Continent Read-a-thon discussion

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Finished Fairytales for Wilde Girls today.
it read a lot slower than I had expected -with it being a YA- but I did really like it!
gave it 4 stars.

Just finished The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera and I loved it. It's a really short book so you can easily finish it within a day and it fulfilled my wish for "indigenous" literature completely. You have some Maori language, lovely characters and you get a feel for Maori beliefs (although I don't know if the beliefs in this story are based on real life or invented for the story. Nevertheless, very ejoyable).
So yes, definitely recommend it!

I read Breath which I quite liked. Then I finished Picnic at Hanging Rock and that really wasn't my cup of tea. It was really slow and I'm still waiting to find out what happened to the people who vanished.
I now have The Whale Rider left as audiobook.

I read 'Breath' and enjoyed it. I thought the late addition of the drugs motif was unnecessary, as the book was doing fine with the surfing and depiction of the lifestyle of that part of the world in those days. I'm not convinced the framing story was needed either. But overall it was a good book.

I read The Bone People, by New-Zealand author Keri Hulme. The book was first published in 1984 (and it won the Man Booker Prize in 1985).
I am a not overly enthusiastic about this book. Although some parts were beautifully written and engaging, in the end it failed to convince me.
The book deals with difficult issues, i,e. inter-familial violence, child abuse and alcoholism. Hulme paints a vivid, realistic picture and the characters (even the abusive stepfather) are not 'black and white'. Still, the 'hollywood-ending' were all is hopeful and the abusive father reformed didn't ring true to me. In additon, I found the meandering structure difficult to cope with and half way through the book I had difficulties to overcome my boredom with the story and it's characters.
Although I cannot wholeheartedly recommend the book, for readers interested in Maori culture it might prove worthwile.