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Dirt Poor Islanders
Paperback

Dirt Poor Islanders

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'Islanders must do everything together. We painted ngatu together. We crossed the ocean together. We settled on isles together. We took up Christianity together. We entered into new citizenships together. We became wage workers together. We lived with generations upon generations stacked in fibro houses together. We became half-White together. We got nits together. We sooked together. We stayed poor together. Together. Together. Together.'

Meadow Reed used to get confused when explaining that she had grandparents from Australia, Tonga and Great Britain. She'd say she was full-White and full-Tongan, thinking that so many halves made separate wholes. Despite the Anglo-Saxon genetics that gave Meadow a narrow nose and light-brown skin, everybody who raised her was Tongan. Everybody who loved her was Tongan. This was what made her Tongan.

Growing up in the heat-hummed streets of Mt Druitt in Western Sydney, Meadow will face palangis who think they are better than Fobs, women who fall into other women, what it means to have many mothers, a playful rain and even Pineapple Fanta.

For this half-White, half-Tongan girl, the world is bigger than the togetherness she has grown up in. Finding her way means pushing against the constraints of tradition, family and self until she becomes whole in her own right. Meadow is going to see that being a dirt poor Islander girl is more beautiful than she can even begin to imagine.

Dirt Poor Islanders is a potent, mesmerising novel that opens our eyes to the brutal fractures navigated when growing up between two cultures and the importance of understanding all the many pieces of yourself.

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MORE INFO
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Hachette Australia
Country
Australia
Date
27 March 2024
Pages
304
ISBN
9780733649264

'Islanders must do everything together. We painted ngatu together. We crossed the ocean together. We settled on isles together. We took up Christianity together. We entered into new citizenships together. We became wage workers together. We lived with generations upon generations stacked in fibro houses together. We became half-White together. We got nits together. We sooked together. We stayed poor together. Together. Together. Together.'

Meadow Reed used to get confused when explaining that she had grandparents from Australia, Tonga and Great Britain. She'd say she was full-White and full-Tongan, thinking that so many halves made separate wholes. Despite the Anglo-Saxon genetics that gave Meadow a narrow nose and light-brown skin, everybody who raised her was Tongan. Everybody who loved her was Tongan. This was what made her Tongan.

Growing up in the heat-hummed streets of Mt Druitt in Western Sydney, Meadow will face palangis who think they are better than Fobs, women who fall into other women, what it means to have many mothers, a playful rain and even Pineapple Fanta.

For this half-White, half-Tongan girl, the world is bigger than the togetherness she has grown up in. Finding her way means pushing against the constraints of tradition, family and self until she becomes whole in her own right. Meadow is going to see that being a dirt poor Islander girl is more beautiful than she can even begin to imagine.

Dirt Poor Islanders is a potent, mesmerising novel that opens our eyes to the brutal fractures navigated when growing up between two cultures and the importance of understanding all the many pieces of yourself.

Read More
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Hachette Australia
Country
Australia
Date
27 March 2024
Pages
304
ISBN
9780733649264
 
Book Review

Dirt Poor Islanders
by Winnie Dunn

by Elke Power, Mar 2024

Winnie Dunn’s debut novel is unlike anything you’ve ever read, because it is unlike anything that has been published in Australia before. That said, it’s a universally relatable tale of the painful process of coming to an understanding of self. Dunn is the general manager of the renowned western Sydney-based Sweatshop Literacy Movement, and she’s also a writer of Tongan descent. Dirt Poor Islanders is the first Tongan-Australian novel, and it arrives this month already having received many accolades ahead of its release. They will not be the last.

Meadow is half-Tongan and half-White, and growing up in Mt Druitt in Sydney. The seeming simplicity of that fractional description belies the complexity of her unfolding sense of identity, and doesn’t always feel like a match for the life she is living surrounded by and being raised within her extended Tongan family. Despite the loss of her mother when she was very young, Meadow is not without maternal supports and influences, but even in the midst of her loving family, as she tries to refine her sense of who she is and what is important to her, the way ahead still sometimes appears unclear.

Dirt Poor Islanders is an immersive, moving story of a complex and richly drawn family. Dunn’s characters launch into the corporeal from the first page, and embed themselves in the heart well before the end. Meadow is a captivating narrator, and her journey through many of life’s earlier rites of passage will leave a lasting impression. Meadow’s family is as compelling as she is and the importance of shared stories is frequently underscored in their interactions. Dunn lends a deep texture to the dynamics between them with her deftly woven insights into Tongan culture. The language in this novel is a point of particular interest and enjoyment, both for Dunn’s skilful writing and for her expert, atmospheric deployment of Tongan vocabulary throughout.

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