Pounamu Pounamu

I found this to be a good read, but didn't quite have the depth and magic of some of Witi Ihimaera's later work. I can understand how important it would have been when it first came out, it explores people and places that have been generally ignored. In the modern context, however, there are lots of other books that do it better (especially his own later stories) and therefore reading this book after reading those works makes it a bit less impactful. It's interesting reading through the earlier formations of some of his more iconic characters, and some of the stories were really great, but others dragged a little for me and lacked focus. Still worth reading, it's a good collection but mostly when viewed in context of its initial release in 1972.