Into The River

"Under the interim ban it is now illegal to sell or supply this book anywhere in New Zealand."<br /><br />"The NZ Post Children's Book Award winning novel, aimed at a teenage audience, contains explicit descriptions of sex and drug use, as well as an offensive term for female genitalia."<br /><br />Since when did New Zealand have a giant carrot shoved up it's ass?

Update Dec 2015: The Chief Censor who banned this book, Don Mathieson, has now <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/74575182/film-and-literature-board-boss-don-mathieson-steps-down-after-into-the-river-saga" rel="nofollow noopener">"stepped down"</a> from his position.<br /><br />The book is no longer banned, and its previous R14 rating has been removed, meaning it is now unrestricted. <br /><br />Mathieson said, <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/73017920/Into-the-River-ban-lifted-by-Film-and-Literature-Board" rel="nofollow noopener">"no responsible parent of a 17-year-old, let alone of a 12-year-old, would want this repetitive coarse language normalised."</a> He saw the censor's job as being proscriptive - determining what <i>should</i> be allowed according to his preferred (Christian) standards, rather than descriptive - passing books and films which represented the activities and views of average New Zealanders.<br /><br />In better news, Dawe <a href="v" rel="nofollow noopener">at least got some traction</a> from this event.<br /><br />Update Sept 2015:<br /><b>This <a href="http://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/EN/News/NewsArticles/Pages/winnersnzpostchildrensbookawards.aspx" rel="nofollow noopener">award-winning</a> NZ teen book just got <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/books/71797069/racy-teen-novel-into-the-river-banned-after-family-first-complaint" rel="nofollow noopener"> BANNED</a> completely in New Zealand. It's now a crime to "supply, display, or distribute the book in any way."<br /><br />Because teenagers apparently never have sex and it's a crime to write a book in which they do. <br /><br /></b><br />original review Sept 2013<br /><br />I guess this isn't a review as much as a series of impressions.<br /><br />I read the book cover to cover in an afternoon. The initial section, when Te Arepo is living in the East Coast, drew me in so fast that I couldn't shake the story off. <br /><br />My overwhelming sense was of temporal displocation. The storyworld is one of anachronism,¹ and every time I thought I had the setting solid in my head the story shifted under my feet and dumped me again. The specific clues for a timeline are so deliberate (e.g. a PSP) that they must serve a purpose in the narrative. It was this that has me thinking about the story after I finished reading. Part of the story is about tipuna, ancestors, and how the past and the present touch each other. Are the anachronisms part of this? Is Dawe wrinkling up time to show us the very timelessness of the theme?<br /><br />The story of an East Coast boy heading to the big smoke for an education, (transported by Paikea, of course), in the face of racism and assimilation, is kind of representational of the entire 20th century urbanisation of Maori . And the theme of a river or water as a transformational place flows through the book (title, duh!).<br /><br />But still I am left adrift by the story. Devon's life so quickly seems to spiral into pointless choices that don't seem to bring him happiness. They're not even <i>his</i> choices, they're Steph's, and he's only along for the ride. Devon says he chose freedom, but that doesn't feel like freedom to me. <br /><br />I'm left with the unsettling feeling of a story that I don't completely understand. Reading the previously published sequel, <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/6811345.Thunder_Road" title="Thunder Road by Ted Dawe" rel="noopener">Thunder Road</a>, does not appeal. I'd prefer this one stand alone.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />¹ <i>There's a Department of Education =&lt;1989<br /><br />The school (an amalgam of Auckland Boys Grammar and Kings College) employs a staff member who carelessly mangles Maori names = 1980s or earlier<br /><br />The school turns a blind eye to a Maori kid with "Nig" as a nickname in the hearing of staff (Nigger when teachers are absent) = again, 1980s or earlier<br /><br />Social welfare is called CYPs = 1989-1999<br /><br />D&amp;G sunglass = &gt;1998<br /><br />A formal and condoned system of physical punishments doled out by older boys to younger boys, including serious beatings to which staff turn a blind eye = &lt;2000ish at the very latest<br /><br />Cell phones are cheap enough that some boys own them = &gt;1990s, and you can buy them from a supermarket = &gt;2000<br /><br />The Warriors lose to the Paramatta Eels at Mt Smart, as part of a 7-time losing streak = 2000, except that was a 6-time streak.<br /><br />Senior boys play with a PSP = &gt;Sept 2005</i>

This started out so well. I was so enjoying reading about Te Arepa and his family and friends and the Maori culture. And then Te Arepa went off to boarding school and turned into a totally different character. From then on the story focussed on all the bad parts of school and teenage life and the reasons why some people wanted the book banned became apparent. Personally I do not agree with banning a book but at the same time I would not have wanted my own children to read a book like this before they were ready. Young Adult is quite a wide category age wise and this belongs at the upper end! I was totally floored by the ending but then discovered there is a sequel. I guess I am supposed to read that to find out what happened to Devon. I probably won't bother though.

