Apirana Taylor - He Rau Aroha: A Hundred Leaves of Love

Penguin 1986 Paperback, 96pp. 'This early collection of stories by Apirana Taylor is strongly focussed on Māori experiences of life in Aotearoa in the late 20th century. They are stories of conflict and love as the characters struggle with poverty, racism and cultural differences. Sometimes they find workable answers and sometimes they don’t. The stories range from brief almost experimental pieces to longer stories with a developed narrative arc. The opening story The Carving sees a carver create a significant work, then his response when faced with the realities of land loss the carver vents gis anger on the work he loves. Casey and Sarah shows the lives of a young couple in debt and wondering where the next meal is coming from. Casey has a solution that satisfies his calling to the sea, but is not without risks. It also leaves Sarah alone and vulnerable. Fish Heads is a great kiwi story of cultural (mis)understandings that is both warm and wise. In Old Mates we hear, in the voices of a barful of drinkers, the old cliches about race. Taylor captures a conversation you could probably still hear in some pubs, perhaps with a bit more invective about the Treaty. For me Hera was a compelling story that followed the life of an elderly woman whose husband had died and whose children had left for the life of the city. Hera goes eeling late at night, the words if her tohunga guiding her steps and her eeling strategies. Hera is wide in scope and deep in its feeling for thus elderly wahine. There’s a great variety here and a range of narrative technique. Taylor is now a well established author and reading this collection offers an insight into his early thinking and interests.'. (ISBN: 9780140088427). Fair.

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