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Poorhara
A tragicomedy set in the confines of a 1994 Daihatsu Mira, Poorhara is a journey of epic proportions—a poignant, expansive and darkly funny first novel written by a true poorhara
ERIN can hear the whaanau whispering, and they won’t tell her why. She’s ditched school to help her aunty clean houses—even though she has a full-time job looking after all the moko. But no one cares, and soon she will be picked clean, like the bones in her maamaa’s bedroom.
STAR is home for the first time in years, and he’s worn the same clothes for days. Everything feels unfamiliar: the karakia, his nephews, the house that he grew up in. He’s too scared to tell his family that he’s bombing back at uni. And the past is an affliction, a gently rising tide.
It is 178 years after colonisation. Together, the cousins escape. Free-wheeling across the countryside in a car without a warrant, they cast their net widely. Their family mythologies, heartaches and rifts will surface, and among it the glint of possibility: a return to the whenua where it all began.
ERIN can hear the whaanau whispering, and they won’t tell her why. She’s ditched school to help her aunty clean houses—even though she has a full-time job looking after all the moko. But no one cares, and soon she will be picked clean, like the bones in her maamaa’s bedroom.
STAR is home for the first time in years, and he’s worn the same clothes for days. Everything feels unfamiliar: the karakia, his nephews, the house that he grew up in. He’s too scared to tell his family that he’s bombing back at uni. And the past is an affliction, a gently rising tide.
It is 178 years after colonisation. Together, the cousins escape. Free-wheeling across the countryside in a car without a warrant, they cast their net widely. Their family mythologies, heartaches and rifts will surface, and among it the glint of possibility: a return to the whenua where it all began.
- GenresFictionContemporaryQueer
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2024
15 people are currently reading
281 people want to read
About the author
Michelle Rahurahu
1 book5 followersMichelle Rahurahu (Ngaati Rahurahu, Ngaati Tahu-Ngaati Whaoa) is a writer who was raised by taangata turi. She was a co-editor of Te Rito o te Harakeke, an anthology of Maaori voices for Ihumaatao. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the IIML, where she won the Modern Letters Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Michael Gifkins Prize for Poorhara.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
November 3, 2024
A great book! My 50th book this year on this app. Woohoo! Not sure what to write here since I just finished it and I am getting sleepy now 😴
Star and Erin reunite at their Koro's birthday at Erin's packed house, are foisted with a dog and go on a journey together. This physical journey represents the spiritual journey that they are undertaking, to repair themselves being a part of a hurt family. They face many problems along the way but it is their (very sweet) relationship that keeps them together.
I loved the structure: a main narrative in titled chapters is fragmented by texts between the two characters. Erin's texts are a bit annoying but that's the point, she is a teenager... I like when chapters have titles especially when they have some sort of rhetorical meaning (THERE IS FOOD AT THE END OF MY HANDS). There is also a story about rarauhe (bracken) that represents how the family was broken by colonization.
The writing is good. I especially liked the descriptions of the whare, a claustrophobic, breathing (if decaying) creature. I thought the dialogue was really strong too.
Admittedly I haven't read as many recent books as I would like to, but this is one that really feels deeply real(ist). Later on the characters break the fourth wall by talking about 'gritty realism'. That was sort of jolting and the only time I realised I was reading a book. It's very immersive.
Watching keenly to see what comes next from Michelle Rahurahu 👁️
Star and Erin reunite at their Koro's birthday at Erin's packed house, are foisted with a dog and go on a journey together. This physical journey represents the spiritual journey that they are undertaking, to repair themselves being a part of a hurt family. They face many problems along the way but it is their (very sweet) relationship that keeps them together.
I loved the structure: a main narrative in titled chapters is fragmented by texts between the two characters. Erin's texts are a bit annoying but that's the point, she is a teenager... I like when chapters have titles especially when they have some sort of rhetorical meaning (THERE IS FOOD AT THE END OF MY HANDS). There is also a story about rarauhe (bracken) that represents how the family was broken by colonization.
