Baby no-eyes

This was my choice for Indigenous Literature Week. A novel from a New Zealand author with multiple narrators. A young Maori boy, his mother, grandmother and uncle give their perspective detailing culture and history against the backdrop of a Maori sit-in to regain land that has been taken by council. Ever present is Baby No Eyes a ghost who remains at the centre of the story, tragically killed whilst still in the womb and is only visible to Tawera her younger brother. For the most part I found the story confusing and I don't particularly like magical realism and the supernatural elements that define this style of writing. I would also suggest a glossary would be useful to define the many obscure Maori words.

Jolly hard work. I would have given up part way through but one of my students is reading it, so I read it to support her. There are so many stories, so many characters, so much mucking around with time. It's all too hard to even be interesting, unfortunately.