Potiki
- Published: 12 September 2001
- ISBN: 9781742287911
- Imprint: Penguin eBooks
- Format: EBook
Potiki (which means last-born child) from 1986 is a true classic and an important novel which remains politically prescient. Set in a small coastal marae town in New Zealand, a tight knit community is rattled as townie developers move in with flashy development plans that will devastate the land and community. The novel, which won the New Zealand Book Award for Fiction in 1987 is superbly crafted and politically charged. Following the lives of Hemi, his adopted son prophet child Tokowaru and wife Roimata as the effects of colonialism continue to cast a shadow, the multi-voiced narrative explores abuse of power, exploitation, land politics, gentrification and the everyday effects these things have on the ordinary people in a community.
Kiran Dass, Weekend
This author tells vivid and mesmerizing stories as she blends tribal myth with political realities, and offers shrewd insights into human nature.
Publishers Weekly, US
Every marketer and property developer in the country deserves a copy of Potiki. Patricia Grace sees straight but as we listening?
NZ Listener
One of those books that is never forgotten . . .
Lydia Wevers, NZ Listener
Delicate in its blend of prose and poetry, yet powerful in its statement of cultural identity, this chronicle of a Maori whanau expertly weaves together the timelessness of Maori mythology with contemporary realities.
Miriama Evans, The Dominion
Patricia Grace is an extraordinary storyteller. She writes with insight and with an intense sensitivity and spiritualty that is a rare treasure.
Irene Absalom, Christchurch Star
Patricia Grace's writing is as delicate as Japanese brushwork, yet as poignant and throat-aching as the loss of a loved one.
Arapera Blank, NZ Listener
Grace's wonderful fiction shows us with truth, compassion and humour, the good and bad, ugliness and beauty, strength and fecklessness of contemporary Maori life.
The Press
She not only tells a remarkable narrative, but she does so beautifully with such remarkable style.
Times Educational Supplement
Patricia Grace displays the kind of mastery that comes only from years of writing experience, patient observation and accumulated wisdom.
Sunday Star-Times
