Reviews

Mamaskatch by Darrel J. McLeod

xoodlebooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

“The pattern of my mother’s stories is different from the ones I hear at school. The timelines are never linear. Instead, they are like spirals. She starts with one element of a story, moves to another and skips to get a different part. She revisits each theme several times over, providing a bit more information with each pass. At first I find it hard to follow, but I’ve learned that if I just sit back and listen without interrupting, she will cover everything and make each story complete.” 

Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age by Darrel J. McLeod is a raw memoir about a gay Cree boy growing up and discovering himself while facing intergenerational trauma and complicated family relationships. It is told in a nonlinear fashion. The author talks frankly about his experiences growing up as a gay Cree boy and the tremendous amount of trauma and abuse he faced. 

McLeod writes about the internalized homophobia and racism he faced growing up because of the Catholic Church. He also writes about his mother’s horrific experiences in residential school. This book made the way religion was/is weaponized by colonizers very clear.

This book is very heavy; you should take care when reading it. Please note the content warnings. 

McLeod frequently misgenders his transgender sister, Trina, and refers to her by her deadname. At first, I wondered if it was just a questionable stylistic choice, but in the author’s note, he refers to her as his brother/sister and deadname/Trina. I don’t know if he discussed this with his sister. 

There is also a scene where McLeod refers to suicide as selfish. I haven’t seen anybody mention this, so I thought I would warn people.

Memoirs are deeply personal, so I do not want to rate this book. I will say that I am glad I read it!

This was the February book for Erin and Dani’s Book Club (Instagram: @ErinAndDanisBookClub). Thank you so much to Erin and Dani for the work you do to organize this club!

Finally, I am a White settler, so I want to direct you to reviews of Mamaskatch by Indigenous readers. I highly recommend checking out @Erins_Library, @Floury_Words, and @ThunderbirdWomanReads’s reviews on Instagram. You should follow them! They have amazing pages!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Car accident, Excrement, and Terminal illness

Residential schools, Internalized homophobia, Grooming, Misgendering, Cheating, Religious trauma, Foster care

emzireads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Suicide, and Sexual violence

Minor: Deadnaming

roomwithabook's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

eveningstar_reader's review against another edition

emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

4.0

mercourier's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

This memoir is amazing to read as the author examines his place and his family member's place in a society that is intent on harming them. He does a lot of soul-searching and the book is very lyrical while dealing with a lot of issues. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Suicide

foxwoodpress's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective fast-paced

4.0

readingindreams's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

katjoyphil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

bookishcori's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death

mah_jayjay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-paced

5.0