Nothing like a banning to make one want to read a book!<br /><br />Edit; looks like Amazon have now removed this book - for NZ anyway. Yesterday the print version was still available.<br /><br />Edit 2 14/10/15 &amp; sanity returns. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/73017920/into-the-river-ban-lifted-by-film-and-literature-board">http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/...</a><br /><br />Edit 18/12/15 The controversy has helped Ted Dawe! My local library is now going to stock this book. Tee hee!<br /><br /><blockquote>●▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬● </blockquote><br /><br /><u>Banned Book Week</u> seemed the right time to read this book. <br /><br />As I stated above, my local library now stocks this book,complete with a sticker warning of explicit content. But, even allowing for the young age of the main characters and the target audience <i>and</i> the casual use of a word many New Zealanders find very offensive, the book wasn't that racy. During the nadir of my working life I cleaned the metalwork and woodwork block of our local high school. I was allowed to start work just before the students finished school and listening to the kids' language made me feel like I was swimming through a sewer. So the delicate and tender young that the Chief Censor of the time (he now no longer has this job) was trying to protect - they don't exist. Dawe wrote this book to try to create a New Zealand book with a New Zealand subject that reluctant Kiwi teenage boy readers would read. My now 23 year old son was a reluctant reader and teens are when most of us are at our most boringly conformist. My boy simply would have refused to read a book with such strong homosexual themes. He would have been worried about What Would My Mates Say.<br /><br />My Goodreads friend Emma Sea mentions the uncertain veering between times. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/719697086?book_show_action=false&amp;from_review_page=1">https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...</a><br /><br />I would add mention of the Warehouse chain means after 1982 (probably later than that- late 1980s was when they became ubiquitous) DVDs became common around mid 2000s, telephone cards for cellphones in use around 2000. It is sloppy and it is jarring.<br /><br /><i>But</i> I liked it! I found this novel a fast paced easy read with recognisably Kiwi characters. Would I have read it if it hadn't have been for the censorship controversy? Almost certainly not. <br /><br />Would have been my loss.