The writing is good. I especially liked the descriptions of the whare, a claustrophobic, breathing (if decaying) creature. I thought the dialogue was really strong too.
Admittedly I haven't read as many recent books as I would like to, but this is one that really feels deeply real(ist). Later on the characters break the fourth wall by talking about 'gritty realism'. That was sort of jolting and the only time I realised I was reading a book. It's very immersive.
Watching keenly to see what comes next from Michelle Rahurahu 👁️
December 19, 2024
An unrelenting tale - I found this book tiresome. There’s something a bit “American fiction” about the book, a perfect candidate for a round of sad Maori story bingo. It has it all;
-rape
-child abuse
-self harm
-suicide
-animal abuse
-racism
Yada yada…another grim tale that paints our culture in abject poverty and hardship that should probably come with a trigger warning. I was waiting for the story to arch with some uplifting prose to break up the monotony of the truisms, or humour which seems to begin and die with the line “hangi pants”.
Seriously I feel like I’ve read this story 40 times over. What is it with this incessant trauma baiting using Maori characters?
Far from a recent Kete review that believes this book is-
“essential for its portrayal of cultural identity, intergenerational trauma, and the resilience required to keep fighting.“
This book just straight up smacks of Māori tropes and without humour or character swagger reading becomes a chore
-rape
-child abuse
-self harm
-suicide
-animal abuse
-racism
Yada yada…another grim tale that paints our culture in abject poverty and hardship that should probably come with a trigger warning. I was waiting for the story to arch with some uplifting prose to break up the monotony of the truisms, or humour which seems to begin and die with the line “hangi pants”.
Seriously I feel like I’ve read this story 40 times over. What is it with this incessant trauma baiting using Maori characters?
Far from a recent Kete review that believes this book is-
“essential for its portrayal of cultural identity, intergenerational trauma, and the resilience required to keep fighting.“
This book just straight up smacks of Māori tropes and without humour or character swagger reading becomes a chore
April 10, 2025
Sad gripping and insightful
July 20, 2025
Enjoyed every chapter of this gritty, honest Aotearoa story filled with Māoridom culture; the beauty and the struggles of life for the lead characters on their road trip to small town Aotearoa uI didn't want the road trip to end. I will say this is the first time I've seen a book not use macrons and instead double letters like "Maaori" instead of Māori and this threw me off with my already limited Reo. also no speech marks i.e "Let's go" , instead was -let's go, which had me sometimes confused as to who was speaking, not really a complaint I just haven't seen it before.
January 30, 2026
From the marketing label “tragicomedy” and the blurb of the book I was under no illusion that this was going to be an easy read but it definitely delivered more on the tragedy than the comedy. This was relentlessly heartbreaking and awful to read and the “comedy” didn’t so much lighten the story as emphasise how utterly helpless the situation was - like, it’s not funny but all you can do is laugh.
I was def drawn in by the clear and concise writing style and I couldn’t put it down. I rlly enjoyed reading Erin and Aunty Ann’s relationship especially which was both lovely and sad at times and I wished there was more of them.
At first I wondered if the reason I didn’t absolutely love this book was purely because of how confronting it was but having sat w it a bit longer I think I struggled a bit in empathising w the characters and figuring out what was going on inside their heads. I think I would have fared better had slightly less HAPPENED in the 300 pages?? The story was strongest and the prose most beautiful when the author honed in on specific moments and really drew them out, but there was so much happening over such a short time. Whilst it definitely served to highlight how the characters were in survival mode and just go-go-go all the time, it took a while to get to know them. There were some threads that got dropped and never returned to. Where it lost me the most was Erin’s texting style especially - I loved it as a choice for her but it was utterly indecipherable at times.
