![]() ![]() ![]() But this novel tells a story of the not-so-recent past, when Sam was tied to a fence and flogged by his own father, and was refused burial in the marae. ![]() Obviously things have changed in New Zealand because they legislated for same-sex marriage in 2013, well before Australia did. Decades later his nephew Michael finds out about Sam when he too refuses to conceal his sexual identity and comes out to his family - and is also exiled from his community because of it. The Uncle’s Story traces the same issues, but it explores the story of Sam Mahana, whose existence has been excised from the family because he came out as gay. Ihimaera came out explicitly in 1996 with Nights in the Gardens of Spain, which (I gather from Goodreads reviews) is set in New Zealand and is a raunchy novel about reconciling sexuality with family. The Uncle’s Story confronts the awkward truth of Māori hostility to same-sex relationships. As the NZ Book Council’s website explains, although his intentions have changed over time, he is an author who writes about ‘the emotional landscape of the Māori people’, and their political and social reality. He has sixteen novels to his credit, including Bulibasha (1994) which I reviewed here. ![]() The Uncle’s Story (2000) is a mid-career novel from Witi Ihimaera, New Zealand’s best-known Māori author because of the popularity of The Whale Rider (1987) which was made into a film. ![]()
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