My copy of "Into the River", New Zealand's supreme winner in the NZPost Book Awards, came with a little black sticker cautioning "Parental Advisory, Explicit Content." on it. Man, I couldn't wait to read it as soon as I saw that! Talk about way to sell a book!<br /><br />But the sordid pornography, gratuitous sex scenes, rampant drug taking and general reckless teenage behaviour that had been promised by neurotic parents and Family First campaigners, never actually materialised. Perhaps that's because those neurotic parents hadn't actually READ the book, cover to cover, in context. Or maybe it's because Family First campaigners are so poorly read they have no idea how much of this territory has already been covered before in young adult fiction. (shhh, don't tell them, they have no idea how much work they still have to do to keep our libraries clean!)<br /><br />Even the much anticipated "C-word" references left me wanting. Like the sound a lone party horn makes just before it fizzes and dies out, those passages were so fleeting, and so perfectly "within context" as to be anti-climatic. I had to re-read them just to give them another chance to make an impact. I felt like saying "C'mon Ted, you gotta earn that Parental Advisory sticker! All you've given us so far is real people talking how real people talk!"<br /><br />And as for the sex scenes, I can honestly say I've inadvertently come across more offensive content searching for vacuum cleaner parts on the internet. <br /><br />Yes, I'm being facetious. But hey! When was the last time a book was banned in New Zealand? This is exciting stuff! Of course, if you want to have a more serious, intelligent, philosophical and moral discussion about these issues I recommend you read <a href="http://bernardbeckett.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/into-the-river/" rel="nofollow noopener">Bernard Beckett's blog and comments section</a>. As a judge of the awards, Bernard has generously invited anyone with an opinion and an internet connection to engage with him on any and all issues raised in the book. <br /><br />For those of you either not in New Zealand, or living under a rock, you must be wondering what all the fuss is about. Here's a synopsis: "Into the River" is the story of a young Māori boy from a small rural town on the East Coast of NZ who wins a scholarship to a prestigious (predominantly Pākeha (white)), upper class boarding school in Auckland, on the strength of his academic potential. Te Arepa, or Devon as he's nicknamed at the new school, carries the name of a heroic ancestor whose courage and bravery once saved the whole iwi (tribe). Te Arepa's grandfather is ambitious for his grandson, seeing this scholarship as the opportunity to carry the great legacy on in modern times. <br /><br />Author Ted Dawe is a school teacher with many years experience in the profession, and it shows; this feels like it's been written by someone on the inside. He has painted larger than life characters, from Grandfather Ra, to Cousin Paikea, to the bully to the best friend, all with a light touch. Dialogue is astutely observed and drives the novel forward. There are scenes vivid enough to make you feel like you're right there. There's peer pressure, complicated complex relationships, fast cars, dope, decisions that are made without conscious consideration, repercussions, anger, disappointment, confusion, foolhardiness and loss. <br /><br />More seriously, it explores the vulnerability of young people and the myriad ways in which they can find themselves in the kind of trouble they never anticipated coming. Including sexual vulnerability. It is about stress and ultimately survival. The momentum builds gradually but relentlessly, weaving together the strands of the past and an uncertain future in a way that ensures you will want to finish it in one sitting. "Into the River" is a so-called prequel to Thunder Road, which makes sense: the ending feels more like a new beginning than a conclusion. Bonus side-note: both novels were self-published to critical acclaim (so there, traditional publishers!).<br /><br />If you ask me what the real horror in this novel was though, it was the depiction of life at a boy's boarding school. I wish that someone might be able to reassure me that Ted Dawe got it all wrong when portraying how the pecking order is established and maintained, or how cruelly and even brutally punishments are meted out. But as a school teacher who taught in a boarding school himself, something tells me he was drawing more on fact than imagination. Forget the "C" word, think <i>Lord of the Flies</i>.<br /><br />Although there are aspects of this novel that can be generalised and will be recognisable to anyone who's grown up in New Zealand, "Into the River" is not about the general experience at all, rather the very specific experiences of a boy shunted out to the margins of society. <br /><br />The only time where I questioned the veracity of the story was in the personal journey of Te Arepa himself. Though I liked him a lot, and could identify with his silent outrage, when he acquiesced to the pressure to shed every semblance of his former self, his very identify, in order to be accepted in a Pākeha world, I came up short. Would he really have done that? Would he not have fought back, dug his heels in, even a little? <br /><br />It's not that a Pākeha man can't write about the Māori experience, as some vehement critics have argued. I think Ted Dawe can, and does do credibly. But we are all products of our time, and I would have expected a character like Te Arepa, raised by his grandfather (an elder or possibly even the chief of the iwi?) in a small rural town in a predominantly Māori area of New Zealand, to be fluent, or have at least some knowledge of Te Reo (Māori language). Particularly given that the novel is set in the latter period of the Māori Renaissance (although the novel is not actually specific about the period a mobile phone features, as well as party drug "e", so it's at least somewhere post-1990s). In other words, after the Kohanga Reo movement which saw a huge resurgence of the Māori language and an effort particularly in rural areas, to revive its roots. Surely Te Arepa's concept of the world would have been filtered first through Te Reo? <br /><br />Likewise, I would have thought Te Arepa's cultural reference points - such as Kapa Haka, marae life, communal rituals and so on, to have been greater features in his life (and therefore to have been much harder to dispense with). The absence of these tenets may have been deliberate; a comment about the loss and dispossession that Māori have suffered, not to mention the institutional racism endured throughout successive generations. Certainly, Te Arepa feels the only way to survive is to reinvent himself. But somehow I expected the anguish he went through in coming to that conclusion would have been greater than it appeared to be, and his resistance to have been more profound than it was. <br /><br />Regardless, it's a great book, well written. And my appreciation for Ted Dawe's talent and achievement was enriched further after reading more about him, and in particular from listening to Kim Hill's wonderful interview where he revealed himself to be nothing if not wise, humble, intelligent, creative, and most of all, knowledgeable and passionate about literature as a means of connecting with, and validating the experiences of, young people growing up in New Zealand.<br /><br />I absolutely recommend his book, although, if you are after something a little less savoury, I suggest you google vacuum cleaner parts instead.<br /><br />***P.S. If you're one of aforementioned neurotic parents who feels threatened by books portraying real life with the nasty, sex ridden, drug-addled bits left in, then you'll be grateful that the helpful people over at Goodreads have done you the favour of putting together <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/7002.Young_Adult_Fiction_With_Sex" rel="nofollow noopener"> a censorship list for you</a>. Go forth and <s>ensure your kids only read these</s>ban books for your teen!***<br /><br />***P.P.S For a great, balanced review of Into The River, written long before the book won its award and drew negative speculation, <a href="http://stgeorgesreaders.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/into-the-river-ted-dawe/" rel="nofollow noopener">see Megan's review</a>. It's interesting to gauge the views of someone who was reading with a blank slate, so to speak.***<br />