I can’t imagine the book was easy to write either but I am all for its hardcore realness. That said, altho I’ve heard arguments against trigger warnings that I can agree with to a certain extent, I do think there is sometimes a place for them. The SA in this book truly came out of nowhere and I would have really appreciated some notice - even slightly more clues within the text itself - as to just how graphic it was about to get :((
tl;dr a rlly good read just not a feel-good one
I was def drawn in by the clear and concise writing style and I couldn’t put it down. I rlly enjoyed reading Erin and Aunty Ann’s relationship especially which was both lovely and sad at times and I wished there was more of them.
At first I wondered if the reason I didn’t absolutely love this book was purely because of how confronting it was but having sat w it a bit longer I think I struggled a bit in empathising w the characters and figuring out what was going on inside their heads. I think I would have fared better had slightly less HAPPENED in the 300 pages?? The story was strongest and the prose most beautiful when the author honed in on specific moments and really drew them out, but there was so much happening over such a short time. Whilst it definitely served to highlight how the characters were in survival mode and just go-go-go all the time, it took a while to get to know them. There were some threads that got dropped and never returned to. Where it lost me the most was Erin’s texting style especially - I loved it as a choice for her but it was utterly indecipherable at times.
I can’t imagine the book was easy to write either but I am all for its hardcore realness. That said, altho I’ve heard arguments against trigger warnings that I can agree with to a certain extent, I do think there is sometimes a place for them. The SA in this book truly came out of nowhere and I would have really appreciated some notice - even slightly more clues within the text itself - as to just how graphic it was about to get :((
tl;dr a rlly good read just not a feel-good one
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 2, 2026
I loved this. It captures a lot in its 320 pages, and I can see myself re-reading this to glean new takes. Highly recommend.
January 2, 2026
Two cousins, Erin and Star, each striving for love and recognition within and outside of their whānau, end up on a road trip beset with challenges. There's throbbing toothache, calls from debt collectors, breakdowns and cops. A dog comes for the ride.
Through it all they stick together, ostensibly on a pilgrimage to their whenua, seeking healing and wholeness. Sticking together the broken parts.
Woven into the story are bits of text conversation between the two cousins from before the trip, showing the trust and love built up between them. There are also passages of myth about the fern people, rarauhe, giving the story roots back in time.
At times bleak, this is a novel very much grounded in the daily realities of colonisation, disconnection, poverty and abuse, but it's lightened at times by humour, and the story rolls along, never getting bogged down. The thread of love that runs though the whānau, and especially the two cousins, is deep.
The author writes fluidly, with fresh dialogue, making great use of contemporary slang and idiom.
Two things I had to look up:
1) Poorhara - the title - is from the reo Māori word pōhara which means poor, destitute. The author uses double vowels rather than macrons in her dialect so would write poohara - though I don't recall seeing the word anywhere in the book.
2) The twenty cent coin design on the cover - I'd never looked into this but the background is fascinating. It depicts Pūkaki, of Ngāti Whakaue and Ngāti Pikiao descent, with two of his sons. I guess on the face of it, the coin symbolises poverty, having only a few coins. It also may have an ancestral connection for the author and/or the book's characters. Read about the background to the design here: https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/money-and-ca...
Through it all they stick together, ostensibly on a pilgrimage to their whenua, seeking healing and wholeness. Sticking together the broken parts.
Woven into the story are bits of text conversation between the two cousins from before the trip, showing the trust and love built up between them. There are also passages of myth about the fern people, rarauhe, giving the story roots back in time.
At times bleak, this is a novel very much grounded in the daily realities of colonisation, disconnection, poverty and abuse, but it's lightened at times by humour, and the story rolls along, never getting bogged down. The thread of love that runs though the whānau, and especially the two cousins, is deep.
The author writes fluidly, with fresh dialogue, making great use of contemporary slang and idiom.
Two things I had to look up:
1) Poorhara - the title - is from the reo Māori word pōhara which means poor, destitute. The author uses double vowels rather than macrons in her dialect so would write poohara - though I don't recall seeing the word anywhere in the book.
