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charleyroxy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.75
"A 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."
This quote from Mamaskatch by Darrel J. McLeod not only stood out to me because it was the way Darrel also told us his story but it reminded me of how Ernestine Hayes told us her story in Blonde Indian. I am growing to love these spiralling stories when they would have once confused me. Nothing in the story of our lives is truly linear as we are being moved along with memories of the past and ideas, hopes and dreams of the future.
"The word, mamaskatch, has stuck with me over the years. Mom used to say it a lot when we were kids when things happened that were a bit extraordinary. I gave the book that title after going online with some fluent Cree speakers. I asked them what it meant and they gave various meanings, ranging from, 'How strange' to 'It's a miracle.' It is the perfect title." From a 2018 interview with McLeod
Mamaskatch is a heartbreaking and often extraordinary Cree memoir which brought up incredibly heavy topics of residential school abuses, child sexual abuse, internalised and externalised homophobia to name a few. I will add the full content warnings on Storygraph so go there to see what you should be prepared for. In the face of all that though comes the story of resilience. I would definitely recommend it.
This quote from Mamaskatch by Darrel J. McLeod not only stood out to me because it was the way Darrel also told us his story but it reminded me of how Ernestine Hayes told us her story in Blonde Indian. I am growing to love these spiralling stories when they would have once confused me. Nothing in the story of our lives is truly linear as we are being moved along with memories of the past and ideas, hopes and dreams of the future.
"The word, mamaskatch, has stuck with me over the years. Mom used to say it a lot when we were kids when things happened that were a bit extraordinary. I gave the book that title after going online with some fluent Cree speakers. I asked them what it meant and they gave various meanings, ranging from, 'How strange' to 'It's a miracle.' It is the perfect title." From a 2018 interview with McLeod
Mamaskatch is a heartbreaking and often extraordinary Cree memoir which brought up incredibly heavy topics of residential school abuses, child sexual abuse, internalised and externalised homophobia to name a few. I will add the full content warnings on Storygraph so go there to see what you should be prepared for. In the face of all that though comes the story of resilience. I would definitely recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Addiction, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia
There are scenes of grooming a young child, an exorcism and conversion therapy as well.abbie_'s review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Over the weekend I read the second memoir in the lineup for @erinanddanisbookclub year of memoirs 2021 and it was devastating. Mamaskatch is told in vignettes rather than in a linear narrative, as Cree author Darrel J. McLeod picks out moments from his and his family’s lives to share with the reader.
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He demonstrates the lasting trauma caused by residential schools, as his mother Bertha was forced into one as a young girl and the abuse she suffered there is passed down to her children. While there, she is punished if caught conversing in Cree and later in life, if Darrel asked her what a phrase in Cree meant, she would tell him but also emphasise the fact she wanted them to only learn English, the lasting effects of the residential school divorcing her children from their heritage.
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There are also horrific accounts of the sexual and domestic abuse Darrel suffered as a child and teenager, as well as racism and homophobia, as Darrel spends much of the book questioning his sexual orientation. He points out that his ancestors had a much more fluid and open approach to gender and sexual identities, but then Catholicism stripped away those attitudes.
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It goes without saying that it’s a difficult read, but a necessary story to hear. Darrel overcomes so much, and I know he has another memoir coming out this year that I’m definitely adding to my wishlist!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Suicide
sheonlywantsmybooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
cweichel's review against another edition
5.0
This book is intense. I could only read it in bits before needing to take a break. Darrel McLeod's childhood was brutal. My heart ached for the child he was. In his award winning memoir he writes of his abuse, his love for music, his desire to help his family, his struggles with his sexuality, and his conflict with fundamental Christianity. Education, hard work, and supportive friends helped him heal. This memoir leaves us at his mother's funeral. I hope he writes more. I'm looking forward to reading how he managed to accomplish so much in his life.
What I've taken away from this book is hope. I hope you do too.
What I've taken away from this book is hope. I hope you do too.
margincharge1's review against another edition
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Any words I have for this book seem insufficient, when compared to the array of feelings endured while reading McLeods life story. From his family's kidnapping and forced indoctrination into catholicism to his own experiences that feels like a chain reaction of that time, his life appears like a challenge every step of the way. The author doesn't sugarcoat his experiences for the reader; he tells you about his mistreatments, his abuse...what he perceives to be failures on his part. This is his story and in a way, I think his path to healing. If anything, this book is confirmation that generational trauma is an absolute THING and continues to impact the families of Black and Brown people to this day. Despite the fact that atrocities have been committed against our communities, we must continually attempt to heal ourselves. Highly recommend.
justabean_reads's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
2.5
sighs. I would like there to come a day when reading CanLit queer memoirs isn't a harrowing adventure in trigger warnings. Because the things that have happened in this country are deeply, deeply fucked up. Which isn't a surprise, but it's still pretty heavy going.
Though this was on the queer reading list, the focus is more on McLeod's relationship with his deeply damaged, alcoholic mother, and his struggles to find meaning after a childhood full of every kind of abuse. When we see McLeod at peace at all, it's when he's finding connections through his Cree heritage and through classical music. I was definitely rooting for the kid to end up in a better place (LOW BAR!) and was pleased that he seems to have.
However, McLeod doesn't really explain the shift from self-loathing Pentecostal sex addict to self-accepting gay man in a stable relationship with a community he loves. Likewise, his transgender sister is treated mostly in passing, and her story is left on a pretty negative note (apparently sex reassignment in the '70s sucked a lot). I don't want every book to be rah rah gay pride, but I'd have liked to have more exploration of those issues, since they seemed central to his life while at the same time the treatment here felt shallow.
Loved, loved, loved the narrator, who is obviously familiar with Cree and the Cree community. We need more own voices books recorded by own voices.
Though this was on the queer reading list, the focus is more on McLeod's relationship with his deeply damaged, alcoholic mother, and his struggles to find meaning after a childhood full of every kind of abuse. When we see McLeod at peace at all, it's when he's finding connections through his Cree heritage and through classical music. I was definitely rooting for the kid to end up in a better place (LOW BAR!) and was pleased that he seems to have.
However, McLeod doesn't really explain the shift from self-loathing Pentecostal sex addict to self-accepting gay man in a stable relationship with a community he loves. Likewise, his transgender sister is treated mostly in passing, and her story is left on a pretty negative note (apparently sex reassignment in the '70s sucked a lot). I don't want every book to be rah rah gay pride, but I'd have liked to have more exploration of those issues, since they seemed central to his life while at the same time the treatment here felt shallow.
Loved, loved, loved the narrator, who is obviously familiar with Cree and the Cree community. We need more own voices books recorded by own voices.
sittingwishingreading's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.5