Chappy
by Patricia Grace
$38.00 Penguin Random House)
There is a real purity
to Patricia Grace’s fiction. She may be New Zealand literary royalty but her
writing is not about showing off her finery. Chappy is her first novel
in a decade, a heartfelt, spirited tale and an absolute joy to read.
Troubled
21-year-old Daniel is sent from Europe back to New Zealand to stay with his
grandmother Oriwia. He spends his time piecing together the life story of his
mysterious Japanese grandfather, Chappy, coaxing memories from Oriwia, and from
Aki, his uncle by double adoption.
Although the story
is centred on him, Chappy remains its most elusive figure and the trials of the
indomitable Oriwia and the travels of big-hearted Aki are what dominate. It’s a
huge story in some ways, taking us from New Zealand to Hawaii and Tokyo, and
through wartime, but it’s in its smallness that Chappy is most
beautiful.
In the sections
narrated by Daniel himself Grace doesn’t do much of a job of nailing an
authentic 21-year-old’s voice but then I don’t think she’s even trying to - her
style is timeless.
This is a must-read
novel about love, hard work, sacrifice and old fashioned Kiwi baking.
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