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Baby No-Eyes
Tawera and his sister are inseparable, in a relationship that is impossible for others to share. In fact his whole whanau is bonded by secrets, a genealogy stitched together by shame, joy, love, and sometimes grief.
Patricia Grace's major new novel merges recent headlines with stories of a heartfelt family history. It is an account of the mysteries that operate at many levels between generations, where the present is the pivot, the center of the spiral, looking outward to the past and future that define it.
Patricia Grace's major new novel merges recent headlines with stories of a heartfelt family history. It is an account of the mysteries that operate at many levels between generations, where the present is the pivot, the center of the spiral, looking outward to the past and future that define it.
294 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
26 people are currently reading
559 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Grace
62 books173 followersPatricia Grace is a major New Zealand novelist, short story writer and children’s writer, of Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa and Te Ati Awa descent, and is affiliated to Ngati Porou by marriage. Grace began writing early, while teaching and raising her family of seven children, and has since won many national and international awards, including the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize for fiction, the Deutz Medal for Fiction, and the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, widely considered the most prestigious literary prize after the Nobel. A deeply subtle, moving and subversive writer, in 2007 Grace received a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to literature.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
August 11, 2015
This novel is my first encounter with Patricia Grace and also with literature of Maori origin. I regret that both of these meetings took place so belatedly, but I can at least promise to keep in touch from now on.
For me this read as a close parallel with Louise Erdrich's book Love Medicine because it shares that book's co-narrated and non-linear structure, unrolling a diffuse narrative through several distinct voices belonging to three generations. Family ties are deeply important, but these are not limited to blood relationships. Metafictional elements are present, in that the speakers adopt styles and poses of telling and hearing, but the author does not interrupt her characters. As with Erdrich's book, I became passionately engaged in the lives and stories of the characters and did not want to leave their world, even though the story was (I felt) very gracefully wound up.
The central node or thread here is a single incident, the contextual significance of which only becomes readable and comprehensible through the collaborative storytelling of the people involved. This reading and understanding allows a range of themes to be explored around the historical and ongoing extractivist depredations of colonisers in relation to Maori and other native people, and a contemporary space where resistance and decolonisation are being enacted beyond survival and solidarity. Through her characters Grace deeply contextualises these issues in emotionally resonant individual and collective experience.
One thing that stood out for me about her technique is that she first introduces or hints at themes that have to be progressively explained through the relating of an incident or perception through more than one voice. Her storytelling is essentially social and embodies its truth. The reader has to learn patience, to examine 'the underside' of what is said and discover that meaning is relational and dynamic, coming between rather than carried by/from speaker and/to listener. To be clear; this book is easy to read and very accessible because the author so skilfully reveals links between what might seem disparate and difficult to grasp, carefully selecting who will say what and how and when, how incidents and sensory descriptions will flow and fall into place around dialogues
There is a deep sensitivity to observer position in Grace's physical descriptions, partly shown through language 'like droplets on a window a few centimetres from [your] face' and partly through having experiences narrated from multiple viewpoints. Tawera's kinaesthetic descriptions of shape, size and colour to a blind person are fun to read and show his empathetic, creative and quick mind, but also speak to the need for such receptive and imaginative meaning-making in cross cultural dialogue, something at which the local Council fails, at least initially.
Grace shares many fascinating details of Maori culture, such as the lack of gender discrimination with regard to inheritance, the value placed on childbearing and the way of tending and valuing pregnant women. Many of the tales shared by Kura and indirectly by Mahaki's grandfather concern social responses to transgressive acts and resolutions of problems that, importantly, show how justice was administered and boundaries of acceptable behaviour maintained in the community without a law and order paradigm. Many of these relate to sexual behaviour; a childless couple find a way to extend their valued genealogies, a woman who has left her husband for another man must return him and his belongings to his family, a man who rapes his fourteen year old niece is not killed, but treated as a ghost.
