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intensej's review against another edition
5.0
Paying the Land is a thought-provoking, well-researched, and insightful look into the lives of of the Dene people. Joe Sacco's interviews with influential Dene people were really helpful in showing the different perspectives within the Dene. I learned about how the Canadian government forced First Nation children into residential school systems where they endured sexual, mental, and physical abuse. This book also showed how the treatise between First Nation elders and the government was inherently flawed and unequal. Sacco acknowledges the problems that the Dene people are facing: intergenerational trauma, reliance on government welfare programs, colonization, loss of culture, and addiction. The illustrations in this graphic novel added to the story, and it helped the reader visualize how the Dene people would traditionally live in the bush. Readers who enjoy historical non-fiction will enjoy this graphic novel.
jhbandcats's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.5
Joe Sacco is a treasure. He documents what he sees in precise line drawings, illustrating his books in depth and detail that add to the words that his people say.
In this book, he shows the collective trauma visited upon the Dene, an indigenous people who primarily live in Canada’s Northwest Territories. His interviews with natives across Dene land, from the old to the young, show the problems they as a group face, and the ways the communities are struggling to resolve them.
The section on the residential schools, where children were removed from their families and forced to adopt the white people’s culture, was the most disturbing. In addition to being kidnapped and held prisoner for 8-10 years by the government, the children were physically punished and frequently sexually abused.
By the time they returned home, they were so emotionally damaged that they could no longer communicate with their parents and grandparents. They relied on alcohol and drugs to mute their pain, and they passed their misery onto their own families. It is beyond tragic.
In this book, he shows the collective trauma visited upon the Dene, an indigenous people who primarily live in Canada’s Northwest Territories. His interviews with natives across Dene land, from the old to the young, show the problems they as a group face, and the ways the communities are struggling to resolve them.
The section on the residential schools, where children were removed from their families and forced to adopt the white people’s culture, was the most disturbing. In addition to being kidnapped and held prisoner for 8-10 years by the government, the children were physically punished and frequently sexually abused.
By the time they returned home, they were so emotionally damaged that they could no longer communicate with their parents and grandparents. They relied on alcohol and drugs to mute their pain, and they passed their misery onto their own families. It is beyond tragic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Confinement, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Bullying, Child death, Kidnapping, Genocide, Sexual assault, and Suicide
haddocks_eyes's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
jade_valenzuela's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.0
djmurm's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
sizrobe's review against another edition
5.0
Joe Sacco never disappoints. This graphic ethnography of the Dene people of the Northwestern Territories, Canada is phenomenal. The heartbreaking story of the people can in large part be traced back to residential schools where the white people in the federal government deliberately took their children from their native parents to "civilize" them, forcing them to speak english and keeping them from learning how to live off of the land. The art is fantastic, and the struggles of the Dene are moving.
mjfmjfmjf's review against another edition
4.0
Exhausting. Fantastic art. Pages and pages of fantastic art, both backgrounds and distinctive people. But the pacing was off, it was just tiring to read. This could have been longer and shorter but it felt an awkward length. But I feel like I have a starting point of understanding the world described. Beautiful. Awful.