'Heartland' by Jenny Pattrick - reviewed by Maggie Rainey-Smith

'Heartland' by Jenny Pattrick

Published by Random House, Black Swan Imprint

RRP $36.99

A comedic romp through the 'heartland' with a bunch of quirky characters - implausible people, almost caricatures and yet just odd enough to be convincing.  I hardly know where to begin.  This is my first Jenny Pattrick novel.  From the cover and the title, I had envisaged something entirely different - I'd imagined a tale of middle-aged to older and wisely funny women, but no, instead there is a lovable motley cast of small town New Zealanders, from the fringes.

            The central character is Manawa, a fictitious town in the Central Plateau, evidently modelled on the tiny settlement of Rangataua, but the author assures us that although this settlement has been 'beloved of our family for four generations...The characters and homesteads are, however, entirely imaginary.' (Phew!). The story begins when Donny Mac is released from jail at Easter and returns to Manawa.  Donny, whose entire vocabulary appears to be 'woohoo'  is quite an endearing chap in his own way, just 'a few pence short of a pound' and having completed an anger management course - he's not even a lovable rogue, just a sandwich short of a picnic with a heart of gold.

            Then there is Pansy Holloway, known as Nightshade, pregnant and claiming Donny Mac is the father of her baby.  Along with Nightshade, there is another solo mum, the waif-like teenage Tracy aka the Virgin (yes, that grated) who squats in the townies ski chalets and raids the locals gardens for food.  Her baby is called Sky.  There's the dishevelled and dirty Vera who delivers meals on wheels via a baby pram, to Bull who appears to be agoraphobic and rarely leaves his house.   Whenever I began to feel disengaged, or disbelieving about a situation I'd be seduced by a vignette that touched me.  The first of these is when Vera and Bull discover angels and auras.  And, not to be overlooked and importantly there is Di Masefield, the closest to caricature but saved from being one dimensional by the deft hand of the author - just. Her boys are the reason Donny ended up in jail. She's determined to make money from the townies and buy up cheap land in Manawa before the district plan changes, with ski chalets in mind. Oh, and wait, three elderly eccentric women, the McAnenys, delightful characters, whose interesting back-story is evidently based on descendants of the author's own family.

            There's a rugby club, a district plan, townies, the locals... It's a sort of Jenny Pattrick meets, Ronald Hugh Morrieson, with a touch of Alan Duff and a hint of Witi Ihimaera... does she pull it off... I leave that to you the reader to decide.  I'm not giving anything away, as it's all over the front and back cover, but Nightshade disappears, and the plot revolves around the whereabouts of her body - there are spades, speculation and urupa involved. 

            I think if the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Will were touring through Manawa, they would get a right royal welcome, and maybe even a few of Bull's carrots.  The Guardian just this week has asked famous authors to name a book they would recommend to someone in prison to read.  I reckon the girls at Arohata Prison would love 'Heartland' for its quirky reflection of less than perfect lives - the plot laced with humour, the hapless Donny Mac, two teenage solo mum's,  a missing body, the hard to like Di Mansfield, ...most of it probably bordering on improbability, but not entirely (well, too many nice wrap-ups really), but lovely all the same.   And too, Pattrick takes risks in this light-hearted romp with very serious topics and she pulls it off I think rather well.  It's not what you're expecting, and even though I resisted, I couldn't help but enjoy most of it, and at times, in spite of myself, be moved.

            I recommend to any readers who ski, to save this book for a ski weekend...take it up the mountain for one of those lay-days when the mountain is closed, or erupts... pour a glass of wine and have a giggle at how the locals view the townies and if you own one of the chalets, check your ski jackets, and the larder... The Virgin might have been visiting.

P.S.

I note that there is a poetry collection by Michele Leggott, being launched this week, also titled 'Heartland' - how interesting.

About the reviewer:
Maggie Rainey-Smith is a Wellington writer and regular reviewer on Beattie's Book Blog.  http://acurioushalfhour.wordpress.com