Mia Farlane reviews Auē (Mākaro Press) by Becky Manawatu - for Lille’s Central Library
Auē (Mākaro Press) by Becky Manawatu is now available at Lille’s Central Library! Bones Bay (Au Vent des îles, 2022), the French translation by David Fauquemberg, is also available at the library — and in bookshops in France.
As part of L’Afterwork littéraire at Lille’s Central Library / La Bibliothèque Municipale de Lille, I was invited to send a handwritten review — here’s what I wrote:
‘Stories are more precious than pearls’
p. 117 Auē (Mākaro Press) by Becky Manawatu
Auē – means to wail, howl; interjection showing distress
I was utterly absorbed right from the start. Straight into the story of 8-year-old Ari (Ārama) and his older brother Tauk (Taukiri). A family tragedy has happened and Taukiri is dumping his younger brother with Aunty Kat and vicious Uncle Stu, in Kaikōura, before zooming off in his car, Snoop Dogg on full volume. Becky Manawatu gives the reader the ‘what, who and where’ – just enough to get the story going – but the characters’ gaps in information and the oblique references to past events create an enigma that had me turning page after page.
This is a tight read. Every paragraph, every line, matters. Excellent writing in the sense that it’s invisible. It’s the characters who have those insightful thoughts, make those blunt comments, stun with their one-liner understatements, impress with their cool sense of humour (I outright laughed many times), their staunch kindness and compassion in horrendous circumstances. Points of view switch, chapter by chapter: Ari’s, Taukiri’s, Jade’s and Toko’s; plus – I love this – a ghost’s.
Auē’s soundtrack includes gangsta rap (trigger warning re drugs and violence); but also waiata/songs such as ‘Whakahonohono Mai’ meaning ‘to join together’ (glimmers of hope); Eddie Lovette (Reggae); and Cat Stevens. The sea has an equally crucial role in this novel – one superb passage reminds me of the surfing scene in Maylis de Kerangal’s Réparer les vivants. The writing also brings to mind novels by Carson McCullers, and Penelope Fitzgerald’s Offshore – the children (Ari and his friend Beth), very much left to their own resources, are so well depicted. Auē has themes of love, domestic violence and the struggle to leave; I had to pause reading several times, especially nearing the end, because of the tension. ‘Raw and sublime’ (editor’s blurb). Exactly that.
PS: For the close reader, I’d recommend having alongside you Bones Bay (Au Vent des îles, 2022), the excellent translation by David Fauquemberg – his additional phrases help with words in te reo/Māori, New Zealand slang and the few NZ-specific cultural references.
*****
Kataraina, Auē’s companion book, is due from Mākaro Press in October.
