COMPELLING BOOK ALERT: FROM THE AUTHOR OF “THE WHALE RIDER” COMES “THE UNCLES STORY”

The Whale Rider is a book and a film, that moved audiences worldwide as a thirteen year old girl Pai, fights against traditional gender restraints to be the leader that she was destined to be. The role garnered, first  time actress, Keisha Castle-Hughes, then 13, her first Oscar nomination here in Hollywood.

I learnt, Saturday, that the author of The Whale Rider, Witi Ihimaera, recently turned down a Knighthood and the opportunity to become Sir Witi Ihimaera,  on the grounds that he did not want to diminish the effect of “Colonial oppression” on his indigenous Maori People of New Zealand by accepting the Knighthood. This was his personal choice.

I was trained by Witi Ihimaera at Auckland University. He writes stories that move oppressed people, regardless of race, age, gender or sexuality into a better place. He is the feel good writer to read when you want to: cry one chapter and laugh the next. The Whale Rider being proof of that. Not many authors  can move you to laughter and tears throughout a book like Mr Ihimaera can. So I take my Hollywood cap off to him today, for his  great storytelling ability in literature and film.

Hollywood needs more stories of  the calibre of Ta Witi Ihimaera.

Another book of Witi Ihimaera’s that is a brilliant read is: “The Uncle’s Story.” It goes a little like this: “Armed with his uncle’s diary, Michael Mahana goes searching for the truth, about the secret the Mahana family has kept hidden for over thirty years, and what happened to uncle Sam.

Set in the war-torn jungles of Vietnam and in present day New Zealand and North America, Witi Ihimaera’s dramatic novel combines the superb story telling for which he is so renowned with the unflinching realism that made ‘The Whale Rider’ a literary and cinematic success. A powerful love story bravely told, it courageously confronts Maori attitudes to sexuality and masculinity and contains some of Ihimaera’s most passionate writing to date.”

Having been in Mr Ihimaera’s creative writing class in The English Department studying New Zealand Literature at The University of Auckland, the year Ihimaera was writing the Uncle’s Story, I know that the Sam in this novel, was unexpectedly named after me.

The Cliff in the novel, was named after Maori  Hollywood actor, Cliff Curtis (pictured above). It’s weird that I now  live in Hollywood. So…..

Thanks Sir! 

And, to everyone who wants a good read,  you won’t  want to miss reading this book. Go here to order it on Amazon. You will both laugh and have  your heart torn out at the end. How Twilight Saga-ish in that Whale Rider  kind of way!

With  any luck, you can also read it on a kindle. But this comes with a Kindle Warning: You’ll need tissues to wipe your tears of laughter off the screen though.

August 17, 2009 | Categories: Entertainment Celebrity News | Tags: /Film, America, Books, Cliff, Cliff Curtis, Compelling Stories For The Screen, Hollywood, hori, Humor, Keisha Castle Hughes, Knighthood, Knighthoods, Laughter, Literature, Maori, Masculinity, Movies, New Zealand literature, Oscars, Sam, Sir, Tears, The Univeristy of Auckland English Department, The University of Auckland, The Whale Rider, Vietnam, Witi Ihimaera | Leave A Comment »