*3.5*<br /><br />This NZ YA novel comes freighted with all the hoopla surrounding it's rather inexplicable "interim restriction" of September 2015 (since lifted). Made further curious by the fact it won the NZ Post Children's book award of 2013. I am going to put that storm in a Family First tea cup to one side for now and just consider what I made of the novel. <br /><br />As someone who reads the majority of her fiction set in places other than NZ, it is always immediately comforting to be in a familiar location, and makes me think I need to read more NZ literature. The opening chapters of this book really charmed me. Set in a small East coast town, we meet Te Arepa Santos as he battles with a giant eel. Te Arepa (later Devon) is the heart and soul of the entire novel, only 13 or 14 during the course of events in this book but obviously marked for great things. It is fascinating to watch the tug of tribal history on his decisions and character.<br /><br />The story then moves to a prestigious Auckland Boys Boarding school and Devon faces the challenges of bullies and latin declensions, while still trying to live up to the expectations of his own whanau. This was actually the story that most interested me and I think a lot more could have been done with it. ( Even though this story goes in an utterly other direction at this point I was reminded of the documentary film called <i>Maori Boy Genius </i> ).<br /><br />Anyway... with nary an untoward scene to be found during the first 2/3 s of the novel, things suddenly kick up a notch with the introduction of <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="a11a2be7-393d-473d-b8e6-5aadd7e16ec3" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="a11a2be7-393d-473d-b8e6-5aadd7e16ec3"> a destructive dope smoking and sly best friend, who reminded me of a little of Lord Sebastian from <i> Brideshead Revisited </i>. If this was not enough, a pederast teacher was also thrown in the mix </label>. I didn't have too much of an issue with the scenes that resulted from this, but it is possible they could have been written a little less banally ? These things are hard to judge reading a YA novel through an adult lens. On the other hand perhaps this is one method to make your book stand out (ban notwithstanding). My own greater concern was this turning point in the novel seemed to coincide with a sudden plodding and largely expository writing style. I could feel the authors need to hastily set the stage for the older Devon of the 2003 novel <i> Thunder Road </i>. <br /><br />Despite my antipathy towards the last third of this novel I pretty much enjoyed this book and I am rooting for Devon to return to the East Coast as Te Arepa as that would be a great redemption story .... anyway I need to read <i> Thunder Road </i> to find out.

This was one of my book selections for Banned Books Week, although I have known about it for a while. It was the case of a book banning, full force, in the entire country of New Zealand. For a time, it was illegal to buy or sell this book, no matter your age or beliefs. <br /><br />Does the book warrant this reaction? Well no, not really. And I imagine the protest the complaining agency had to be different than mine. The focus on the novel is a young Maori male who goes off to boarding school. The beginning is a bunch of boys playing outdoors, fishing, swimming naked, and going home to their families where traditional rituals are still taking place. I loved the use of the Maori words throughout the text, much more frequent in the beginning, the placeness of the writing, and the characters of Ra and his cousin Pakhea.<br /><br />In boarding school it is a pretty standard story of a child rising from his status, experimenting, learning the ways of the world, etc. My biggest issues have more to do with consent. An older male character takes advantage of some of the boys (coercion) and Te Arepa basically rapes a girl from the girls school. This is not addressed at all except that she isn't friendly towards him anymore. <br /><br />Look, teenagers experiment. It's nice to see that examined honestly in a novel intended for them as readers. But given that opportunity, it would have been nice if consent had not been the missing piece. I do think that this is the problem with removing books containing sex from teens; when we do this it moves it to the dark corners instead of keeping it in the open when we can talk openly about safety and consent.

I actually thought this was a stunning novel about a young boy struggling to find his place with his whakapapa always on his mind, the weight of expectations of his family, and how adrift he feels in his new school surroundings. It was a really good exploration of how youth can become disconnected from the past as they work to adapt to the harsh realities of a new environment. The more time Te Arepu spent away from his home and family, the more he began to identify as Devon. There are some graphic sex scenes, issues with consent, adult figures exploiting teens, and frequent drug use. I thought the characters were utterly engaging and loved the way they connected with each other both in his home town and at the boarding school. In parts the writing was wonderful however, I couldn't get enough sense of when this story took place with some mixed messages throughout. Still thoroughly enjoyed this one.

