The Matriarch

The Mahana Family #1

by Witi Ihimaera

The matriarch is a woman of intelligence, wit, beauty and ruthlessness, and has become a mythical figure through her fight to repossess the land and sustain her people against the ravages wrought by the Pakeha. Priestess of the Ringatu faith, she has been virtually a law unto herself. In his search for the truth behind the legends surrounding the matriarch, his grandmother, Tama Mahana delves deeper and deeper into Maori history and lore to understand the mysterious sources of her power and ambition.

Genres: Fiction, Indigenous, Classics, Adult Fiction

456 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Witi Ihimaera is a novelist and short story writer from New Zealand, perhaps the best-known Māori writer today. He is internationally famous for The Whale Rider.

Ihimaera lives in New Zealand and is of Māori descent and Anglo-Saxon descent through his father, Tom. He attended Church College of New Zealand in Temple View, Hamilton, New Zealand. He was the first Māori writer to publish both a novel and a book of short stories. He began to work as a diplomat at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1973, and served at various diplomatic posts in Canberra, New York, and Washington, D.C. Ihimaera remained at the Ministry until 1989, although his time there was broken by several fellowships at the University of Otago in 1975 and Victoria University of Wellington in 1982 (where he graduated with a BA).[1] In 1990, he took up a position at the University of Auckland, where he became Professor, and Distinguished Creative Fellow in Māori Literature. He retired from this position in 2010.

In 2004, his nephew Gary Christie Lewis married Lady Davina Windsor, becoming the first Māori to marry into the British Royal Family.

Reviews

[Rosemary Standeven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, and loved the character of the Matriarch. I so much wanted her to be real, and not just a work of fiction. She would be terrifying to meet, but at the same time glorious and awe-inspiring.
When we rented out our house, this was one of the very few books that I packed away (left most for our renters to read), as I could not bear to lose it. I also don't lend it out - though think everyone should read it. Buy your own copy and treasure it as I do.

[Jasmin Cheng · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's impossible to read The Matriarch as a work of fiction when its foundations are so solidly constructed in history. As a new immigrant to New Zealand, Witi Ihimaera has changed the way I see this country, its history and its social dynamics. After reading it, I went to the Te Papa museum in Wellington, and revisited the Maori exhibit on the 4th floor, and saw everything anew. The Matriarch allows outsiders to experience the provocative nature of Maori mythology, the long struggle of being a colonized people, and the cultural clash of new generations of Maori caught between traditional expectations and modern Western norms. I will absolutely read the sequel. Witi Ihimaera is a masterful storyteller.

[RobdawgReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read quite a bit of Ihimaera at this point and the flow of this book seemed much more disjointed than his other works that blend historical events into a fictional narrative, like the Parihaka Woman. I would give it a 3.5/5. It is still a great story and covers important topics like the Land Wars and the honourable Wi Pere's attempts to keep land under Māori ownership. I also liked learning more about mana and how it operates within Te Ao Māori.

[Alastair Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of the central character is only a thin thread amongst the potted histories, genealogies, pre-histories, family histories and political intrigues that this wide-ranging book covers. New characters get introduced nearly at the end of the book, the reader has to wait while one scene is freeze-framed for the next 50 pages, several times, and the story jumps elsewhere. One hand, it's quite fun to read a book that seems like the notes for a book (not unlike the polyvocal A Brief History of 7 Killings) but on another note perhaps it's the adaptation of the European novel form, which is the psychological study and narrative of a central character, to a Maori foregrounding the minor characters, ancestors, gods, lands and histories which shape events.
It's open in the way we remember the 1980s, an unself-conscious experimentation in showing tapu and mana and magic in imagistic visual effects that really seem to occur from the characters' points of view but are dismissed with scientific explanations by journos and explanations of how natural events made the supernatural appear real.
It does suffer from lack of narrative drive though, the conflict between the narrator and Toroa is intense, good reading, but brief and late. The wonderful Grandmother the Matriarch does have moving scenes, and her story dominates the first half, but with her less wonderful husband the Grandfather more in the second, a compartmentalisation seemed to split them apart more thoroughly than needed. Venice was a strange addition to the whole story - I never quite worked out what that was about, other than to throw in a beautiful Italian opera verse element to the mix. The narratorś wife Regan never comes alive either.
But if you want a readable account of Aotearoa/NZ's colonial past, focused on the Gisborne area, and the Kahungungu tribe but with tons of general history, this is a goodie. Great descriptions of the Isrealite's (Ringatu) being driven from the land of the Pharoah. (Pakeha)

[Nancy Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is really dense in New Zealand history & culture. I fear that I missed a lot of the references in the story because I don't have the background that a New Zealand reader might have. All those Maori names sound so similar! But it seems that the book might be autobiographical, with a little magical realism thrown in - a fanciful view of a powerful woman who was an important role model to her grandson.

