Aroha

by Dan Williams

Joanna's fine with her random urges. She's confident in her ability to paint masterpieces that fetch millions in a world of shrinking coasts, violent storms and all but outlawed paper. She's clueless about everything else and the discovery that although dead, her mother Aroha is far from gone and is largely disapproving of her choices is just another thing to worry about.Aroha is an anomaly with shaky mental health, a soul without a body who can still touch the world but probably shouldn't. She has awaited her daughter's return home for 24 years and is none too happy with the lazy, messy, pot-smoking result.As if things weren't hard enough, without a mortal body to help manage her phantom physical urges, Joanna's new boyfriend Tristian, with his loose wandering soul and tight morals, presents an awkwardly arousing distraction.A distraction from the secret Aroha desperately wants hide from Joanna...

271 pages, Paperback

Published August 28, 2020

About the author

I grew up in New Zealand before moving to the United Kingdom where I lived for over two decades until moving to China months before the COVID 19 outbreak just as I planned (well not really…).

Back before Google was invented when dinosaurs roamed the earth and well after punch-cards weren’t a thing anymore, I qualified and worked in information technology and later, Psychotherapy, which is like debugging people’s brains. I played games on the Amstrad CPC6128 and the Commodore 64 then lost interest. I might be the only programmer who doesn't game.

Now I'm learning Mandarin and writing books. I'm a lifelong avid reader (escapist really...) of psychology, science fiction and fantasy, I look forward to contributing many more of my works to the world’s store of fascinating and entertaining tomes in these genres.

When I'm not reading or writing, I like coffee (the good kind) running, hiking, and spending time with friends and trying to play the guitar.

Reviews

[Tricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading this book; it was gripping from start to finish. Joanna is a successful artist struggling to find calmer waters in a post pandemic world of unpredictable weather systems. I found myself rooting for her. Joanna's past comes back to haunt her and it's a rollercoaster of a ride as the twists and turns keep coming and you never really know if there will be a resolution.
I would recommend you escape into this book for your weekend or holiday read. Enjoy!!

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great, inventive story- it had me hooked from the start! A really fun read.

[Jana Keir · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the characters in this creepy ghost story set in a future Auckland.

An awesome mix of future tech that was equal parts disturbing and funny, home renovations with a dark side and the psychology of people affected by childhood trauma.

[Michael Bland · Rating 4 out of 5]

strong ghost story

I approached this book thinking it was going to be more focused on science fiction. It wasn’t. It’s a paranormal book that just happens to be set in the future. The science fiction side of it—the tech used and the way the world has become—is glanced at. It’s never really explained, not how the tech looks, not why the world has become the way it is, etc. Because of this, and because my expectations weren’t met based on the blurb, I removed one star.

Now having gotten that out of my system, this is a story about Joanna, a troubled yet successful artist who wrestles with demons she doesn’t want to face. Unfortunately for her, she moves back home which is haunted by the demon that has haunted her memories: her mother. The chapters alternate between the two, and they each have distinct voices.

While the story is slower paced, it’s a fascinating tale of guilt and loss, of unresolved issues and the damages people can do to loved ones. The main characters are distinct and damaged, and the story ends strongly. Highly recommended for those who like paranormal tales.

[Vicky Peplow · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was-like a good read.

I love reading ghost stories with a strong storyline that pulls you in. The back story of Joanna and Aroma was great. My only issue with this book was the amount the word "like" was used while it was in Joan ma's point of view. I was kind of relieved when it changed to another character as there wasn't so many.

[Richard Humphries · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read, with a story which develops and explores, futurism, relationships & technology. I highly recommend as is not a genre I would have typically read. But found it very enjoyable.