Dialogue, resolution and justice are extended as themes through incidents involving both Maori and Pakeha (non-Maori/White) people and ways that Maori identities have been and are negotiated in an evolving context of colonisation. Important, far-reaching aspects of this involve incompatible understanding of and relationships to land and also to genealogy and the sacred. These themes are developed especially in the voice of the lawyer Mahaki and coalesce around the dramatic and realistic conflict with the Council. The central incident of the book causes Mahaki to reflect that Maori people are not seen as human, not seen as capable of suffering. Most heartbreakingly, Kura tells the story of Riripeti, a younger sister/cousin for whom she was made responsible in the White-run school they attended. Despite her efforts, Riripeti was subjected to psychological torture. Kura and her classmates learned through horror that their Maori language was evil and deadly to them (as Ngugi wa Thiong'o also explains in Decolonising the Mind).
On this foundation and on the novel's central incident is built Kura's binary opposition of 'goodness' and 'wildness'. These poles relate to domestication for the convenience of or acceptability to Pakeha white supremacist values ('goodness') eg 'kept good by alcohol and church' 'kept good by bad teeth, dope, beatings, welfare and pregnancy' In contrast, 'wildness' is a quality that she traces to a wilful foremother Pirinoa. While it can be seen as a Maori quality, it cannot be mapped onto the idea of adherence to tradition, since Pirinoa herself challenged and changed 'the way laid down' in her own life. So while Pakeha/Maori relate to the good/wild binary it transcends ethnic/racial grounding. A better way to describe the opposition might be in terms of power: goodness is disempowering for Maori people, while wildness is empowering. Goodness accepts subjugation; wildness resists.
Kura's story of education for her generation is hopefully counterpointed by the totally contrasting experience of Tawera. Grace leaves us in no doubt of his good fortune, emphasising that education remains an extension of colonisation for many, but provides an example of a Pakeha educator committed to justice in community service. Similarly, many Pakeha, including the local police, are respectful or supportive of the direct action Mahaki's family engage in, though others respond with racist words, physical violence and counter demonstration.
I especially admired the creative, exuberant way she narrates the life of an unseen/invisible character, through the voices of Te Paania and Kura but especially Tawera. At times Tawera's 'we' seems to have a deeper/wider meaning than just 'me and my sister', for example during the performance where they play the role of Tawhaki, the Seen/Unseen is not only Tawera/Tawera's sister but, I felt, all Maori, living, dead and stolen, who share the story through Tawera's embodiment of Tawhaki. This suggestion gains force both from his self-perceived bodily unsuitability (immature, light-skinned) and from the fact that the 'Unseen' is a girl. The heroic Tawhaki thus transcends age, gender and concerns about racial 'purity'. Rather than in physical attributes (strength/ableness, beauty, resemblance), the siblings embody Tawhaki successfully through Tawera's singing ability and commitment and his sister's invisibility, along with the sympathetic enthusiasm and direct collaborative involvement of the audience.
For me this read as a close parallel with Louise Erdrich's book Love Medicine because it shares that book's co-narrated and non-linear structure, unrolling a diffuse narrative through several distinct voices belonging to three generations. Family ties are deeply important, but these are not limited to blood relationships. Metafictional elements are present, in that the speakers adopt styles and poses of telling and hearing, but the author does not interrupt her characters. As with Erdrich's book, I became passionately engaged in the lives and stories of the characters and did not want to leave their world, even though the story was (I felt) very gracefully wound up.
The central node or thread here is a single incident, the contextual significance of which only becomes readable and comprehensible through the collaborative storytelling of the people involved. This reading and understanding allows a range of themes to be explored around the historical and ongoing extractivist depredations of colonisers in relation to Maori and other native people, and a contemporary space where resistance and decolonisation are being enacted beyond survival and solidarity. Through her characters Grace deeply contextualises these issues in emotionally resonant individual and collective experience.
