‘Better the Blood,’ discussed!

Nerdette Recaps With Peter Sagal

WBEZ

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4.6 • 924 Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Book club is back to discuss ‘Better the Blood’ by Michael Bennett! It’s about Hana Westerman, a Māori police detective who is hunting down a serial killer in Auckland, New Zealand. Angeline Boulley, author of the YA novel ‘The Firekeeper’s Daughter,’ and Steph Matuku, a New Zealand author who writes YA books centered on Māori characters, join us. We discuss the parallels to the history of colonialism in the U.S. and the complexities of the serial killer’s mission. Warning, there are spoilers in this episode, so if you have not read the book yet, you can go back and listen to our spoiler-free interview with Michael Bennett first! Thank you to all of the listeners who called in. We appreciate you!

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still
0:06.1	watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,
0:12.7	soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,
0:18.0	Stories Without End from WBEZ Chicago.
0:25.7	Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.
0:28.3	Listen, wherever you get your podcast.
0:39.4	From WBEZ Chicago, I'm Greta Johnson, and this is The Nerdat Book Club.
0:43.3	It's just like a regular book club, except you don't have to share your snacks.
0:49.2	It is April, and our selection this month is Michael Bennett's detective novel Better the Blood.
0:55.5	It's about Hannah Westerman, a Maori police detective, who's trying to find a serial killer before he gets to more victims.
1:01.9	The killer, Poataraqi, is on a mission to write the wrongs of colonialism in New Zealand.
1:06.2	That's all I'm going to say for now, though this is your spoiler warning.
1:07.5	We are going to get into it today. So if you haven't read the book and you don't want to know what happens, go listen to our spoiler-free interview with Michael Bennett, which is in the feed. If you have
1:16.4	read the book or you do want to know what happens, you are in the right place. And I am super
1:21.0	excited to introduce you to this month's panelists. With us, we have Angeline Bully. She's the author of the YAA novel, The Firekeeper's
1:29.5	daughter. She's also a member of the Sioux-St. Marie tribe of the Chippewa Indians, also known as
1:33.8	the Ojibway. Angeline, welcome. Thank you for having me. We also have Steph Mituku,
1:39.2	who writes books for kids in New Zealand. Her Maori tribal affiliations are Natitama, Natimutinga, and Tia Tiawai.
1:46.4	Steph, welcome.
1:47.6	Hi there.
1:48.8	So I would love to jump in with a voicemail, actually, because we heard from Kirstie, who lives
1:53.9	in Hamilton, New Zealand.
	...

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