[Jan Foster · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a genre-mashing story set in a dystopian future where the world is recognisable yet unfamiliar, with elements of it entirely like today's world gone horribly wrong. It's also a ghost story, a psychological suspense, and has horror elements. I'd recommend it probably to Spec Fic readers as a result because it isn't easily pigeon-holed into a simple genre. The plot doesn't follow conventional genre patterns either, which doesn't mean to say it's bad, but rather refreshing.
The characters themselves appear to be an exploration of various mental health conditions as well: anxiety, PTSD, all exacerbated by grief and loneliness. I mention this more as a trigger warning, rather than to diminish what is overall an interesting read.
Aroha is a ghost who has waited around in her family home for her daughter to return to it for years. She inconsistently interacts with the physical world (sometimes she can open the door to let the cat in, at other times not, and she can clean the house but not always), and has some peculiar feelings about aspects of time passing and her environment. When her daughter Joanna moves back in, her maternal instincts are... relatable yet also strange. Although the flow of 'her' chapters is easier to read, she's not a character I held dear, even from the start.
Joanna herself isn't a hugely likeable character either (for this middle-aged reader with teenagers), her written train of thought irritatingly peppered with 'like' and the over exaggeration of teens today... which makes for uncomfortable, annoying reading. I felt as if I ought to like her more, feel more sympathetic to her obvious drug dependancies as a crutch, but (I'm wrinkling my nose here), her self-absorption kills off any hint of care I might have felt for her. I presume I was supposed to 'root for her' as an antihero, but I just couldn't.
The spookiness of 'observing' her through the eyes of Aroha is both wryly astute and also gripping. Terrifying in some ways. As you read, you can't fail to wonder how much Aroha will attempt to 'fix' her broken daughter as the plot journeys us into why and how they are both as they are.
Although it's ostensibly set 15-20 years in the future, the world has suffered from catastrophic weather events, but still, the technology appears to be frozen in today's time. I don't know if this is because the author dares not venture too far into what might be on our technological horizon, other than the certainty that climate change will bring disaster to our world and its ecologies. No one has paper in this world, yet there are trees and paper itself is the most commonly recycled item of all? I found the world of the novel odd, being neither fully dystopian nor sci-fi, but a blend of today's world meets tomorrow's environmental disaster, as if it were incompletely thought through.
In summary, I don't think I'd read this book again, although it was gripping and thought-provoking. It's hard to put a rating on it even as, in many ways, I applaud the ambition of the author, and the complexities of the story and characters made it easy to keep my interest. I just wish it had been achieved with slightly more likeable characters and a more consistent, believable world, because then it would have been an easy 5*.

[Jacqueline Owens · Rating 3 out of 5]

A not very blithe spirit in climate-wrecked Auckland

I was attracted to this book because of the title, also name of the main character, Aroha, a girl’s name in New Zealand, and the Māori word for love.

What followed was a twisted mother-daughter love story, where Aroha, the long-dead mother of slacker genius painter Joanna, tries to connect with her daughter in the family home that Joanna has moved back into, but only succeeds in antagonising her a lot of the time. Then, when Joanna gets a lover, things turn even stranger.
The novel builds well with a darkly humorous tone and definite odd couple dynamics between Joanna and her ghost-mother Aroha, unearthing trauma for both characters. I found the Aroha voice more convincing, maybe because she has more trauma to process, and more to lose in her quest to reconcile her relationship with her only child, despite the minor inconvenience of being a bodiless ghost. There is a brutal dark humour to Aroha’s thoughts and judgments, about Joanna and her friends and how she is living her life: it’s also funny to see what Aroha doesn’t understand about the new world that has emerged since she died.

Joanna’s voice, the ultimate slack, stoner type was less strong for me – I could see her as a hesitant stoner, addicted to cannabis and coffee, not too socially adept, but some her verbal tics were distancing rather than showing aspects of herself.

Where it got a bit confusing, for me, was in the world building. Aroha is set in a near-future Auckland, where paper seems to be banned, AI and drones have become commonplace and the oceans have risen all around the city, leaving the once beautiful green spaces either sunk under rubbish-crammed seas or lashed by ever-present storms and frosts. But even with all these drones, they don’t seem to have driverless s cars yet. I wasn’t sure whether Auckland was in a perpetual ice age, or whether the rising sea levels (which would surely indicate global warming?) have somehow bought temperatures down. Still, I enjoyed the glimpses of a dystopian Auckland and the atmosphere reminded me of the world-building in books like Sascha Stronach’s The Dawnhounds. On balance, the world is strange and interested enough to keep the reader’s interest.

