Out of Tune - Joanna Orwin

Published by Longacre Press: Dunedin, New Zealand, 2004.

Out of Tune tells the story of Jasmine (Jaz) Chapman, a 14 year old New Zealand girl struggling to get along with her parents, who is beginning to get in with a bad crowd around the time that her father loses his job. Jaz is wanting to impress her new 'friends', and also seeks to shock her parents, and as a result makes a number of poor decisions, including stealing, under-age drinking, and getting body piercing without her parents' knowledge. The only stabilizing influence Jaz acknowledges is that of her regular visits to her great-grandmother, Gi-Gi. Gi-Gi doesn't instruct Jaz about what to do, instead asking her great-granddaughter to read the diary of her grandmother to her. 

This diary becomes the second major plot of the book, as Maggie Mouat recounts her family's decision to emigrate in the 1870s to Stewart Island from the Shetlands, and the struggles the Shetlanders faced as they sought to transform the island into a self-sustaining settlement. This part of the story (though starring the fictional Maggie) is based on an actual failed settlement, and delves a little into the personalities and politics of the time.

Of course, Maggie's story begins slowly to influence Jaz and how she sees her world, eventually challenging her to begin making better choices and reconcile somewhat with her parents. It may be a bit 'on the nose' sometimes, but this story helps the book have an overarching moral. I do wonder, though, whether the intended audience would read it quick enough to understand that the decisions Jaz is making at the beginning are not as positive as Jaz herself considers them to be. Until near the end of the book Jaz is still making poor decisions and justifying them to herself. Were the book to be used as (cough) a year 9 book study, it might give students the impression that Jaz's decisions are admirable, even though Jaz herself eventually comes to see otherwise.

An interesting one-off read, particularly in highlighting a part of New Zealand history I had not heard of, but not one I am likely to revisit.

Completed 25 January 2021.

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