Come Onshore and We Will Kill and Eat You All: A New Zealand Story by Christina Thompson
I just finished this book by Christina Thompson and it got the BFR – The Best Friends Read. I haven’t read this book before or anything by this author, but it was a delightful read. She tells the story of first contact Europeans and Maori’s from a historical perspective, and also from the point of view of her Maori husband. The history was great, I really didn’t know anything about New Zealand and the Maori culture except for some general knowledge of facial tatoos and agressive posturing.
The book gave great information about traditional tatoos and this was especially interesting to me because I’ve been wanting to get a tatoo for a long time. The Maori tatoo system involves great personal artistry; it tells the story of the person, their life, accomplishments, and status in the clan. I, on the other hand, want to get a tatoo on my back, between my shoulder blades, of a chorus line of dancing chihuahuas. When I rolled my shoulders the little dogs would wiggle. I don’t know if I’ll ever actually do this, but I love the idea. Compared with the Maori tatoos, my own lacks a little…substance, but I’m a ‘cough-cough-something’ administrative analyst and geekery is my culture. Agressive posturing doesn’t really come up in my environment, unless we’re standing in line at the Starbucks stand on a busy lunch break.
Back to the book: it followed her marriage to a Maori man named Seven and his delightful sort-of assimilation into her Boston Academic culture. The author and her husband sound delightful, and the books’ focus on his family and the modern culture of Maori’s in New Zealand opened a door to a completely new people. This was well worth the ‘Best Friend Read’.
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