I received a free copy of this book, in exchange for writing an honest review. tossing up between three and four stars...

[Mitchell Waldman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting ghost story with a daughter returning to live in her deceased birth parents' home after living with adoptive parents for most of her life. And, at last, in her mid-twenties, she's moved out on her own, into her inherited house which is a wreck, but which doesn't really seem all that concerned about. Enter Aroha, the ghostly motherly presence in the house who the daughter, Joanna, eventually realizes is present, not just a figment of her mind/trauma or her daily pot-smoking. Aroha, who was last with her daughter when she was four years old, is critical and a hovering (literally?) mother, wondering why her daughter has no energy, is so messy, doesn't know how to do any adult type things. Joanna is, apparently, a world famous artist, making millions of dollars. To be honest, this, though a useful device in the story for the author, was a little hard to believe, given the lack of financial sophistication of Joanna, who mentioned at one point that she wouldn't know how to buy a house, and where, in the story, there was really too little mentioned about the business end of Joanna's art business--her agents, her sales, shows, etc. And Joanna's use of "like" in every sentence became a little annoying after a few pages. Understandably the author was trying to make the daughter's manner of speech authentic, but it was a little grating after a while.

The story is set in the future, which added a little extra feature to the story with the technological advances and weather issues which are really not focused on but mostly tangential to the story. Maybe this could have been an expanded element of the story.

But, the ghost story itself is interesting, how Aroha has waited so many years for her daughter to return, the growing relationship between the two, and the secret Aroha has been keeping about Joanna's father for so many years keeps the suspense going and pages turning. Add boyfriend Tristian to the mix between the ghost mother and daughter, and the heat and confusion of the characters really comes to a head.

This was an interesting ghost story, one that lovers of such stories will surely enjoy.

[Justin Alcala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who doesn’t love a good ghost story? Dan Williams’ “Aroha” is a tale that follows literal s d figurative ghosts throughout the setting of an old house with bad memories a stagnant present, and dark future. Our protagonist, Johanna, is a barely coherent character, living in the escapism of art, drugs, and personal lethargy. She’s grown up with an overbearing mother, Aroha, whom unbeknownst to Joanna, still haunts the family abode. As the plot develops we learn of family secrets, astral roommates, and a realization about the world that you probably won’t see coming. While it was hard to tell what I was in for when I opened the book, I was in for a pleasant surprise, if not frightening, by the end of the plot. If you’re looking for a supernatural tale with a spin you won’t see coming, check out Aroha.

[Julie Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given a review copy of this book and thought it was a poignant and engaging story.

It's set in the future where Earth is coping with poor weather systems and technology has advanced. Jo is a successful artist but is struggling with life. She has just moved into her childhood home but the past is haunting her.

Then there's the ghost...

The writing style was fast-paced and though there were errors, it didn't spoil the reading. The characters suited the plot, but I thought they were eccentric and strange...maybe it was to do with the odd times?

Overall, this was an inventive yet realistic view of what may become of Earth at the same time as dealing with the past. The generational points of view were interesting.

Worth a look.

[George Bachman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poetic ghost story about a woman who inherits her childhood home, which is now haunted by her dead mother. Both science fiction (mostly in the background) and ghost story, the book can be better described as weird fiction. The story of the comically oblivious daughter's relationship with her ghostly mother is all the better for this strangeness. Funny and scary in the way that contentious child/mother relationships can be (I should know) no matter which one is dead and which one is alive. Intricate, poignant, and insightful, this one is highly recommended.

[Jordan Leger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although the book was good, I wished the writing style had been different. It took me a bit to get through this one.
It was not a bad read, just odd for me and I felt as if something was missing. Perhaps I'll read it again in the near future.