One thing that stood out for me about her technique is that she first introduces or hints at themes that have to be progressively explained through the relating of an incident or perception through more than one voice. Her storytelling is essentially social and embodies its truth. The reader has to learn patience, to examine 'the underside' of what is said and discover that meaning is relational and dynamic, coming between rather than carried by/from speaker and/to listener. To be clear; this book is easy to read and very accessible because the author so skilfully reveals links between what might seem disparate and difficult to grasp, carefully selecting who will say what and how and when, how incidents and sensory descriptions will flow and fall into place around dialogues
There is a deep sensitivity to observer position in Grace's physical descriptions, partly shown through language 'like droplets on a window a few centimetres from [your] face' and partly through having experiences narrated from multiple viewpoints. Tawera's kinaesthetic descriptions of shape, size and colour to a blind person are fun to read and show his empathetic, creative and quick mind, but also speak to the need for such receptive and imaginative meaning-making in cross cultural dialogue, something at which the local Council fails, at least initially.
Grace shares many fascinating details of Maori culture, such as the lack of gender discrimination with regard to inheritance, the value placed on childbearing and the way of tending and valuing pregnant women. Many of the tales shared by Kura and indirectly by Mahaki's grandfather concern social responses to transgressive acts and resolutions of problems that, importantly, show how justice was administered and boundaries of acceptable behaviour maintained in the community without a law and order paradigm. Many of these relate to sexual behaviour; a childless couple find a way to extend their valued genealogies, a woman who has left her husband for another man must return him and his belongings to his family, a man who rapes his fourteen year old niece is not killed, but treated as a ghost.
Dialogue, resolution and justice are extended as themes through incidents involving both Maori and Pakeha (non-Maori/White) people and ways that Maori identities have been and are negotiated in an evolving context of colonisation. Important, far-reaching aspects of this involve incompatible understanding of and relationships to land and also to genealogy and the sacred. These themes are developed especially in the voice of the lawyer Mahaki and coalesce around the dramatic and realistic conflict with the Council. The central incident of the book causes Mahaki to reflect that Maori people are not seen as human, not seen as capable of suffering. Most heartbreakingly, Kura tells the story of Riripeti, a younger sister/cousin for whom she was made responsible in the White-run school they attended. Despite her efforts, Riripeti was subjected to psychological torture. Kura and her classmates learned through horror that their Maori language was evil and deadly to them (as Ngugi wa Thiong'o also explains in Decolonising the Mind).
On this foundation and on the novel's central incident is built Kura's binary opposition of 'goodness' and 'wildness'. These poles relate to domestication for the convenience of or acceptability to Pakeha white supremacist values ('goodness') eg 'kept good by alcohol and church' 'kept good by bad teeth, dope, beatings, welfare and pregnancy' In contrast, 'wildness' is a quality that she traces to a wilful foremother Pirinoa. While it can be seen as a Maori quality, it cannot be mapped onto the idea of adherence to tradition, since Pirinoa herself challenged and changed 'the way laid down' in her own life. So while Pakeha/Maori relate to the good/wild binary it transcends ethnic/racial grounding. A better way to describe the opposition might be in terms of power: goodness is disempowering for Maori people, while wildness is empowering. Goodness accepts subjugation; wildness resists.
Kura's story of education for her generation is hopefully counterpointed by the totally contrasting experience of Tawera. Grace leaves us in no doubt of his good fortune, emphasising that education remains an extension of colonisation for many, but provides an example of a Pakeha educator committed to justice in community service. Similarly, many Pakeha, including the local police, are respectful or supportive of the direct action Mahaki's family engage in, though others respond with racist words, physical violence and counter demonstration.
