These Two Hands

by Renee .

Renee is a New Zealand playwright with over 20 plays and 8 novels in her swag. Her memoir tells the story of her eventful life. She tells it in patches, like a quilt. One for every year of the life she's lived so far.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Kiwiflora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way back in the early 1980s, when in our early 20s, my brother had his first job at Playmarket NZ which managed/nurtured/supported/assessed playwrights and their works in NZ. I remember him talking one day about a new playwright, an elderly lesbian lady with only one name - Renee. It helps to remember when you are not yet 25, everyone over 30 is old, so Renee who would have been early 50s, older even than our parents, was pretty old. What an intrigue!

Naturally I was intrigued when she published her memoir a couple of years ago, and bought it. Intriguing it certainly is, written in 87 patchwork quilt pieces, 1 for every year lived so far: an allegory of course for the enormous variety, layers and events of a life of what is now 90 years.

What a delicious treat this has been to read. It broadly follows a chronological line, beginning with her birth in Napier in 1929. Her father disappears when she is 4, she later finds out he killed himself a long way from home. She had to leave school at 12, being the oldest child, wondering at the time if she would ever get to learn everything she wanted. Such a great spirit this woman has, her zest for life and living shining through - beginning to write when her children were young, involving herself in local repertory theatre, getting her degree, becoming a teacher then a playwright, discovering herself. Her 'patches' are not all memoirs: interspersed with examples from her plays, her poetry and her musings on life. I really liked this, more than I thought I would. The woman is a treasure and at 90 is still out there giving life her all.

[Katrina Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had not heard of Renee and I only bought this book because it was recommended to me as an interesting way to write a memoir. I am very thankful I took up the recommendation! These Two Hands is an engaging story of Renee's life, her reflections and her memories, that allows the reader space to feel many emotions between the words.

[Jill Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable memoir, filled with a real zest for life. Right to the end. It’s funny, angry, loving. Renee’s gimlet eye is as unflinching as ever.

[Helen Varley · Rating 5 out of 5]

a wonderful memoir from one of aotearoa's best writers. reading renee, i hear her voice & feel as though she is talking directly to me. i like the way she has chosen to structure her memoir in "patches", a quilt of text, that moves around over the decades rather than chronologically. memories are like that - jumping from place and time along diverse tangents, and the structure of patches conveys that. renee is great at bringing characters to life through her words, i get a strong sense of her family members and other important people, as well as the places where she has made homes and gardens. as well as being her personal story, it gives a wonderful picture of the different times and events in new zealand that she has experienced. thank you, renee!

[Maggie Rainey-Smith]

I'm a fan of Renée, both the writer and the woman. I loved this memoir as it resonated in so many ways with my own life and experience as a working class girl who came to writing late in life. Her memoir is a very important contribution to New Zealand literature and social history.