Settlers' Creek by Carl Nixon
Random House, $29.99
The premise is a good one. What happens when a loved child dies and Maori and Pakeha worlds collide over the burial? This is a distinctly New Zealand clash of cultures and I was curious to see how a Pakeha writer would explore it.
The story starts with the suicide of 19-year-old Mark but quickly becomes the tale of his stepfather, Box Saxton, straight-talking, hard-working, uncomplicated and trying to make sense out of what has become of his life. He is sympathetically drawn and it is easy to relate to his confusion and angst.
Box wants to bury his stepson on his ancestral land. It's a delicate balance writing about such complex issues and Nixon captures well the Pakeha side, as his main character struggles with ignorance and rage.
Nixon is adept at identifying what is special about New Zealand and the language he uses to describe simple things such as the landscape or weather or even our language is hugely evocative and affectionate, although at times the nostalgia borders on the sentimental.
He has a talent for engaging the reader with his narrative and deftly inserts enough instantly recognisable characters and places that it is easy to be swept up in the story because of its immediate familiarity.
The first half of the book is a little heavy-handed and it feels like Nixon is trying to hammer home the point that there is no difference in the connection Maori and Pakeha feel towards the land of their birth.
It takes a bit of time until the main action point of the story arrives - when Mark's biological father comes to claim the body to take back to the urupa on his ancestral land.
The clash of cultures is oddly overdone in some areas and underplayed in others and the dependence on Box as the main character means others are not well fleshed out.
There is an attempt at trying to understand the cultural importance Maori place on heritage, but it falls into stereotype quickly.
I wasn't a huge fan of Nixon's first book, Rockinghorse Road. Having been a one-time resident of that very road I was intrigued, but what I found between the pages was a well-crafted, but ultimately disappointing read, and so it is with Settlers' Creek.
The deeper, more complex issues are not revealed but this story will make you think about our shared connections with the land.
