Cousins

Perhaps because of my life experience, I found this novel extremely moving. The story of the three cousins covers a period in New Zealand/Aotearoa from between the two 20th century world wars to contemporary times. Patricia Grace captures characters' voices in such a convincing way that when some of them die, the loss to the reader is acute.There is an excellent representation of the effects of colonization, particularly in the cousin Mata who has, in Grace's words, been "hollowed out", having been denied parents, cultural roots, language and even her own name. The self-righteous certainty with which this annihilation is effected is simply appalling.Despite enforced poverty and alienation, characters fight back or simply stand on their dignity, drawing on cultural forces that give a holiness to even the most mundane actions in life. The sense of community and connection to nature is constantly present, making the individualism of Euro-American outlooks appear incredibly impoverished and lonely. And the community includes the dead and the ancestors who continue to stand beside the living in the present.The first few pages consist of stream of conscious writing from one of the "hollowed out" characters, which may be a turn-off for readers wanting straight forward narrative. It is well worth persevering through what amounts to jumbled and broken perceptions of a character who is completely destitute, to reach the flash back to her earlier life. Even better is her reintegration into community, culture and dignity by the book's end.Particularly moving for me was the departure of the Maori Battalion soldiers to World War 2, delivered to troop ships in Wellington harbor on a train of shuttered carriages, to prevent their families from saying any personal or communal farewell: similarly, the soldiers' eventual return, minus many of their number.I am grateful for the work which Patricia Grace put into the crafting of this book. It may pass as fiction, but the characters' stories are so very real.

It is important to note the Amazon has linked two different books with the same title. The paperback and audio "Cousins" by Patricia Grace is the story of three cousins growing up in New Zealand with different lives, expectations and destinies. This is an excellent book and I thoroughly loved it and have given it as a gift several times. The same wishes, aspirations, and feelings about white western rule echo through the Maori, indigenous populations of the subcontinent, Native American, and Indigenous Australians and made this book even more an eye opener. Beautifully written.HOWEVER, the Kindle version that is is attached to this book is also entitled "Cousins" but it is by Vincent Casper-Kenney. It is about teens growing up in New York City. I have not read this book, so this review is not a review of this book. BE CAREFUL make sure you know which one you are ordering.Hopefully Amazon will fix this error soon.

Dame Patricia Grace is, without a doubt, one of our most gifted living writers. In my view her message about the human condition is universal. As an American of European origin, I can't stress enough how important it is for all descendents of colonists (whether American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, African or South Pacific) to read indigenous literature. Colonization leaves all of us with deep scars, though those of us identifying with the dominant culture may not fully realize this as yet.COUSINS concerns the efforts of a group of women who try to improve economic conditions for themselves and their family by moving from the relative safety of their rural marae to the alien, profoundly racist environment of the big city. All carry the scars of parents and grandparents forcibly separated from their families and beaten at school for speaking Maori instead of English.Because New Zealand is the last English speaking country to be colonized (becoming a nation in the mid-1850s), the wounds of colonization are still quite fresh in women of Grace's generation. Yet she describes them without a trace of anger or recrimination. COUSINS simply portrays a difficult time her parents' generation happened to live through. A historical reality that all New Zealanders (and descendents of colonists in other countries) must at some point understand and process for true healing to occur.A great read.By Dr Stuart Bramhall, author of THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT: MEMOIR OF AN AMERICAN REFUGEE

Honestly? I can say, without any hesitation: this is the most extraordinary work of literature I have ever read. The prose is breathtaking, the characters are like relatives to me now, and the experiences within the book will be familliar to any Native person who reads it.How this woman missed out on the Nobel Prize (or the Booker, at *least*) is an utter mystery to me.If you are an Indigenous person of any stripe, do yourself a favor and buy this book. Patricia Grace is a literary kaumaatua, and I thank her for her words.

Although I read this book some time ago, I will try to make a review for some other readers passing by this page. It is about the different lifes and happenings of the members of a Maori family, mainly three women of the family, and the story spins around in time, in past and present. This is the second book I have read written by Patricia Grace and I'm lokking forward to reading some more of her work. I like her style so much, the way she can express so many feelings; you get into the story and the main caracters as you read the book, and you wish it didn't come to an end.

Havent been this addicted to a book in my whole life and I have read hundreds of books.Its story line is beautiful in so many ways where you connect to so many things that were forgotten but then remembered through each page of this book.Makes me forget how close we maori are, how we connect to eachother or find ways to connect to eachother. How we all stand together in times of struggle. The strength of maori women, the nurturing, loving, giving, caring maori women are. They are the pillars holding the whanau up and this book reminded me of that. Of how our wahine, our kuia are strong and resilient, loving and nurturing.This is why I became addicted to it, the story line was like from another time, a time I had forgotten about.Deeply thankful to you Patricia for reminding me of what I most adored about our people.