Tu relates the experiences of three brothers who join the Maori Battalion in World War II and end up fighting together in a nightmarish campaign in Italy. In some ways it's a typical horrors-of-war story. But it is couched in an exploration of the Maori people's struggle to find a place in 20th century New Zealand.

The story is told in a largely non-linear fashion, interspersing Tu's memories and diary entries from the war with third-person narration of the family's pre-war life in Wellington. Grace uses the different settings as foils for each other, so that we can see the differences in the brothers' attitudes to war echoed in their experiences in the city, and especially in the different ways in which they relate to a white woman, Jess, who becomes a key figure in all of their lives. Sometimes this juxtaposition is handled more deftly than others; though the backstory feels crucial, it is not as engaging as the war scenes. The Wellington scenes sometimes feel like a lot of set-up that could have been either shorter or more exciting (or, possibly, both).

But it's a really good book. The research is meticulous and well-incorporated, and the story itself is deeply affecting. I didn't even know about the existence of the Maori Battalion before I picked up this book, and I finished it feeling heartbroken and outraged and wanting to learn more. Highly recommended for all readers.

This review has been condensed from a longer review that I published on my blog, Around the World in 2000 Books. ( )

The novel Tu opens and closes with a letter. New Zealander Tu Hokowhitu-a-Tu owes an explanation to his niece and nephew, Rimini and Benedict. Sandwiched between the letters there are Tu's journals interspersed with third person flashbacks. In his journals Tu tries to tackle the war in his own words. The war everyone is signing up for. World War II. In flashbacks we learn Big Brother Pita thought he should stay home to care for his family until the fighting pulls him in and seesm to be the only way out. Pita follows feisty Brother Rangi, already wild with battle. Left behind is little Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu. Too-young-to-go-to-war Tu, but there's no place he would rather be. Maybe because of his brothers? He wants to be useful. He wants to get away. Through his journals he implies enlistment means freedom and despite being underage he signs up for the Maori Battalion.

I found it interesting that all three brothers would want to go into battle after seeing what war did to their father. Coming back from World War I and wracked by post traumatic stress disorder, their father at times was a wild and raging man; given to fits of insanity and violence. ( )

Tu is the sixth novel of Māori author Patricia Grace, and it’s quite different to her other novels I’ve read, which have all been firmly grounded in New Zealand. It’s the story of three brothers who go away to war, and of a girl who matters to all of them.

Most of the novel is narrated by Tu, responding in his later years to the questions of his nephews Rimini and Benedict. The novel is bookended by his letters to them, with his war diary set in Italy in between, along with the back story of his brother Pita in New Zealand.

Tu is much younger than his brothers Pita and Rangi, and he bears the burden of being the chosen one. When their father returned from WW1 he was a damaged man, and his violence blighted their youth. Pita stayed home from school to protect his mother, making his employment prospects even more difficult in a society where discrimination against the Māori was the norm. Quiet, thoughtful and an intensely private man, Pita is nothing like his knockabout brother Rangi, but both of them are determined that Tu will win a native scholarship, get an education and become the hope of the family. This sense of family responsibility amongst the Māori is a motif which recurs after their father dies and the family moves to Wellington: the boys share their earnings to augment their mother’s war widows pension, a pension which was inexplicably half the amount paid to Pakeha women.

The coming of war brings issues of identity to the fore. For many young men, enlistment meets a desire for independence, travel, and a sense of purpose. But the general question of whether New Zealanders should fight for a British cause far from home becomes more personal for the Māori. Should they fight for the people who colonised their country and systematically disadvantaged them thereafter? Would the formation of the Māori Battalion bring them some long overdue respect?

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2016/07/06/tu-by-patricia-grace/ ( )

Three brothers a long way from home. Rangi, Pita and Tu are fighting with the 28th Maori Battalion in Italy during World War II. The novel moves back and forth through time and place, from their childhood, their move and integration into Wellington society in the early 1940s, and the mud-caked rubble of Cassino, Italy. Only Tu will live and return to New Zealand, his brothers take care of that. But he is not the same boy that went away. I didn't enjoy this novel as much as I had hoped to. ( )

I know, I know.....another war novel. No it is not. This is a story set during WWII, featuring the Maori Battalion of New Zealand. This is more than a war story. This story is told via the protagonist's journal kept during the war and afterwards. This is the story of brothers and cousins bound together by blood and culture. This is the story of loves found and lost. This is the story of the cost of war. This is the story of a culture which was used and manipulated. This is the story of a proud culture with rich, joyful traditions. This story is about being a Maori warrior, a Maori man, a lover, a son, a brother, a cousin, an uncle, and ultimately about being a human being whose life is battered and broken and then tries to heal.

The author's prose is lyrical, joyful and profoundly moving. The narrator for the audiobook was fantastic!! I learned a lot and loved Tu's courage, joy, and attitude. READ THIS! ( )