[Mariana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Connections upon connection evolve and change,

[Trish Moeke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story xx

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The thorny issue of dealing with the contested past is very much with us at the moment, and colonised peoples all over the world are delving into their stories of the past with fresh perspectives. Most of what I’ve read has been from Australia’s Indigenous authors, but I’ve also read stories from countries in Africa and the Americas, and from Ireland and the Indian subcontinent.
Over all, honest storytelling about the past seems like a good thing to me — it tells a different truth to the truth that is in the history books and the documented record, enabling us to re-evaluate what we think we know. But along with truth which may lead to restitution and justice and healing, storytelling can also pass on resentment and anger and a desire for vengeance, from generation to generation. It can pass on negative stereotypes about the actors of the past, in unexpected ways. Honest storytelling is not always an unmitigated good. Sometimes, IMO, it is better to let the past rest.
Witi Ihimaera’s award-winning novel The Matriarch is an odyssey into New Zealand colonial history and its brutal wars, and it’s written in a way that was innovative for its time, blending fiction with Maori myths and with documented history. Contrary to my expectations, I did not enjoy reading it. Not because it’s confronting to read about unpalatable truths in any country’s history, but because I disagree profoundly with the way the author justifies violence.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2020/07/11/t...

[Maria do Socorro Baptista · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este é o primeiro livro de um autor Maori que eu leio, certamente não será o único. Senti como se estivesse mergulhando em um universo novo, um mundo totalmente diferente daquele com o qual estou acostumada. Um narrativa repleta de mitos e lendas, de amor e ódio, de lutas e vinganças, muito rica em oralidade. Fiquei absolutamente fascinada.

O protagonista é o neto da Matriarca, figura central da narrativa. Em busca de entender quem era sua avó, ele nos traz um história da Nova Zelândia de uma forma única, muito distante daquela que estudamos nos livros de história ocidental. Aprendi muito, e me enfureci muito, muitas vezes, no decorrer da leitura. Como alguém nascida em uma ex-colônia, tenho muito interesse nessas sempre tensas relações entre colonizador e colonizados, e este livro é com certeza, uma excelente fonte de pesquisa. recomendo muito!!

#ReadHarderChallenge2019

[Norm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I studied some of his short stories in high school and loved them. He was very ambitious with this novel but didn’t quite land it. Elements are great (pretty much all the scenes with the protagonist and his grandmother are electrifying) but there are too many threads and they are not well tied together.

In the style of Salman Rushdie he uses historical elements and magical realism while exploring multiple generations of a significant family. However he couldn’t quite mould it into a cohesive whole.

I would recommend it, but i feel there was the potential for a truly great novel here, rather than just the very good one we have.

[Renee Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me cry! In a good way.

[Declan B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an incredibly interesting book that blended traditional māori myth, historical record and narrative all together. It mixed non-linear storylines together in a really purposeful and intentional way that truely pays off when you read it through and suddenly become aware of certain details all coming together. There are a few moments where the historical record can drag on a little, but I think it achieves its purpose so I'm not sure if I could really say it should have been shortened. There were also a few isolated lines that seemed a little dated (or even some freudian parts which was weird but fit the story i suppose) but again thats too be expected.

Riripeti and her story as Matua was so captivating. It was definately the most interesting part of the book. She and her pungawerewere stayed. Spider queen.

Ihaemera also constructed really interesting and morally complex characters where you slowly get fed drips of information on them until you can form your own complete opinion (through Tama's perspective of course). Like Tiana or Te Ariki or Grandfather Ihaka.

