Tu - Patricia Grace

Published by Penguin Books: North Shore, NZ, 2004.

This book tells the story of three Maori brothers, Pita, Rangi and Tu, who one by one join the Maori battalion and end up fighting in Egypt and Italy during World War 2. Tu, our narrator, is the youngest of the three, and the vast majority of the book is presented as his journal entries from the war, with an additional framing device being that he is handing these journal pages on to his niece and nephew in order for them to understand their father, Pita, more.

While Tu's journal entries are obviously mostly focussed on his own experiences, other chapters are interspersed with the 'journal entries', telling Pita's story in a third-person narrative. It is a little confusing as to how these may or may not be being presented to Tu's nephew and niece, as if we are to take the narrative at face value all of these chapters should be Tu's journal, but obviously are not. However, putting that aside we get a good idea of Pita's own struggles before going to war - as the eldest, he has been impacted the most by the life and death of their abusive father (himself a veteran of the First World War) and now has taken on himself the role of 'head' of the house. Most of Pita's decisions are tied into this sense of honour and loyalty, with elements of inevitability and indecision popping up as strong undertones. He feels drawn to the white Jess, but also 'knows' that she is 'not for him.' He also doesn't want to go to war, but eventually tries to protect his brothers by doing so.

This sense of protecting the family will emerge again later in the story, when the two elder brothers seek to keep Tu safe at any cost.

This is a sad story - as most war stories are. It didn't grip me, but it was interesting nonetheless.

Completed 13 November 2021.



(Alphabet Soup Books)

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