Title: The Bone People
Text type: Novel
Author: Keri Hulme
Keri Hulme, born and raised in Otautahi, Christchurch, Hulme is the eldest of six children. Her father, a carpenter and first-generation New Zealander whose parents came from Lancashire, died when Hulme was 11. She is a novelist, short story writer and poet, gained international recognition with her award winning The Bone People.
The Bone People is a book rooted in the physical locations of rural littoral New Zealand and in the mythological and folk traditions of the Maori people. The very specificity of the places and details makes the magic, when you get to it, feel real and rooted and entirely believable. This is above everything a story about a colonised people getting their spirit back.
The Bone People is a wonderful book, and one it’s a lot more fun to re-read than it was to read for the first time. There’s a lot in the book that’s very disturbing, and there’s one passage that in many re-reads I’ve never seen without tears coming between me and the words. It’s a story where half-way through the first time I almost felt I couldn’t go on, except that I had to, and yet knowing the well-earned ending it has, over time.
At the beginning of the book, all three of the main characters are screwed up. The story is the process of them being healed, and in the process renewing their culture, but they are healed by going through annealing fire. Simon is mute and about eight years old, he doesn’t know where he comes from
Text type: Novel
Author: Keri Hulme
Keri Hulme, born and raised in Otautahi, Christchurch, Hulme is the eldest of six children. Her father, a carpenter and first-generation New Zealander whose parents came from Lancashire, died when Hulme was 11. She is a novelist, short story writer and poet, gained international recognition with her award winning The Bone People.
The Bone People is a book rooted in the physical locations of rural littoral New Zealand and in the mythological and folk traditions of the Maori people. The very specificity of the places and details makes the magic, when you get to it, feel real and rooted and entirely believable. This is above everything a story about a colonised people getting their spirit back.
The Bone People is a wonderful book, and one it’s a lot more fun to re-read than it was to read for the first time. There’s a lot in the book that’s very disturbing, and there’s one passage that in many re-reads I’ve never seen without tears coming between me and the words. It’s a story where half-way through the first time I almost felt I couldn’t go on, except that I had to, and yet knowing the well-earned ending it has, over time.
At the beginning of the book, all three of the main characters are screwed up. The story is the process of them being healed, and in the process renewing their culture, but they are healed by going through annealing fire. Simon is mute and about eight years old, he doesn’t know where he comes from