Slipping into Paradise

Slipping into Paradise

Why I live in New Zealand

by: Jeffrey Moussaifeff Masson

2004

248 pages, hardback

With the hopes of learning about the land we were to visit, I asked on facebook if anyone had a novel about New Zealand that they would recommend.  Unfortunately, it was late in the game, and the books I requested to be mailed to our local library arrived after my ability to collect them for our journey.  I did however have a successful trip to the downtown Library where I checked out three books and very happy that I chose Slipping into Paradise as the first one to read.  The author loves New Zealand!  At the time of writing the book, Jeffrey Masson was not yet a citizen of the country yet his enthusiasm for his new "home" is apparent with each page.  The book is a great resource. It is written from a personal point of view of a man who had lived in many diverse places and in his sixties, with a young wife he adores and two young children, he describes a land that Jared Diamond claimed is "as close as we will get to the opportunity to study life on another planet" (page 132). Masson is a journalist who has written several books and I can tell he likes words, and detail and story.  Intertwined with his own history and present, he gives chapters to the two Island's intriguing history (some things that stood out to me: c.1000 arrival of first people but they did not remain, but the rats they brought with them did, perhaps the first mammals, other than bats that are indigenous to New Zealand, to live on the Island.  c.1350 about 200 people arrived with coconut plants, sweet potatoes and a pregnant dog.  First missionary arrived in 1814 along with horses and cattle.  Sheep and the imported grass they needed to graze came from England in 1834.  Lots of history is covered in a readable way and there are also chapters dedicated to trees and birds (the national bird is the kiwi.  Kiwi fruit is also grown here and New Zealanders are present-day called Kiwis) and a chapter on Maori people and a brief glossary of both New Zealand words and phrases as well as a glossary of words in the Maori language, which now along with English are the two official languages of New Zealand. The book also mentioned two other books that I'm interested to read about new Zealand one being the Bone People (I have it with me) and the other is The Whale Rider (which is waiting for me at the Heights Library).  After just a few days in New Zealand, I too can see why it could be very easy to slip into this paradise.  I would recommend this book to those like me who have the wonderful opportunity of visiting what is known by  locals as "Godzone".