I especially admired the creative, exuberant way she narrates the life of an unseen/invisible character, through the voices of Te Paania and Kura but especially Tawera. At times Tawera's 'we' seems to have a deeper/wider meaning than just 'me and my sister', for example during the performance where they play the role of Tawhaki, the Seen/Unseen is not only Tawera/Tawera's sister but, I felt, all Maori, living, dead and stolen, who share the story through Tawera's embodiment of Tawhaki. This suggestion gains force both from his self-perceived bodily unsuitability (immature, light-skinned) and from the fact that the 'Unseen' is a girl. The heroic Tawhaki thus transcends age, gender and concerns about racial 'purity'. Rather than in physical attributes (strength/ableness, beauty, resemblance), the siblings embody Tawhaki successfully through Tawera's singing ability and commitment and his sister's invisibility, along with the sympathetic enthusiasm and direct collaborative involvement of the audience.
November 5, 2024
3.5 I'm writing an essay on this that's melting my brain and have no coherent thoughts about it.
- unique narrative structure linked to whanau Maori storytelling
- confusing dialogue to I never quite understood the flow of?
- emotional
- unique narrative structure linked to whanau Maori storytelling
- confusing dialogue to I never quite understood the flow of?
- emotional
December 26, 2022
Actually 2.5.
Poignant depiction of NZ in the early 21st century -
Pros: as a Maori you can feel the emotion throughout the novel, especially as it picks up the pace with the occupation outside govt house. Very accurate marae scenes and feelings attached to Treaty issues.
Cons: meandering plot; lack of personality beyond pride and being Maori
Poignant depiction of NZ in the early 21st century -
Pros: as a Maori you can feel the emotion throughout the novel, especially as it picks up the pace with the occupation outside govt house. Very accurate marae scenes and feelings attached to Treaty issues.
Cons: meandering plot; lack of personality beyond pride and being Maori
August 19, 2025
patricia grace is an exceptional writer. she weaves in and out of time. submerging you in various parts of the story and making you understand later, I couldn't feel lost as she guided me through one of the saddest stories i've ever read, particularly in its reality and relation to the countless struggles our people have had to endure. i whakangoingo au i te wahi o te tamarikitanga a ngā kaumatua ki aotearoa.
significant moments, ideas, philosophies and perspectives are signposted and referred to across the book, giving you a rewarding feeling of engaging so heavily with it.
will be thinking on it for a long time
significant moments, ideas, philosophies and perspectives are signposted and referred to across the book, giving you a rewarding feeling of engaging so heavily with it.
will be thinking on it for a long time
December 31, 2021
4.999999
Such a good read. Learn a lot about Maori land issues, language and residential schools, biocolonialism. Not sure it might be a 5* tbh <3
Such a good read. Learn a lot about Maori land issues, language and residential schools, biocolonialism. Not sure it might be a 5* tbh <3
April 15, 2024
3.8 stars
Good book, enjoyed the writing style. read the entire thing in two days.
Good book, enjoyed the writing style. read the entire thing in two days.
July 19, 2020
This is excellent, with a really appealing structure - non-linear, and from multiple different narrators, which is something I enjoy. The title character, who is not really the central character of the book at all - rather she is the catalyst that a bunch of inter-related stories play off - is a stillborn infant who, before being returned to her family for burial, is the subject of a medical experiment. Her eyes are cut out, all without the permission or knowledge of her family, who are understandably horrified at what has been done. It's based on a true story, according to the author's note, and it's hard not to suspect that this child is treated as a disposable resource primarily because she is Maori.
But burial is not the end of Baby No-Eyes, as her ghost continues to haunt her younger brother, becoming more and more entwined in his life. Simultaneously, her extended family are involved in their own recoveries of land and language and purpose, and Baby's relationship with her brother Tawera continues in the background of protest, occupation, and the journey to get stolen land returned. If that sounds sprawling and nebulous it is, a little, and towards the end I do tend to think that the book gets a little too unfocused, but overall it's thoughtful and affecting and angry and wonderful. I'm so glad I read it.
But burial is not the end of Baby No-Eyes, as her ghost continues to haunt her younger brother, becoming more and more entwined in his life. Simultaneously, her extended family are involved in their own recoveries of land and language and purpose, and Baby's relationship with her brother Tawera continues in the background of protest, occupation, and the journey to get stolen land returned. If that sounds sprawling and nebulous it is, a little, and towards the end I do tend to think that the book gets a little too unfocused, but overall it's thoughtful and affecting and angry and wonderful. I'm so glad I read it.
July 18, 2018
I'm not sure why I liked this book so much, but with little background knowledge about New Zealand and Maori culture, history, and land rights, I was completely sucked into the narration of the story by several of narrators. I was particularly intrigued by how it echoed a book I'd recently read about the island where I now live (Okinawa--"Above the East China Sea") in the use of a mother and an unborn-baby-ghost as speakers. I feel like I could move to New Zealand tomorrow and at least know how to listen to the stories swirling around me.
September 10, 2021
I found this hard work initially ... very detailed writing, many characters, multiple issues ... but gradually the story emerged and drew me in.
A lot of weaving to unravel, but perhaps that is the Maori way, that everything is interconnected, and the past is the present is the future.
I can't say I understood it fully, but I felt immersed in the world created, and wished I could go and meet some of the characters ... but also, I felt drained by it ... need to read something REALLY lightweight next!
A lot of weaving to unravel, but perhaps that is the Maori way, that everything is interconnected, and the past is the present is the future.
I can't say I understood it fully, but I felt immersed in the world created, and wished I could go and meet some of the characters ... but also, I felt drained by it ... need to read something REALLY lightweight next!
October 21, 2024
Provides a beautiful insight into Maori spirituality and politics. This book was devastating in parts but quite whimsical in others. The difference in narrators and circular timeline was a bit confusing, but then again, this story is told in a manner that is reflective of Maori oral history traditions. Very sweet in parts, but tbh most of the writing style did not stand out to me, which is the point I guess.
July 15, 2019
Another book from Mary’s reading list at university of otago, New Zealand. I sense I missed a lot of the depth of this book being unfamiliar with Maori culture, but it was still a riveting narration of a people, a family, a boy and his sister, baby no eyes — who is, at one and the same time, annoying and terrifying.
March 28, 2025
Grace's nonlinear storytelling is unique and beautiful. As her characters experience the feeling of being pulled to do something without yet knowing why, we as readers are bestowed pieces of stories without yet knowing how and where they fit together. But everything falls into place. I'm already looking forward to re-reading this!
March 15, 2023
omg did I finish this book or did it finish me… Gran Kura reminded me of my mum so so much and it absolutely devastated me 😭😭 but v interesting insight into Māori culture and inter-generational trauma !!!!
August 5, 2019
My first delve into Patricia Grace or Maori culture. Took me more than a few chapters to get the swing of the changing perspectives, but I thought it was a great multi-generational story. The message of understanding cultural perspective of any situation is always relevant.
March 12, 2020
Another great story from Patricia Grace. A bit rambling at times but altogether very interesting
August 12, 2020
I never thought I'd tear up over a hill but here we are.
Read
April 30, 2022(school) didn’t finish the last like.. 50 pages. i didn’t like i am not one for nonlinear & multi character stories
July 20, 2022
Whaea Patricia’s hugest fuck colonisation energy
October 3, 2022
Fine, but nothing extraordinary. My World lit reading list is pretty mid aside from the Rushdie
October 20, 2024
The first half of this book was magic.
August 25, 2016
Baby No-eyes, by Patricia Grace, is a disturbing book to read. I was quite taken aback when I realised the significance of the title, and spent some time thinking about my instinctive emotional response. It’s not until later in the book that the motivation for what happens is revealed, so it was the act that repelled me, and since I don’t share Maori spiritual beliefs, I was quite unable to rationalise my response.
Yes, I know I’m being mysterious about this, but I want readers to share the experience of discovery as I did. I don’t want to spoil that for anyone. I was reading in bed at night, gradually piecing together the family stories that bring this novel together, enjoying the moment when I realised that this one was the mother of that one, and these two were in a gay relationship, and so on. But I was mystified by Tawara’s constant companion, nagging, needy and tireless in her demands. I did not understand why he put up with her, and why he felt responsible for trying to keep her contented.