I was looking to read a 'banned book' for one of my reading challenges. This is one that was banned in New Zealand and I'm not even sure why (considering the age group this book is aimed at...we are kidding ourselves if we don't think our 14-15 year old children don't know about any of these things)...the ban didn't last long before it was lifted so someone agrees with me. It started off quite well , I enjoyed the Maori feel and understood the little quirks very well, but I got lost in the last few chapters; it covers some pretty serious subjects which was upsetting. Not a bad read overall.

This book is the prequel to Ted Dawe's Thunder Road (2003), which won both the Young Adult and Best First Book awards in the 2004 NZ Children's Book Awards. Having read 'Into the River', I am very keen to read 'Thunder Road'. One of the things about a prequel is that it is always leading to a thoroughly told beginning, and so there is an inevitability to the story. Even though I haven't read Thunder Road, I could really feel the inexorable drive of this story. I think this is a real strength of the book.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.teddawe.com/Into%20the%20River%20extract.html" rel="nofollow noopener">Preview of Into the River</a><br /><br />The story beings with young Te Arepa and his best friend Wiremu eeling. This is beautifully written, with the friendship between Wiremu and Te Arepa having real legs. The dialogue and interaction have a truth to them that draws the reader 'Into the River' with them, as they catch a monster eel:<br /><br /><i>'He's a monster!'<br /><br />'He's the taniwha of the river!'<br /><br />The eel made his leisurely way downstream, the hook projecting from the side of his mouth. The boys trotted along, keeping pace. After fifty metres, the river changed course and crossed a shallow ridge of river boulders.<br /><br />'We can get him when he crosses the rocks,' yelled Wiremu.<br /><br />As if it heard, the eel immediately made for the bank. It nuzzled its way into the reeds immediately above the rapids.<br /><br />'Now's our chance,' said Te Arepa. 'We might be able to drag him over to the rocks.'</i><br /><br />They let the line go slack and ran to where it was shallow enough to cross. Once they were halfway across, they began to pull together. At first it seemed pointless. Nothing would shift this monster. But then his head appeared and he made a dash straight past them over the rushing rocks.'<br /><br />However, as the back of the book says:<br /><br /><i>'Some rivers should not be swum in. Some rivers hold secrets that can never be told.<br /><br />When Te Arepa Santos is dragged into the river by a giant eel, something happens that will change the course of his whole life. The boy who struggles to the bank is not the same one who plunged in, moments earlier. He has brushed against the spirit world, and there is a price to be paid; an utu to be exacted.'</i><br /><br />As you may have noticed, Te Arepa's last name is Spanish. The telling of the story of Diego, the ancestor who gave Te Arepa his last name, is a fantastically wrought tale told over three nights to Te Arepa and his younger sister Rawinia, by their grandfather, Ra. All of this tale weaving lulls you into a false sense of security. You feel, as a reader that, when Te Arepa is offered a place at an elite Auckland Boarding School for boys, he has the strength to cope and to hold on to who he is.<br /><br />But it doesn't quite work like that.<br /><br />As Paikea drives him to Auckland in her courier van, Te Arepa becomes transfixed with her driving - the way that she seems at one with the vehicle. He has his first lesson (despite being 13 years old). At school, he is given a new name - Devon - and makes he friends with the worldly and world weary Steph, athlete and petrol-head Mitch, and farm boy Wingnut. Progressively, Devon separates himself from everything that identifies him as Maori, because of the consistent and persistent bullying from the older boys and even the masters. His first year at school reveals some cracks, but his second year is relentless.<br /><br />While there may seem to be some similarities between 'Snakes and Ladders' (another NZ Post Children's Book Awards nominee) and 'Into the River' (small town boy is moved to elite Auckland boarding school, where he needs to learn to deal with the super rich and the bullies, as well as the eccentricities of elite boarding school life) in reality, there are few. This tale is an absorbing, relentless, addictive read. The characters are well drawn and three dimensional - although not always likeable. There is an inevitability to the story that feels real, even though you don't want it to be that way.<br /><br />This book is definitely 14+ in my view, as sex, drugs, alcohol etc feature relatively prominently - but not gratuitously (at least most of the time...it does occasionally slip into 14yr old fantasyland...IMO) Recommended. 4/5 stars.<br /><br />Read more about Ted Dawe here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/Writers/Profiles/Dawe,%20Ted#a2006" rel="nofollow noopener">Ted Dawe</a><br /><br />Read another review of Into the River here:<br /><br /><a href="http://bobsbooksnz.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/into-the-river-by-ted-dawe/" rel="nofollow noopener">Bobs Books Blog</a><br /><br />This review, along with others, can be found at <a href="http://stgeorgesreaders.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">My Blog</a>