Jenny Pattrick

Ugh! So many things wrong here.

Why do so many New Zealand books and films have eccentric characters when the country doesn't?

Do New Zealanders think it makes a book or film more interesting?

Well, it doesn't. It makes it annoying and juvenile. 2 dimensional quirky characters just do not work anywhere outside of fantasy comics.

My take is that it is deflection from a lack of writing skills which in turn leads to a lack of convincing characterisation and/or a good story. Inserting weird show more characters may help you to try and turn a mediocre story into a good one but it has the opposite effect.

In fact, if you took all the weird shit out of the story and developed the underlying story you could have come up with a real winner, something that really does represent NZ in fiction, something that this puerile fantasy does not.

If you want to do eccentric see what better writers do. Read the Cormorant Strike books by the Potter woman. Her main character is eccentric but she has done enough backstory to make it passably convincing. Having a "real kiwi bloke" trying to win the Crochet Cup from the town women introduced just a few sentences doesn’t give the reader a chance to engage and works against suspension of disbelief. I have lived in small isolated settlements in NZ and just isn't like that.

This book is just rubbish and makes NZ look dumb. Sorry to be so harsh, I tried to like it but you made it as difficult as it gets. The underlying story had so much potential, there was so much scope in the relationship of the Maori guy to the old women, there is a whole seam of race and history just begging for some depth right there.

I could go on but I think I've made my point. show less

This is a great story of an isolated coal mining town in New Zealand. Populated with a mixture of drifters and drinkers, as well as religious professional miners, Denniston is a community full of tension but also, at times, a community working to come together. Into this mix comes Eva Storm with her five-year-old daughter, Rose. Rose is beautiful, intelligent and becomes a favourite of all factions of the community. But Rose suffers from the neglect of her mother, and the abuse of her show more "uncle" Billy. The town folk don't want to meddle in "private matters", but do what they can to ensure Rose is fed and cared for. As Rose's problems escalate, the town is gripped by a crippling miners' strike.

It's a great story but I think Rose remains relatively unscathed from her experiences. I can't help but wonder how she will manage to deal with her childhood trauma as she ages...the author glosses over the long term impacts of child abuse. If I didn't worry about that, I'd have rated the book higher. show less

(8.5) I found this a very satisfying read. Pattrick has obviously carried out extensive research in to the colonisation and settlement of Wellington. I found her characters credible and the setting authentic. The story is told in sequential order in the first person voices of Huw, his wife Martha and Hineroa. These provide the different cultural perspectives of the events unfolding. The colonisation of Wellington had a special poignancy for me as my parents lived there when they were young.

I would classify this as a light read. It is enjoyable and the author admitted to a genuine affection for this book as it is based on the community where her family has owned a holiday home for many years. This is obvious as it is peppered with quirky, likeable characters.