As I say, the moment of discovery came as a shock. ‘Ohhh’, I said aloud, and my heart gave a little lurch, and I put the book down for a moment or two, to get my breath back. As is the way with powerful moments in book-reading, I am still reflecting on it, trying to dissect why it had such an impact. I think it’s one of those moments that will stay with me for some time, because it’s forced me to the admission that I’m not as rational as I think I am!
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/06/28/ba...
Yes, I know I’m being mysterious about this, but I want readers to share the experience of discovery as I did. I don’t want to spoil that for anyone. I was reading in bed at night, gradually piecing together the family stories that bring this novel together, enjoying the moment when I realised that this one was the mother of that one, and these two were in a gay relationship, and so on. But I was mystified by Tawara’s constant companion, nagging, needy and tireless in her demands. I did not understand why he put up with her, and why he felt responsible for trying to keep her contented.
As I say, the moment of discovery came as a shock. ‘Ohhh’, I said aloud, and my heart gave a little lurch, and I put the book down for a moment or two, to get my breath back. As is the way with powerful moments in book-reading, I am still reflecting on it, trying to dissect why it had such an impact. I think it’s one of those moments that will stay with me for some time, because it’s forced me to the admission that I’m not as rational as I think I am!
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2014/06/28/ba...
January 18, 2016
"There’s a way the older people have of telling a story, a way where the beginning is not the beginning, the end is not the end. It starts from a centre and moves away from there in such widening circles that you don’t know how you will finally arrive at the point of understanding, which becomes itself another core, a new centre." The tale of "Baby No-Eyes" unfolds via the perspective of four protagonists: Gran Kura (grandmother), Tawera (grandson), Ta Paania (mother), and Mahaki (Maori tribal lawyer and family friend). Each character adds depth plus empathy to the plight of New Zealand's indigenous Maori people. It is a story of loss: loss of lands, lost tradition, unreturned lives. Yet it remains a story of hope, abounding in depth and rich consonance. Tappity tap tap zing! "We keep our stories secret because we love our children, we keep our language hidden because we love our children, we disguise ourselves and hide our hearts because we love our children." Stories reveal the heart, and I truly loved this story. New Zealand author, Patricia Grace, demonstrates both warmth and incredible talent in this excellent work. A new favorite - bravo!!
May 18, 2013
I'm a huge fan of Patricia Grace, and have read this one more than once. I reread it recently and it was just as good as I remembered.
Because her books are so rooted in New Zealand, other readers might miss the intent of some cultural references but they'll be rewarded so richly by reading her. An exquisite writer not be missed!
Because her books are so rooted in New Zealand, other readers might miss the intent of some cultural references but they'll be rewarded so richly by reading her. An exquisite writer not be missed!
December 4, 2009
This multi-layered book is about a Maori boy who is raised up by his mother, grandmother, two uncles and the ghost of his 4-year-older sister, Baby No-Eyes. Told by several generations, we learn about a sit-in to return a Maori ancestral land.
August 5, 2011
it's not necessarily a bad book, but i couldn't stay interested in it for the life of me. good luck should you choose to read it, or any other of patricia grace's books for that matter. they are all fairly similar.
April 13, 2014
This book of Grace's just didn't rock my boat. It felt too forced somehow: too forced in terms of edgy/fractured structure, and too forced in terms of making big political statements related to indigenous rights within health/genome studies, etc.
August 29, 2014
Gorgeous. Perfect blend of poetry, family drama, activism and history. I was a but let down by the ending but overall...what a find! I want to read all her other books now.
July 30, 2022
Quite good would have been better if I didn’t read it for school. A little confusing with the timeline but made it interesting too.
November 27, 2024
Enchanting, shattering, beautiful
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews