry and romance.
    Maxwell uses a range of unfortunate events and misadventures to gradually reduce the number of competing families, but right down to the last pages there is no real clue of how the contest is going to end. Maxwell keeps up the pace, alternating tragedy with moments when the teams come together and forget they are competing, or when the adults and teenagers muse on their feelings and their family dynamics.
The Contest is a well-written, easy but suspenseful read. As well, it is a showcase for Carne Maxwell’s many talents. Not only is she the book’s author: she painted the cover illustration (a slightly sinister abstract scene that is a warning that while the setting may be very beautiful, there is something menacing lurking in paradise) and designed the book’s layout and cover, and did the typesetting.

Review by Carolyn McKenzie
Writer, freelance proofreader, copy editor, & translator from Italian to English.
Carolyn kindly offers accommodation at reasonable rates for FlaxFlower writers
in Thames (Waikato) and Ventimiglia Alta (Liguria, Italy). carolynmckenzie@libero.it

Title: The Contest
Author: Carne Maxwell
Publisher: Carne Maxwell Author
ISBN: 978-0-473-39917-7
RRP: from website $26.99 + postage. Bookstores $31.99
Available: Paperback – Website carnemaxwellauthor.co.nz; Poppies Bookstore, Remuera; Writer’s Plot, Upper Hutt; Wheelers/Neilson; Paper Plus at Eastridge, Meadowbank, Masterton.
Ebook formats coming

Comments

Political shenanigans

Significant issues raised

Simply delightful

Memories of living in different lands

Unsettling events in an idyllic setting

FlaxFlower Reviews

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