*SPOILERS*
Oh and I fucking loved to see Tama eat up his grandfather on that mans deathbed. Fuck him the little freak competing with his literal grandson for the love of his wife.

and oh my god that twist at the end. I assume that Tiana's bargain to save Tama from the Venetians was to place the mate on the family in return. Im assuming Tamas uncles blindness and the general curse on everything was price they had to pay for Tamas life. Shocking

[Akesa Mar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was difficult for me to understand, but let me give you a rundown of this book. The matriarch is a woman of intelligence, wit, beauty, and ruthlessness, and has become a mythical figure through her fight to repossess the land and sustain her people against the ravages wrought by the Pakeha (white people). Priestess of the Ringatu faith, she has been virtually a law unto herself. In his search for the truth behind the legends surrounding the matriarch, his grandmother, Tama Mahana delves deeper and deeper into Maori history and lore to understand the mysterious sources of her power and ambition. It dives deep into culture, family, traditions, religion, and love. I would definitely recommend this to any YA reader who would be able to understand Pacific Culture, especially Maori.

[Robbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an unusual book. A mix of non-fiction, opinions & fiction without a clear designation on when any of these narrative styles occur. The actual "story" here is relatively short. There is a huge interlude on Te Kooti, which is interesting but could just as easily been a book on its own. Then there is an enormous back-story on the lead character's grandmother which is far longer than the main story-line, so it is strange that this is not the main story & that the present day story exists at all. However much of a mess the combined total is, it is never the less interesting.

[Catherine Habel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a masterpiece. In my opinion, it should be read, studied and discussed in all colleges of Aotearoa. It is an amazing fiction, with rich and nuanced caracters. But the true power of this pūrakau is to interweave the social, political, familial and spiritual forces to make us reflect on the great turmoil of the 19 and 20th centuries with deeper insight. Thank you Witi Ihimaera for this gift.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a very long time to read, but thoroughly enjoyable. Masterful writing.

Love the style, and the fractured chronology, although I feel I missed out on some of the magic due to my meagre Reo skills. The tying of family lore and real history, along with the premonitions and mysticism permeating the narrative really made the book feel alive in my hands (read a hard copy).

Got the sequel on order, but could be a while.

[Maddy Pinckney · Rating 2 out of 5]

My rating doesn’t reflect the book itself because I think it was very beautiful but most of it went over my head so I can’t truly appreciate it. Because of this, I didn’t particularly enjoy reading it so I have to rate it low unfortunately

[Megan Clemance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning. Intense. Educational on the ways and thinking of a Maori person and family.

[Stark]

HEAVY

[Ctalreads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Voor mij iets te veel geschiedenis waardoor het interessante verhaal wat in de verdrukking kwam.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this back in 1989, and was totally impressed by it, and its use of all manner of devices to tell its story. To quote from my journal of the time:
There are lyrical mythical passages, and passages from the past, where the narrator talks of himself as a child but in the third person; there is a strange section where we see the action not only from the point of view of this child but also from that of a pakeha journalist; there are other sections that read as quite normal modern straightforward novel writing such as most of the writing about the present; and there are long stretches of historical material presented in a variety of ways, such as through the Matriarch's storytelling, (half of the Te Kooti section in which he slaughters an unsuspecting group of white settlers in the middle of the night is done this way), or through the words of a supposed authority on the matter, in a semi-realistic conversation with the narrator, or in a highly dramatic, historical-novel fashion. Then Ihimaera uses documents from the past as well, and weaves them into the telling. A collage-work, to be sure. Certainly one of considerable assurance.
It's easy to suspect much of it is about the author himself, and he almost admits that. Certainly the Matriarch appears to be a real person fictionalised, and there are real people woven into the story at times, briefly. The present day events have a reality about them that make it hard to think of them as fiction.

[Janine · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favourite books, I think to some extent because the enigmatic matriarch, Artemis Riripeti Mahana, reminds me so much of my own nana Naina.

The Matriarch has been described as one of Ihimaera's most political and aggressive novels; it certainly provides strong comment on the ongoing struggle between notions of cultural identity and Maori sovereignty on the one hand, and success/survival in a Pakeha world on the other. I also loved Ihimaera's follow-up to this, The Dream Swimmer.

[Milly]

The first. The original. The best.

[Aroha Welsh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book from what I can remember, one of my faves of Witi Ihimaera.

[Bc Beats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very powerful and an important work of NZ fiction.