Cousins

Grace, Patricia

  2 Reviews

The story of three girls once thrown together, and as women grown apart. Moving from the country to the protests of the cities. A novel of tradition and change. NZ Interest.

Comments from Groups

This book provoked more discussion than any other of the past few years. An important read for us, a group of older Pakeha women who grew up in the 1940s and 50s, and remember the issues of Maori/Pakeha schooling, health and customs covered in the first half of the book, and can now put them into context. We all learnt much of Maori land rights, education, marriage, hospital care and death, and most will read more of Patricia Grace's work. Hamilton 026

We were all impressed with this book - it affected us deeply and many felt they had learnt a great deal about the Maori way of life at that time. It was a gentle story concerning the interaction between the cousins , and the expectations of the greater whanau. Whakatane 005

The use of different narrators was potentially confusing. It is a help to read the notes prior to reading this book. For those of us who grew up in New Zealand in the 50s and 60s, the writing provided some insight and understanding into Maori culture of that time. Our different personal histories were reflected in our discussion, with one of our members having grown up in Invercargill with no Maori at all, and another who went to school in Gisborne where she was the only Pakeha in her class. Palmerston North 006

We were anticipating doom, gloom and violence and were a bit apprehensive, but although we found the book a challenge, it was surprisingly optomistic. Coromandel 001

Mixed reactions from our group. Some thought her style in this book a bit cumbersome and preferred more recent publications by Patricia Grace. Others thought it was insightful, gentle and poignant. Auckland 133

We had a very lively discussion. There was a range of reactions to this book but we considered it to be well researched, well written and the characters believable. Blenheim 003

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