This review is part of the Literature World Tour.

Keri Hulme’s compelling novel The Bone People weaves together the lives and stories of three disparate and emotionally damaged people: Kerewin Holmes, an artist no longer able to paint; Simon Peter, a mute boy who abruptly enters her life; and Joe, who had taken Simon into his home, but finds himself unable to cope without violently turning on the child.

Set in New Zealand, The Bone People is rhythmic, mystical and lyrical but also earthy and raw. Poems, journal entries, dreams and narration all tell its story and the novel is packed with allusions to Maori traditions and permeated by its language. (There is a glossary but, after a while, I didn’t need it.)

The Bone People explores what it is to be isolated, not only from your immediate world of home and family, but also from that of the wider society in general. It looks for the balance between Maori and Western cultures where they co-exist and shows us how, by making connections, we can understand ourselves better and unlock our ability to love and be loved.

“They were nothing more than people, by themselves. Even paired, any pairing, they would have been nothing more than people by themselves. But all together, they become the heart and muscles and mind of something perilous and new, something strange and growing and great.

Together, all together, they are the instruments of change.”

Published in 1984, The Bone People won that year’s Pegasus Prize for Literature and the 1985 Booker-McConnell Prize.

Previously in New Zealand: Jim Murdoch's review of Spinners
Next in New Zealand: Recommendations from BookCrossers around the world

Next stop on the Literature World Tour: Canada!

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