The Mountain by Drusilla Modjeska

The Mountain
(Vintage Books, 2012) 

It's taken me over a week to read this book, which is partly due to the dense content held in 400 plus pages and partly due to my study commitments. When I put it down this morning I was emotionally exhausted. The book deals with expatriate and islander relationships, Pacific art, politics, spiritual beliefs and environmentalism. Set in Papua New Guinea prior to independence it captures the idealism and vibrancy of young intellectuals keen to shake off the shackles of colonialism. At its base is a love story between Dutch photographer Rika and young political activist Aaron, a saltwater man from the Collingwood Bay area. Rika's desire to have a child with Aaron fuels much of the misunderstandings between the two cultures. Simmering in the background is the ever-present threat of sorcery.
   I enjoyed this book despite the fact that it was too long. The pace slowed in the middle.
   The second half of the book is set thirty years later, in contemporary times. It follows the story of Jericho, the hapkas boy who was born on the mountain and later grew up in London with Rika's ex-husband, his natural father.
   Both perspectives were interesting and sensitively handled, but I can't help feeling it could have been chopped back somewhat. If you can cope with long, complicated story lines you may enjoy this one.

Pacific Island Style by Glenn Jowitt and Peter Shaw

I quite like watching the ABC program Grand Designs. It shows people with far too much money constructing impressive, innovative and sometimes beautiful (and sometimes rather ugly) homes in Britain. When I lived in the Solomons there were many beautiful buildings that i was priveledged to visit, many of them traditional. Pacific Island Style is a coffee book title that showcases traditional housing forms throughout the Pacific. There are chapters dedicated to different Island groups including the Solomon Islands. I was delighted to find a picture on page 47 of the St Martins Training Centre church in Guadalcanal, showing the intricate woven cane patterns in the church walling. Wow! I remember that place at Tenaru. I went to a couple of services there and my husband was a regular, being a student at the training centre.

Pacific Island Style (Lothian, 1999)

   This book is lovely to browse through. The photographs are mostly of buildings, but the people and their arts and crafts are also depicted. It has sparked my interest to visit the Cook Islands one day. I want to buy a tivaevae!

Taming frigate birds

Frigate bird stand, Meneng. Source: J. Temaki, 2013

When I lived in Nauru there were a few wooden stands by the beach which always had frigate birds perched on them. More frigate birds flew overhead or nearby above the ocean. Nauruan culture has a strong relationship with these birds of the sea. Nauruans tame the birds and tether them to the frame to attract more birds. My friend John Temaki has kindly allowed me to publish these pictures of tame frigate birds in Nauru. Thanks John!

Feeding frigate birds, Meneng. Source: J. Temaki, 2013

Ireland's Islands by Peter Somerville-Large

This coffee table book has some stunning pictures of wild-looking windswept rocky isles off the coast of Ireland. It was an entertaining read and I learnt about the pirate Grace O'Malley who used to have hide-outs on some of these islands. The book is divided into a few pages per island, giving a short history and even some geological information.

Ireland's Islands (Salamander Books, 2000)

   Some of the islands are still inhabited and a handful are home to speakers of the native tongue, long stamped out on the mainland. If you enjoy the BBC series Coast, then you'll find this an enjoyable read. The photographs are by David Lyons.
   (I found this copy in the library so please excuse the library sticker.)

Devil-Devil by G.W.Kent

In the tradition of Ann Kengalu's Murder on the Mataniko Bridge comes another crime story set in the Solomon Islands. Devil-Devil is a complicated story of custom killings, smuggling and power-struggles set mostly on the island of Malaita.
   The author, G.W. Kent, spent eight years in the Solomons working in education and broadcasting. It is obvious that he has a thorough understanding of Malaitan customs, particularly in the north of the island although this knowledge doesn't cover all of the archipelago. (His reference to sorting out a dispute in Isabel using bride price is a case in point). I was also a little bemused about how the detective could walk from north Malaita, straight through to Kwaio land without coming across other language groups such as the Kwa'rae.

Devil-Devil (Constable and
Robinson, 2011).

