Winner of the Hubert Church Prize for Fiction – Best First Book.
John Prins’ debut short story collection Pastoral Care is the second title in the Landfall Tauraka Short Stories series, following Ockham shortlisted Pretty Ugly by Kirsty Gunn.
The nine stories centre on daily life in twenty-first-century Aotearoa New Zealand, exploring the limits of choice and the ache of compromise. On the shores of Lake Pukaki; in kitchens, bedrooms and Lego-strewn living rooms; at school events; walking the dog, pushing a buggy, or stuck in traffic with a child kicking the back of the driver’s seat, Prins blends wry humour, emotional depth and a distinctive, engaging voice to illuminate the dark gulf between youthful dreams and the reality of adult obligations.
Prins adds ‘layered characters and emotional complexity’ and his ‘paragraphs spill with observation and texture’, writes Kirsteen Ure in Kete.
In Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books, Rebecca Hill writes that Prins ‘offers us nuanced takes on identity that are both individual and national, span history and allow space for a range of flaws and insecurities without ever feeling earnest or over-reaching – or prescribing one specific version of man, husband, father, teacher, writer, Aucklander’.
Erica Stretton notes that ‘Prins is a master of pressing hard on small details to evoke emotion, and his varied characters are multi-layered, shaded knowingly in dark and light.’ Full review in takahē.
