Flaxroots Productions
  • Home
  • Non-fiction
  • Fiction
  • Plays
  • Other Works
  • Professional
  • Blog
  • FlaxFlower
  • Review index
  • Contact
  • BMCWC

Gift for Grandad’s birthday

19/6/2017

Comments

 
Picture
A Book of Kiwi Limericks
by Peter Low 
           

It is usually clear when an author has enjoyed writing a book and this collection of 134 limericks speaks of many hours of amusement as Peter Low came up with ideas, worked them into word form, and then produced this book.
 The verses are ordered into four thematic sections, though some content does overlap.
  Kiwi Blokes includes poems on such icons as Maui, Sir Edmund Hillary, Sir Ernest Rutherford, several All Blacks, and a few names from history far and recent – Abel Tasman to Kim Dotcom if you can call them Kiwi blokes.
          Young Rutherford shone by his wit.
          When sent to the timber pit
                  to chop up a log,       
                  he said: “Dad that’s hard slog.
          Ain’t there anything smaller to split?”

    The limericks in the next section, Kiwi Gals, show the author is more confident writing about his own gender. Fewer real women feature as subjects, and that also makes a comment on Kiwi society. One of the best in this section –
            A good Kiwi farm-girl called Briar
            got pinned by a huge tractor tyre,
                    so she sawed off one foot
                    which she managed to put
            back on later with number 8 wire.

  The verses in Kiwi Nature, particularly those on a variety of native birds, show the author’s creativity with rhyming.  It’s clear the amount of fun Peter Low had finding rhymes for korimako, ruru, Korora, and more.
            The talons and beak of Haast’s Eagle
            were murderous, monstrous and regal.
                    Fate made it extinct
                    on the theory (we think)
            it was too bloody big to be legal.

  Then comes Kiwi Places with more pokes at cities, towns, and people along the highways from Invercargill to Cape Reinga.
   Overall the author works in references to icons of Kiwiana such as the bach, jandals, Buzzy Bee, rugby (of course), and brands such as Hubbards, Weetbix, Marmite, Skellerup, Fisher and Paykel though you’ll have to interpret the last one.
   Puns pop into a lot of the verses, and the poet plays with the form in some cases – altering the rhyming pattern and the number of lines. What holds the collection together is the Kiwi identity.
    A good gift for Grandad’s birthday.

Review by Al Fabet
Title: A Book of Kiwi Limericks
Author: Peter Low
Publisher: Rangitawa Publishing
ISBN: 9780994138262
RRP: $18 + postage
Available: print book from www.rangitawapublishing.com
or from peteralanlow@gmail.com    e-book via Amazon
Comments
    Picture

    FlaxFlower Reviews

    Reviews on this page are of New Zealand books – that is, written by Kiwi authors.   
    They are written by independent reviewers not known to the authors.

    Join the posting list
    If you'd like to receive an email when a new book review is posted, please respond via the CONTACT function above.

    If you are a Kiwi author
    and would like your book reviewed send an email via this site and you’ll be sent further details. Give details of genre, length, short description, and formats available – print, ebook (Kindle, Kobo etc). You will need to provide one book free to the reviewer.

    If you’d like to be a reviewer
    send an email via this site giving details of your experience/expertise what genres interest you, and the formats you will consider – print, ebook (Kindle, Kobo etc). If possible, include a URL of one of your published reviews.
       Offer only if you take the task seriously and are certain you will deliver the review.
    ​

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.