![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() One literally feels the absence of her whanau. This story was striking because it is not peopled by so many characters as the other stories are. The Geranium, in which a young woman, isolated from her family is physically abused by her husband.All center on domestic and seemingly mundane events. There are thirteen stories and flashes in Eclectic City some are playful and some are serious. An individual alienated from her whanau is quite literally lost, for the extended family also serves as a safe haven against threats both external and internal. In Grace’s view, the society survives and thrives if the whanau is present. In these stories, the whanau represents the foundation of community and the setting of cultural life and memory. In Electric City, it is the role of the extended family, the whanau, which resonates most with me. Other elements, specifically the portrayal of Maori island life, are like none that I’ve encountered anywhere in literature. Certain elements in thsese stories are familiar, like Grace’s use of oral storytelling and the incorporation of non-English (Maori) words in her prose. I have enjoyed reading all three collections. I have previously reviewed Waiariki and Dream Sleepers, the other two collections. ![]() Electric City and Other Stories, originally published in 1987, is the third collection of short stories in Patricia Grace’s Collected Stories. ![]()
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