The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera
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Book Reviews of The Whale Rider
Book Review: GO SEE THE MOVIE INSTEAD
Summary: 1 Stars
Like most people that will come to this book, I saw the movie version first and was so impressed by it that I went to the bookstore as fast as I could to get the novel of it. Was I ever disappointed by it. I knew I was in trouble when in the first paragraph I read the simile "the mountains were like a stairway to heaven". The whole stairway to heaven bit is just the first in a long line of cliches in this book that are the trademark of lazy and unimaginative writers. I'll get to the rest later but this is one of the few times where the movie is better than the book. The Whale Rider centers on a Maori tribe in Whangara, New Zealand whose traditions are threatened by the same thing that threatens all cultures. Forgetfullness. There are no traditions unless they are passed down from one generation to the next. The aging chief, named Koro Apirana, has a son named Porourengi who will take over after his death. The problem is that he worries about the generation after since Porouangi has a daughter instead of a hoped for son. Koro wants the bloodline to continue through sons, not daughters. So he scorns the girl-child, who is given the name Kahu. He is outraged by this name because it is the ancient name of the mythical figure from whom the whole tribe is descended. This figure was the friend of whales and rode on their backs and knew their language. Like King Arthur, he vowed that in its time of greatest need, he would return to help his people. Kahu might just be that returning savior who could join Nature and Man together again, but how will she attain the position when she has to constantly strive against the sexism of her great-grandfather who says he has no use for her an does not allow her to learn the ways of the tribe?
Unlike the movie, where the main character is Kahu, the main narrator of the book is Rawiri, who is Koro's second son, and who was portrayed in the movie as an overweight drunk. In the book, he is sort of a bad boy who is in a motorcycle gang but he respects tradition and is Kahu's appointed protector. Kahu is almost a minor character in the novel. She flits in and out of the plot but she's not in the spotlight as such until the closing chapters. Kahu's father also plays a smaller role than in the film.
Why did I dislike this book? Because when I seek the book a film was based on, I seek it because in novels you are supposed to get far deeper meanings than you can get from an image on a screen. You should be able to get more backstory, more characterization, more thought. I got none of these things from reading the novel. It was dull and boring. The characters were lifeless. They had no inner life. There was some use of whales as characters in the book and they talk using completely human words like "radiation" and "data-banks" which totally went against the whole in tune with nature thing to me and became goofy. The book was emotionless. It had no heart. As Bill and Ted would say, it was "most untriumphant". If I had read the book before I had seen the movie, I would not have gone to see it. That's how bad this book was.
To me, weirdly enough, the film has more story to it, and the screenwriters did a brillant job. They made the story BETTER if you can believe it. Go see the film! It was one of the most brillant movies I have ever seen. The acting is superb, especially the girl that plays Kahu. I really admire the filmmakers for turning an awful book into one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen. Avoid this book. The novelization of the film Dude, Where's my Car? would be better than reading this. I was so disappointed.
Book Review: Very disappointing--don't buy it!
Summary: 1 Stars
If you're expecting something much better than the movie (as books usually are)--forget it! The person that decided that this book would make a good movie must have had an extraodinarily good imagination. The only elements the book seems to have in common with the movie is the title, some of the character names and a very loosely similar story. Where the movie was riveting and moving, the book is boring and bland. Having stills from the movie printed on the cover and in the book, which suggests that the book and the movie are closely related must come very close to false advertising. Don't waste your money!