2) The twenty cent coin design on the cover - I'd never looked into this but the background is fascinating. It depicts Pūkaki, of Ngāti Whakaue and Ngāti Pikiao descent, with two of his sons. I guess on the face of it, the coin symbolises poverty, having only a few coins. It also may have an ancestral connection for the author and/or the book's characters. Read about the background to the design here: https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/money-and-ca...
February 19, 2025
This story was so heartbreaking yet witty all at once. The part I enjoy the most about the story is that instead of being a narrative about poor outcomes for pākeha audiences to go, 'Aw man, that sucks', the story fleshes out each character and draws out the role of colonisation today. It moves the audience from sympathy to empathy. I also enjoyed the string of anger underlining the text, where Erin would constantly point out the issues around stolen land. The book never attempts to make pākeha audiences comfortable in their privilege or to cater towards their gaze. Another example of this is that Te Reo is never translated into English, which I thought was quite a cool element (if your Te Reo language skills aren't great, there are subpar Google translations and context clues, so don't let this deter you!).
The dialogue felt natural, like I was listening into someone else' conversation. I could easily see this text translated to a play because of how fast-paced and fun the conversations were.
While I loved the novel, I find it hard to recommend to my friends because of how much I loved the characters and how much my heart was constantly broken. It was worth the journey however -- it transformed an experience of colonialism into something tangible, witty and heartbreaking all at once. I'm looking forward to whatever Michelle Rahurahu produces next!
The dialogue felt natural, like I was listening into someone else' conversation. I could easily see this text translated to a play because of how fast-paced and fun the conversations were.
While I loved the novel, I find it hard to recommend to my friends because of how much I loved the characters and how much my heart was constantly broken. It was worth the journey however -- it transformed an experience of colonialism into something tangible, witty and heartbreaking all at once. I'm looking forward to whatever Michelle Rahurahu produces next!
July 7, 2025
I want to say I didn’t love this book, yet I couldn’t put it down. I think the reality is that this book made me confront some serious white privilege; I was screaming internally at the characters to get their shit together while needing to accept that maybe they actually weren’t capable. If you’re looking for a happy ending, this is not the book for you. It’s the novel form of Brett and Jermaine’s show pitch: “the story of two guys who start at the bottom with a lot of hard work continue along the bottom and finally end up at the bottom”. As a friend of mine said when I complained about wanting to both praise and berate the novel, “there is so much murky shit in reality but don’t you think the sign of a good book is to stir up a range of emotions?” If you’re in the headspace for a tragicomedy then give it a go, but please note it should come with a plethora of content warnings!!
January 9, 2025
Game-changing. For me this was a fresh take on the stuff we Pākehā tend to read/think/share about colonisation. It makes the very effective (read: heartbreaking) point that nothing's easily fixed, and that very little of what we actually do is directly helpful - even when we're sympathetic white lefties. In talking about colonisation, we're talking about historical crimes we still can't comprehend the magnitude of: because of the colour of our skin; because of the way we grew up; because it would be horrifying to truly engage with this fact our whole country is built on. Poorhara invites us - compels us - to engage.
It's also exceptionally well-written: spare, funny and poignant in equal measure, opening our eyes while inspiring our empathy.
It's also exceptionally well-written: spare, funny and poignant in equal measure, opening our eyes while inspiring our empathy.
February 6, 2025
Two cousins escape their everyday lives for a while in a journey of discovery... but what are they escaping from and what are they escaping to and is it even realistic.
An intriguing debut novel which feels very current and realistic and scrapes below the surface of what life is like for those caught between two (or more) worlds, trying to live up to expectations or create their own place in the world outside of those expectations.
Sometimes I had to slow down reading this, especially as I am obviously far too old to decipher some of the text talk (but that's on me and it does add a unique element to the writing). It packs a punch and a message without shouting it out loud explicitly. It was really helpful to read some of the author interviews to enhance the reading experience.
