Cousins

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.

this is a great book to rea