Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age by Darrel J. McLeod

7 reviews

zee's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

4.0

Mamaskatch explores McLeod's coming-of-age in a very frank but thoughtful approach. There are undercurrents of abuse and trauma, but also bright moments of success and growth. That being said, there is a LOT of heavy subject matter, but rarely is it dwelled upon; one gets the sense that despite all of the trauma in his life, McLeod was a very loving and gentle child. It isn't entirely linear in telling, and the author rarely specifies the year something takes place, nor his age, which makes it difficult to picture in the mind's eye as a result, but this is a tie-back to the way he notes his mother told stories. 

I really liked how the book shows how deeply McLeod's childhood and young adult years were intertwined with his mother and her story. The last few chapters are especially powerful.

Be VERY mindful of content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Medical content, Death, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, and Racism

Minor: Drug use and Domestic abuse

amanda_marie's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Memoirs can be tricky, repetitive, or overdone. Mamaskatch is none of those things. It is beautiful, insightful. It covers tragedies but emphasizes moments of beauty. It is about the complications of family, of intersectional identities, about how we keep living, we keep going on, no matter what life does to us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Drug use, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Deadnaming

memorable's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense medium-paced

Oh what a book! I really enjoyed McLeod’s writing style! This book is as the title also says about his life growing-up and there is a lot to think about. I really liked how intertwined his and his mother’s life story were written.
There are a lot of TWs for this one. I listed them all as graphic as it’s really hard for me to “rank” them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Violence

Intergenerational trauma

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

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

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.

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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!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Suicide