Review: Dolly Doll - Leo Schulz

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Review: Dolly Doll - Leo Schulz - March 2014

Set in the early 1970's starting at the top of the North Island, we meet two Pakeha teens Dolly and her boyfriend Freddie.  Freddie is supposedly bad news and Dolly's parents warn her away from him , but of course Dolly knows best and she is head over heels for Freddie. So the pair of them take the car and start driving with the hope of running off together into the sunset and living happily ever after. Things don't always go that way as Freddie has a bit of a temper and during a stop in Hamilton almost beats a guy half to death for starring at Dolly.  This lands the couple in the world of the life of Maori gangs, drugs and even worse in the middle of a gang war between the Mongrel Mob and Black Power. Growing up in NZ and also watching Alan Duff's Once Were Warriors / What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted Fims , made me wonder if the author has used that as some of his inspiration for the novel and maybe some of his own experience of being born in New Zealand probably during those years. Reading previous reviews, this book did cause alot of controversy but being a New Zealander and having an understanding of the gang life etc - this book was a true portrayal of what could happen from beatings, abuse , drugs and rape. 
Dolly Doll is not a romantic read but an Edgy story which resembled a New Zealand version of books that you might see from authors like Martina Cole, Manduse Heller and Jessie Keane.



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