Pãtea Boys, by Airana Ngarewa. NZ Fiction
Airana Ngarewa has already made a
tremendous impact with his first novel ‘The Bone Tree’, a Take-No-Prisoners
exposé of racism, colonialism and every other shameful ‘ism’ that Aotearoa New
Zealand is guilty of, but ‘Pãtea Boys’ is different, for he has written about
his home and upbringing in a small Taranaki town – chiefly famous for the
NZ-wide top hit song ‘Poi E’ (check out YouTube!) performed in the 0ughties by
the Pãtea Maori Club - all the Nannas
when they were young and full of rhythm and, with the advent of this wonderful
collection of stories Pãtea will once again be rightly famous for producing a
son who cherishes his history and community, and writes of it superbly.
‘Bombs
for the Bros’ concerns Turi, who wants to make the biggest Bomb(splash) in the local
pool’s history, gaining the undying respect of all his mates – and the bigger
Bros who are his idols. The way to do
that is to launch himself off rails that are higher than anyone has tried
before and to do it when the lifeguard is distracted – no easy task because
she’s pretty fearsome, but! He does the business
– the biggest bomb ever! The only
problem being that the lifeguard (who is his Nan) saw everything and her rage
is incandescent: he’s barred from the
pool FOREVER, and just wait till they get home!
Was it worth it or not?
Each
story illustrates the closeness of a small community and their Marae, and how
Maori deal with different aspects of life, especially if they leave, as so many
had to, to find work elsewhere – automatically, leavers lose a certain amount
of influence if they return home only occasionally, then try to put their
opinions forward: ‘Why’s he putting his
oar in? He’s never here!’ Marae funerals are written of with great
affection, too, with enormous respect for all the old people looking down at
their descendants from their photos on the walls, and once again Turi features
with his little sister, both consigned to the kitchen to help with the funeral
feast – because they’re not related to the dead person, so not grieving. The conversation they have as they work is a
demonstration of their affection for each other, and the life they have with
their Nan, the strongest wahine they know.
Airana
Ngarewa writes of his home, dominated by Mount Taranaki, his maunga, with great
love and respect, and a restless, wonderful energy and humour that would
beguile any reader and, for students of Te Reo the stories are contained in
Maori in the second half of the book.
CHUR, BRO! SIX STARS.
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