Auē by Becky Manawatu

 

This book plays in a lot of the same thematic territory as a lot of S.A. Cosby's work: a racial-minority underclass dealing with the lingering ongoing effects of being brutalized, vengeance and pain, tradition, criminality. There are real differences, of course, between the Māori and their experiences, and Black Americans and theirs, and those differences are also clear in the reading. *Auē* is in many ways a more heart-breaking novel than what I've read of Cosby's, the non-linearity at play here turns at least part of the story tragic, a future you can't see coming, can't watch, can't look away from. Good, strong, difficult stuff.