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tx2its's review against another edition
4.0
Reading 2023
Book 196: Paying the Land by Joe Sacco
A nonfiction graphic novel selection.
Synopsis: In Paying the Land, Joe Sacco travels the frozen North to reveal a people in conflict over the costs and benefits of development. Sacco recounts the shattering impact of a residential school system that aimed to “remove the Indian from the child”; the destructive process that drove the Dene from the bush into settlements and turned them into wage laborers; the government land claims stacked against the Dene Nation; and their uphill efforts to revive a wounded culture.
Review: I have read books previously about the residential school indigenous families were forced to send their children to, and the horrible treatment many received. This book made history more accessible with the art that brought the author’s journey through these lands to life. My rating 4⭐️.
Book 196: Paying the Land by Joe Sacco
A nonfiction graphic novel selection.
Synopsis: In Paying the Land, Joe Sacco travels the frozen North to reveal a people in conflict over the costs and benefits of development. Sacco recounts the shattering impact of a residential school system that aimed to “remove the Indian from the child”; the destructive process that drove the Dene from the bush into settlements and turned them into wage laborers; the government land claims stacked against the Dene Nation; and their uphill efforts to revive a wounded culture.
Review: I have read books previously about the residential school indigenous families were forced to send their children to, and the horrible treatment many received. This book made history more accessible with the art that brought the author’s journey through these lands to life. My rating 4⭐️.
crysrowe's review against another edition
5.0
An incredibly well reported, beautifully illustrated graphic novel about a topic that is not easily written about. I am not a fan of graphic novels, but the material in this one could not have been portrayed as well with merely written text. This book deserves a place in history classes everywhere.
eliisvaino's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
maximef's review against another edition
4.0
L’auteur nous raconte son périple à travers les Territoires du Nord-Ouest, à la rencontre des Denes. Au fil de ses discussions, il relate la perte des traditions, de la culture et de la langue de ce peuple et la rapide assimilation subie depuis la colonisation. Il en illustre les conséquences sur ce peuple et les divisions que cela a créées à l’intérieur des différentes communautés. J’ai eu l’impression d’avoir droit à un documentaire sur les Denes, mais en bande dessinée, ce qui fut très intéressant et plutôt original. Un récit qui nous laisse avec beaucoup de questions sur le cheminement qui nous reste à faire, en tant que Blanc, mais qui avance aussi que peut-être, pour une fois, il faudrait plutôt ne rien faire et laisser les Denes prendre la place qui leur revient.
kerim's review against another edition
4.0
A powerful work. Both the words and images tell an important story, and tell it well. However, I often wished the images and text were presented separately as it would have been a bit easier to read that way. (There is a lot of text.)
alyssatuininga's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
rumbledethumps's review against another edition
4.0
A work of comics journalism about the indigenous people of the Northwest Territory of what is now called Canada. Interviews with survivors of the residential schools and people who remember the ways before the Western wage economy. A fascinating and important work.
minkkmuse's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.75
amazed and compelled by how much detail and empathy sacco’s ethnographic research contains
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Alcoholism
Moderate: Sexual violence, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Racism