An intriguing debut novel which feels very current and realistic and scrapes below the surface of what life is like for those caught between two (or more) worlds, trying to live up to expectations or create their own place in the world outside of those expectations.
Sometimes I had to slow down reading this, especially as I am obviously far too old to decipher some of the text talk (but that's on me and it does add a unique element to the writing). It packs a punch and a message without shouting it out loud explicitly. It was really helpful to read some of the author interviews to enhance the reading experience.
April 29, 2025
I enjoyed this story but it probably isn’t something for everyone unfortunately. In my mind I think it is something everyone should read. It provides reason for empathy. I struggled with the Te Reo to begin with because I am used to the use of macrons rather than double vowels. Not that I am at all proficient in the language but I know enough to pick up threads. I really struggled with the random text language. I had to re-read them over and over to understand them and you needed to because they were such an integral part of the story. I liked the character’s reasoning for texting that way - her own language - but it made hard going for me as the story reader. A heart warming but also incredibly sad story.
January 11, 2025
this story is incredibly well written, with exceptional characters than draw you into the lives of this whaanau and their grim history. i did find some parts quite difficult to fully grasp, but i commend Michelle Rahurahu on her ability to perfectly encapsulate both Erin and Whetuu/Star’s emotional experiences that baseline from aspects of intergenerational trauma - only fully revealed in the final moments of the story. the ending was disappointing for me, i would have loved to get a better insight into Star and Erin’s future.
October 2, 2025
It’s like a once were warriors of the 2020s, but more strong themes of class and the relentless intensifying crushing of poverty and class.
Really liked it but it got super intense by the end, which I enjoyed as a strong message of “Hey we can’t ignore this shit without it festering and threatening to end us”
Loved the bastardised English versions of famous whakatauki as the chapter titles, and the kitsch of Kiwiana plastic trash scattered throughout
Really liked it but it got super intense by the end, which I enjoyed as a strong message of “Hey we can’t ignore this shit without it festering and threatening to end us”
Loved the bastardised English versions of famous whakatauki as the chapter titles, and the kitsch of Kiwiana plastic trash scattered throughout
May 2, 2025
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I thought I would. I thought it would be more of a difficult read - and it does traverse difficult and uncomfortable topics but the main characters Whetuu / Star and Erin somehow carry the story in such a way that gives you hope. It's written with compassion and empathy for the flawed characters of this novel.
October 29, 2025
A beautifully written book that discovers the raw emotions and impacts of generational trauma, colonisation and poverty. I found myself bound to it, unable to put it down, yet also constantly held captive by the discomfort of the bleak world the main characters faced.
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December 15, 2024Review to come for Bad Apple.
January 23, 2025
Very moving. A sad tale of the experience of some Maori in NZ
February 16, 2025
Exceptional read - you get to truly care for & about the characters (even if the life they lead is different from yours).
I would not enjoy being an Ockham Book Awards judge this year...
I would not enjoy being an Ockham Book Awards judge this year...
February 21, 2025
Enjoyed the theme of self discovery and the authenticness of the characters. Struggled with the txt language but enjoyed the challenge!!!
March 23, 2025
Gruelling.
May 26, 2025
Dark, depressing, realistic, worh reading. Excellent debut.
May 29, 2025
Liked it. It gives a realistic feel of gritty hard life in NZ. It is an odyssey among family members. All Māori and all finding life tough. But their families support them.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 18, 2025
Really enjoyed the storytelling throughout the whole book
January 4, 2026
Beautifully written, really illustrative writing made scenes, characters, and interactions very immersive. Pretty unrelentingly bleak though.
January 2, 2025
Not a pretty read, but I enjoyed it.
January 8, 2026
Loved it. Felt fully absorbed. Emotionally rich. All the feels. Want to read more...would love a sequel! ...to keep living with these characters and the wonderful language and stories.
March 24, 2025
Tender, relatable, and heart-breaking.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews