Lisa Cherrington: The People-Faces

Reviewed by PHILPPA JAMIESON

This thought-provoking, soul-searching debut novel shows a spectrum of differing, often conflicting approaches to mental illness through the actions of tohunga, Pakeha doctor and nurse, social worker, and whanau members.

As a boy, Joshua has special gifts: he sees spirits, or "people-faces", as he calls them, and has the ability to call the dolphins, according to his grandmother, Maka, whose own kaitiaki (spiritual guardian) is a dolphin. Maka wants to bring him up, to foster and channel those talents. His mother, Hine, rejects Maka's mumbo-jumbo, and grieves the wrench of separation from her son, coming as it does on top of her split from the family.

Joshua's younger sister Nikki is the main storyteller, and we also get glimpses into the thoughts of several other characters. The author skilfully weaves two threads of story: 1977, when Joshua and Nikki are children; and 20 years later.

Joshua's odd behaviour is allowable when he's young, but as an adult he is diagnosed as schizophrenic, treated with drugs and institutionalised in mental hospitals. He self-medicates with marijuana. He seems to have one foot in this world and the other in the realm of Tangaroa, thesea god. Nikki's quest to make sense of her brother's state of being takes her on journeys to see dolphins, and encourages her to connect with her spirituality and kaitiaki, and to understand her whanau's mythology.

While diving into the spirit world, this story is also grounded in our earthly reality, and the characters are believable, real people, drawn with insight and compassion. What emerged clearly was the strong bond between brother and sister, symbolised by the dolphin bone carvings they each have, made by their grandfather.

Lisa Cherrington's simple style belies the powerful impact, the pain and aroha, of her subject matter. She is a clinical psychologist of Ngati Hine descent, and has worked in Maori mental health services. Cherrington gives no answers; instead, as good writers do, she offers questions for the reader to turn this way and that, and reels us in unawares with a catchy net of storytelling.

Huia, $29.95

* Philippa Jamieson is a Christchurch freelance writer