The Whale Rider

ニュージーランドの語学学校で、この映画を見ました。英語はあまり聞き取れなかったけど、でもとても感動して、日本に帰国してから即行、本を購入しました！！ ページ数としてはそんなに量は多くないし、文字も比較的大きくて見やすいです。映画と本とちょっと視点が違っているので、映画を見た方でも楽しめると思います。本の英語は、特に難しくはありません。 ラストはもう涙が止まりませんっ！！！

On time. Great condition. My favorite story. Native poetry. Second time reading it. Its a movie too. Read the book first :)

Een prachtig boek.

An unexpected gem with a unique combination of cultural background on Maori-tradition, (Maori) myth, modern fairy tale and many more is what „The Whale Rider“ turned out to be for me. There was not much I had knowingly perceived about New Zealand, so when a book club challenge came along to read such a small book of only 144 pages – what might I lose? And that decision was made despite some profound aversion of mine to anything getting even close to „fantasy fiction“. The story does include lots of myth along with lots of mythological elements which I rather really liked – I can go with myth, to me that has nothing to do with fantasy, I just mention as some readers might have different „no-go areas“. And 144 pages turned out to be no small task to read in this context – simply because the whole story is so rich I felt compelled to stop reading many times, literally stand back and consider. No wonder the book is often read at schools given the broad variety of tasks for interpretation on various levels. Still, even for the grown-up reader, those tasks come easily, rather force themselves upon you while reading: the story is about gender and family roles, traditions vs. modern life; cultural differences, clashes, prejudice and expectations; personal integrity and roots; family, society and individuals. The language is rich, but not hard to decipher like when the mythological founder Kahutia throws his spears which represent his live-giving sources or the heart-wrenching comment that „Under these conditions, the love which Kahu received from [her grandfather] Koro Apirana was the sort that dropped off the edge of the table, like breadcrumbs after everybody else has had a big meal.“ P 36f. There is a constant change between first-person narrator – little Kahu’s uncle telling her story – and the third person usage for the portions of myth and about the whales which, again, demands for consideration about parallels and symbols in a very tantalising way. Author Witi Ihimaera uses Maori language in abundance – the translation follows in the next sentence (I had not been sure at first, so I checked some phrases). This and the proper names force the non-Maori experienced reader to both plunge into the culture and keeps the concentration high to not get lost – so in a whole, I ended up having been given the rare experience of interpreting myself through the text without that back-to-school feeling of having been forced to do it, the immersion comes rather natural. Go with the waves! Let it be done!

Il libro tratta la storia di un villaggio Maori che a causa della perdita dei valori tradizionali dovuta alla forte insistenza e arroganza dei valori occidentali del colonizzatore, vede come segno nefasto la morte di oltre 200 balene sulla spiaggia del villaggio. una bambina che sfida l'ordine omofobo e della linea di sangue maschile, riuscirà a mettere in salvo il suo popolo... da leggere. una bella favola moderna e antica.