Baby No-Eyes (Talanoa) (Paperback)

by Patricia Grace (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Tawera and his sister are inseparable, in a relationship that is impossible for others to share. In fact his whole whanau is bonded by secrets, a genealogy stitched together by shame, joy, love and sometimes grief.

Patricia Grace's major new novel merges recent headlines with stories of a heartfelt family history. It is an account of the mysteries that operate at many levels between generations, where the present is the pivot, the center of the spiral, looking outward to the past and future that define it.

About the Author
Patricia Grace is the first Maori woman to publish a collection of short stories (1975). Since then she has published three other short story collections, three award-winning novels, and several children's books. She is widely anthologized and translated into more than eight languages, and is considered not only one of the finest writers in New Zealand and the Pacific, but one of the most important writers of the post-colonial novel in English in the world today.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0824821610
• ISBN-13: 978-0824821616
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,201,098 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Insight, January 15, 2001

By A Customer

This novel is a very enjoyable read but as an added bonus it also enables your eyes to be opened more about the maori culture through the lovable characters. It takes you into what they as a people hold dear and why, and as a sub-plot there is an attempt to get a piece of swampland returned to a particular tribe and this involves an occupation of a park not too dissimilar to the Wanganui occupation of recent New Zealand history. Especially if you are a New Zealander of european descent this book is valuable because it makes you see the issues from a different perspective then your own and I found that aspect nearly as interesting as the actual story. Overall I found the charm of this story is the ability to take a horrible act of insensitivity and turn it into one of the most original characters ever told.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Baby No-Eyes, September 17, 2007

By	Nate Ghubril - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baby No Eyes (Paperback)

Baby No-Eyes is a novel beautiful in both language and content. Patricia Grace weaves this complex yet very comprehensible novel through the use of four narrators, each of whom serves as a different lens for understanding the events which take place. Although I do not wish to over-simplify the book by saying it is a story of the Maori struggle in a Pakeha-run environment, this is certainly one of the most important themes.

The main piece of plot, as far as action goes, involves the legal battle over an area of sacred land between a group of Maoris and the Council--a government group attempting to uphold and profit from outdated land "negotiations" between the Maori people and the British. Grace deals with this topic firmly, yet does so in a manner which does her surname justice. She manages to point out the absolute absurdity and unfairness within the bureaucracy without falling into large-scale hatred of all things Pakeha.

Aside from the David verse Goliath type theme, the idea of family is an incredibly important issue in the novel. Grace challenges some normal conventions of the immediate family, and opens up new avenues of thought for understanding what family can mean.

In Baby No-Eyes Grace has created an intricately woven, powerful piece. It offers an insightful and informative viewing point into certain aspects of Maori culture, and is also simply a well-crafted and engaging piece of fiction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars read over and over and over again, September 14, 2004

By	NZgirl - See all my reviews

I was travelling overseas when a friend gave this to me to read on trains and downtime - I couldnt put it down and read and re-read it continuously. Im a HUGE fan of Patricia Grace and find myself wanting to crawl inside her books and become a part of the characters world. What away she has with worlds - thank you Patricia!