Product Description

Once Were Warriors is Alan Duff's harrowing vision of his country's indigenous people two hundred years after the English conquest. In prose that is both raw and compelling, it tells the story of Beth Heke, a Maori woman struggling to keep her family from falling apart, despite the squalor and violence of the housing projects in which they live. Conveying both the rich textures of Maori tradition and the wounds left by its absence, Once Were Warriors is a masterpiece of unblinking realism, irresistible energy, and great sorrow.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38578 in Books
• Published on: 1995-02-28
• Released on: 1995-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Part of Hawaii's TalanoaContemporary Pacific Literature imprint, this first novel won the 1991 PEN Best First Book Award amid controversy over Duff's perceived condemnation of Maori society as largely responsible for the hopelessness plaguing its communities. In a Maori ghetto of urban New Zealand, Jake and Beth Heke battle entrenched poverty, racism and other ills that overwhelm their traditional Maori culture. With a gritty, realistic eye, Duff portrays Jake and Beth, who because of alcoholism, abuse and poverty can provide little protection against the gangs, drugs and violence that menace their children. Most vulnerable is Grace who dreams of escape into the Pakeha (white) world and whose brutal rape triggers the downward spiral of events. Duff's choppy sentences, repeated phrasing and use of Maori slang may require some adjustment for American readers, but ultimately his staccato prose style is ideally suited to a world of not-so-quiet desperation. Regardless of one's position on the controversy, the half Pakeha /half Maori Duff provides a compelling and insightful glimpse into the overwhelming struggles faced by the disenfranchised poor of any urban society--including America's own inner cities.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Duff's 1990 novel passed fairly unnoticed on American shores although it was a smash in his native New Zealand. With the recent release of a feature film version, the paperback edition should generate more interest.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Upon its New Zealand publication in 1990, this controversial debut novel rocketed to the bestseller list. It's easy to understand why. Beth, a Maori mother, feels nothing but anger and disgust at her people, who accept second-class citizenship as a given. Relegated to government housing in an unnamed city, she lives just two vacant blocks away from whites whose homes offer tantalizing glimpses of a privileged existence she and her family will never have. As far as Beth is concerned, the Maoris would not have become impoverished lackeys with very little self-esteem had they stayed close to their warrior roots. Instead, the men's lives consist of beer, gangs, fights, and beating their wives. Beth receives a ``hiding'' for embarrassing her husband in front of his friends, her daughter is raped and commits suicide, her young son is carted off to juvenile hall, and his older brother dies in a gang fight, but Beth finds strength by summoning up her tribal heritage and teaching it to others. A lot to take in, but these are only the most active moments in a book whose main action is interior. Readers are treated to the mind's musings before and after events, the distinctive imagery of people locked in a present they're trying to forget. Duff (himself the son of a Maori mother and a white father) shows amazing facility with language in the intense, fast-paced, choppy internal monologues he gives his characters. Making skilled use of the repetitive nature of thought, he draws readers inside each voice in turn, using dialect (often including profanities) so naturally that it reads easily even for Americans. Duff shows courage in attacking the view that assimilation is the first step out of poverty, and he does so by spinning a compelling tale. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

This movie took me to New Zealand
While I agree this was one of the rare cases where the film was actually better than the book, had it not been for the book and subsequent movie my daughter and I would not have started what would be the beginning of a deep interest in Maori culture and a trip there where we stayed on Maori land.
The stories I was told during my trip were very special and some mirror the trials of the indigenous people of this country, also known as Native Americans. It opened me up to a place on this planet I may not have ever considered visiting. Now I can not wait to get back!

Bland and moralizing
I picked up Once Were Warriors because, like most other people, I had seen the movie and was expecting a riveting tale. This is, however, one of those rare cases where the movie surpasses the book in almost all facets.
The story is set against the backdrop of a government housing project in New Zealand and describes the trials and tribulations of a Maori family living on the dole (unemployment). The main characters are the parents, Ruth and Jake Heke, and some of their children, Nig, Booggie and Grace.
The movie (unlike the book) is fraught with emotion and sorrow, and you are swept into the netherworld of Maori society almost against your will. Perhaps if I hadn't seen the movie, I wouldn't have been expecting as much from the book and would have been less disappointed and more forgiving towards the author.
Unfortunately the bland and ineptly described milieu, the one-dimensional characters and lack of dialogue punctuation in the book gives a feeling of emptiness and you are left wanting more.
The story itself is not badly constructed and I could be charitable and say that Alan Duff employed the aforesaid writing devices to emphasize the soullessness of the society he describes. Regrettably he disproves this theorem by descending into a mire of soppiness at the end of the book.
He allows the characters to become pathetically clichéd and tries to turn a fictional account into a self-serving sermon on the moralities of his society. Both the book and the believability of the characters are devalued and made to suffer for this cheap trick of his.
On the positive side, the book initially makes a powerful statement about the effects of developed societies intruding into more primitive ones. The feelings of displacement and defeatism of a conquered nation are also explored as well as the impact they have on the psyche of the subjugated culture.
In conclusion, I would not recommend this book to anyone not extremely devoted to the Maori culture and the societal difficulties of New Zealand. There are many better books available in terms of the emotional, societal and familial structure issues this book attempts to explore.
If, however, you like your moralizing fed with a big spoon and rammed down you throat, this is the book for you.

"Complete Waste of TIme"
I had watched the movie so I thought the book would be just as good or better: NOT! The lack of dialouge is disconcerting,and you never really get a grasp on the characters. Written correctly this would have been an excellent book, however when a book becomes a chore to finish, it is hardly an enjoyable experience. The movie is fantastic. Save your money {and your eyes} and rent the video!