Aukati
Michalia Arathimos
Marko Press
pub. 2017

February 22, 2021

For 362 pages, Aukati by Michalia Arathimos and its complexities consumed my headspace. This is a book that my Year 12 English teacher could have been analysing with the class. ‘Aukati’ means boundary, and this book challenges the reader’s; just like Alexia, Isaiah, and the iwi challenge the fracking operation occurring next to the community.

Alexia enters the marae as a Greek New Zealand law student, who is unintentionally following an eco-warrior activism group to the marae. Isaiah comes, or returns, to the marae as a metaphorical ‘prodigal son’; he is a part of the whānau there.  Read more