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29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A strong story in a vivid historical landscape, 12 Oct 2004
By A Customer
There are some harsh reviewers out there. I found this book a highly compelling read, with well-drawn characters and strong, interlinking storylines which kept me interested right to the very end. No doubt those who have been to New Zealand's South Island (particularly in winter) will find this a more satisfying book than those who have not - I am sure it helps to have some sort of mental image of both the beauty and the harshness of the landscape in which the story is set.It has its faults. It suffers from the apparent belief among contemporary authors that, unless a book contains a strange element of magic and mysticism, the reader will lose interest. This is not so - most books which try this obvious and tired trick fall down as a result. In this book, this unnecessary flummery arises in the relationship between the Maori woman, Pare, and the English boy, Edwin. On one level, this strand of the story is a touching (and ultimately tragic) tale of childhood imagination and clashing imperial and indiginous cultures, and it would have been better left at that. The introduction of Maori spiritualism seemed to me to be somewhat forced and shallow, and wholly unnecessary. And why, oh why, do publishers of books set in strong geographical locations NEVER include a map? I dug out my own map of New Zealand, which greatly assisted in conceptualising the action, but a one-page map in the book itself would be so easy to include and would make such a difference. But otherwise, a thoroughly good read - a little depressing, but not without its upbeat moments. The three main Blackstone characters are all a little bit useless in their varying degrees (and so more believable and engaging), and they all make mistakes, and the changing relationships between them seemed to me to be both convincing and sympathetically human. And the descriptions on nineteenth-century New Zealand life and landscape are truly excellent. Compared to the other books I have read by Ms Tremain, it is certainly streets ahead of the dreadful "The Way I Found Her", if not quite as rich and unusual as (although probably more compellingly readable than) "Music and Silence". I recommend it strongly.
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by Rose Tremain
by Rose Tremain
by Rose Tremain
by Rose Tremain
by Rose Tremain
