This is a book which can be read many ways.It is the curated memories of a beloved wahine Māori who readers will enjoy getting close to. She is a master of understatement when talking about loved ones: “I saw Dick coming towards me, also in a hurry, also alone. We stopped and talked. He asked me to go to the movies with him, and I agreed. He has been the man in my life ever since.” In one wry anecdote, we are treated to the image of this 80-year-old national treasure taking flight in stork position at yoga, relying on the broad feet inherited from her grandmother. The delicate rendering of landscapes, especially around her house and her ancestral land at Hongoeka, north of Wellington, transport you to the place where she is most at home.
Mike White05:00, May 09 2021
Chris Skelton/Stuff
CK Stead’s first novel, Smith’s Dream, was published 50 years ago, but remains one of his best-known works.
Adapted into groundbreaking movie
Smith’s Dream holds a special place in New Zealand literature. As Stead publishes the final volume of his memoirs, he looks back 50 years and talks to Mike White about his first novel, how it almost never made it to print, and why it has two endings. It was a slight book, barely 140 pages between hard covers. It had been laboured on during long holidays and breaks snatched between the author’s work as a professor at Auckland University.