   Despite these shortcomings the plot keeps readers wondering how all these murders and the disappearance of an American could be related. There is plenty of action and tension and some violent scenes, but nothing too graphic.
   The story is set in 1960, fifteen years after WW2 and almost as many years to come till independence. Kent does his best to show the islanders' disdain for their colonial masters. The main detective Ben Kella is a Lau man and the only indigenous policeman to reach the rank of sergeant. He is an aofia, a custom man highly respected in his community. However he is considered by other islanders as a 'white blackfella', too educated to be a true islander, and too traditional to be accepted by the expats.
   Kent has managed to capture the curious intertwining of faith that is common in the Solomons. Not only does Ben Kella straddle both worlds of spiritual tradition, but the other protagonist, the plucky Catholic nun, also accepts the presence of the pagan spirit world.
   The familiar landmarks of the G. Club, Point Cruz wharf, Chinatown and the Fishing Village are all described well to those who know Honiara.
   I enjoyed reading this although the quality of the writing is below average. Adverbs a-plenty pepper each page and make many sentences unwieldy, slowing the pace. If you enjoy a good crime plot however, and can overlook the flowery prose then you will enjoy Devil-Devil.

Fisherman

I love this picture of a Nauruan man net fishing. Thanks so much Fredrick for your pic.

Net fishing, Nauru. Source: F. Canon, June 2013.

Isle of Tears by Deborah Challinor

Isle of Tears (Harper Collins, 2009)

I must admit I'm not a fan of historical romances but I thought I'd give this one a go as it was set in New Zealand during the Maori/Pakeha wars in the late 1800s. Deborah Challinor has a talent for historical writing and wanted to write about this conflict but felt she didn't have the cultural clout to do so as she wasn't a Maori. What she did to resolve this was to write through the eyes of Isla, an orphaned Pakeha teenager who was taken in by local Maori.
   Isla grows to womanhood and marries a young Maori warrior. When tensions ignite between Maori and Pakeha in the Waikato region Isla accompanies her man to war. Battle weary, Isla leaves the conflict to search for her younger siblings and is captured by officers of the queen who take her back to Auckland. Isla is determined to escape and return to the Taranaki region to be with her Maori family.
   Challinor has gone into great detail explaining the gritty realities of trench warfare. The reader can feel the hunger, the fear and desperation that the Maori must have gone through in these pitched battles. From the perspective of someone who is not a Kiwi I found a lot of the historical references confusing and confess I skimmed over a lot of the war strategy discussions. However the way Challinor describes daily Maori life is fascinating.
   Much of the dialogue is written in a broad Scottish accent which is initially unsettling, but becomes easier to cope with as you get engrossed in the story. A good novel for those who like historical romance.

Island Bound by Deb Loughead

Island Bound (Pearson Education
NZ, 2007)

Island Bound is Hannah's story of discontent when she finds out that her family are moving to Bermuda for two years. Hannah loves her home and friends in Canada and doesn't want to be uprooted, despite her love of Bermuda, where the family have regular holidays. The family flies to Bermuda for a week to find a house to rent and prepare for the big transition. Whilst riding a bicycle along the road, Hannah encounters an apparition. Hannah's house-keeper believes it's the ghost of Martha Cox but she won't elaborate. Hannah is determined to uncover more.
   This children's story starts out slowly, so slowly it may bore many readers, which is a shame because once the plot about the ghost kicks in, at around chapter six, it's actually quite an engaging story. A good one for primary school aged children if they have the stamina to persevere with the first third of the book.

Tusi Tamasese webcast

Tusi Tamasese, Samoan born writer
and film director

For those interested in Pasifika movies, Tusi Tamasese, the Samoan born award winning writer and film director can be heard on the latest webcast from Pacific Voices-Commonwealth Writers. Tamasese talks to Kath Akuhata-Brown about his latest project 'The Orator'. To register, email Joe Byrde at j.byrde@commonwealth.int . The webcast is scheduled for Saturday the 15th of June, 2013, 6-6.45pm (NZST).