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mamagames's review against another edition
4.0
A good windy afternoon's read in the fourth week of November. Thomas King weaves together important insights about language and storytelling with realities and complexities of Native past and present in North America. Each chapter ends with a reminder that you can't, "say in the years to come that you would have lived differently if only you had heard this story. You've heard it now.". There's so much here to continue to process.
p.112 - "The magic of Native literature - as with other literatures - is not in the themes of the stories - identity, isolation, loss, ceremony, community, maturation, home - it is in the way meaning is refracted by cosmology, the way understanding is shaped by cultural paradigms."
p.112 - "The magic of Native literature - as with other literatures - is not in the themes of the stories - identity, isolation, loss, ceremony, community, maturation, home - it is in the way meaning is refracted by cosmology, the way understanding is shaped by cultural paradigms."
lesbrary's review against another edition
5.0
This is a re-read for me. There are a few books that I want to re-read even as I read it, and this is one of them. Such a quick read (or listen), but packed with so much, both about racism and Native history as well as the nature of storytelling.
cardonac07's review against another edition
2.0
While the core of the book is good, it felt like I was reading someone with ADHD’s musings. It was all over the place and difficult to follow.
daisygirl3's review against another edition
5.0
I would give it more stars if I could! I love Thomas King and The Truth About Stories is so beautifully written, it’s a work of art!
emjay2021's review against another edition
5.0
I assigned this for my First Peoples Literature course--we read and discussed one chapter every couple of weeks, and my students absolutely loved it. Some read the paper version; some listened to the audio version of King's Massey Lectures broadcast on CBC Radio. You can find them all on the CBC website, and even if you choose to read the book rather than listen to it, I do recommend listening to at least one of the lectures. King is a fantastic storyteller with a great voice and a great style. He speaks with both humour and deadly seriousness about the contemporary issues facing indigenous people in Canada, the US, and all over the world as a result of colonization. It's an important book/series of lectures, and I would recommend it to anyone who is concerned about the state of the earth and where we are headed. Even though Thomas King gave these lectures in 2003, I think you and I both know that the outlook for the environment, for democracy, and for social justice has not exactly improved in the intervening 16 years.
mnboyer's review against another edition
5.0
Stories are all that we have. Every day each of us tell stories, even if it is just recounting our day to someone that was not there. Wasn't it great when I tripped on the stairs and almost fell, but we all ended up laughing? Sometimes we tell stories to remember something a bit more serious. Do you remember what our great grandmother made for Thanksgiving the year before she died--was it the sweet potatoes or the green bean dish that she made? Stories are all that we have.
King reminds us of this as he tells stories over and over, often changing just a bit here and there. The story is a great example of how smaller essays can make up a great story collection. Each of the stories in this book start the same--with the creation of the world, which was floating on the turtle's back. King reminds us that there will always be a story. And there will always be a turtle.
A great example of repetition, oral narrative, and definitely something you should pick up and read to better understand American Indian literature.
King reminds us of this as he tells stories over and over, often changing just a bit here and there. The story is a great example of how smaller essays can make up a great story collection. Each of the stories in this book start the same--with the creation of the world, which was floating on the turtle's back. King reminds us that there will always be a story. And there will always be a turtle.
A great example of repetition, oral narrative, and definitely something you should pick up and read to better understand American Indian literature.
ldv's review against another edition
3.0
Short stories about Natives and the storytelling culture. Each chapter begins with the same basic story (minor details changed) which conveys the idea that you are following the narrator through several speaking engagements with different audiences. It also conveys the message that people are predictable in their responses to stories. I didn't look much closer than that at the meaning or themes to the book, but it would be interesting to really contemplate them with a group of readers.
Thomas King is a great storyteller and I always enjoy his books.
Thomas King is a great storyteller and I always enjoy his books.
its_alex_stevenson's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
sandy_reads_books's review against another edition
I first came across this book by Thomas King because we read the first chapter of it for one of my classes. I found it really interesting especially considering it’s focus on stories and storytelling, although I’ve also been wanting to learn more about Native American perspectives which certainly factored into it as well. I don’t think I really realized what I was in for going into this book as I was thinking this book would focus more explicitly on stories. I realize that the stories in question would have to be about something in the first place, but what I guess I’m trying to say is that I wasn’t prepared.
There were certainly topics that I had heard before or discussed inside and outside of class in terms of identity and race (especially when of mixed ancestry), the lack of value for Indigenous experiences and expertise, and the various ways racism is manifested through more covert systems of oppression such as redlining. In all cases, and especially the latter, I learned about how these issues intersect specifically with Native populations and the many complex layers that are in many ways painfully similar but also utterly unique. What surprised me most was the concept of “status” Indians and its design to in name (but also in actuality in some ways) completely obliterate/assimilate Native groups over a relatively short period of time. This goes even further beyond redlining in its horridness and feels absolutely evil. I think also, another important lesson despite the book not dwelling on it too much was just about the pain that many Native Americans feel and how commonly shared that it in Native experiences.
In addition to learning a lot about Indigenous experiences, I was drawn a lot to how the book discusses but also handles stories. I love how each chapter begins and ends with the same repeated sections in that they really emphasized/called into view the role of oral storytelling in the making of this book, kind of like a once upon a time and a happily ever after kind of deal. I found it very interesting how King wove stories and his own discussion together in such a natural way even though I feel like that type of writing isn’t encouraged really in schools and it make me wonder what reading and writing were like if this was more of a typical practice. I also especially liked the section used in the final paragraphs of each chapter in how it calls us to internalize these stories and hold them with us rather than just forgetting them right after we have heard them. This feels like a particularly important lesson to me which I think I have tried to do more of, especially more recently, and that inspires me to work even more to turn what I learn from stories into rules that guide my actions. The final chapter of this book made this point extra clear and I think this was made so poignant by the intense personal nature of the chapter and the King’s relationship to it. It helped to make me consider my own life more critically and extensively because of that added layer, making this book feel like a genuine plea from the author directly to me.
I am really grateful that I was made to read part of this for school since it introduced me to this book and got me interested enough to read it. I loved it so much and I think it is for sure worth many rereads in the future, especially because I think it’s lessons are so true but also so pressing. In keeping those lessons alive in me I want to do what I can to avoid sitting idly by and being more actively involved in the world around me whether it is being there for someone in a difficult time or by advocating for change in the world.
There were certainly topics that I had heard before or discussed inside and outside of class in terms of identity and race (especially when of mixed ancestry), the lack of value for Indigenous experiences and expertise, and the various ways racism is manifested through more covert systems of oppression such as redlining. In all cases, and especially the latter, I learned about how these issues intersect specifically with Native populations and the many complex layers that are in many ways painfully similar but also utterly unique. What surprised me most was the concept of “status” Indians and its design to in name (but also in actuality in some ways) completely obliterate/assimilate Native groups over a relatively short period of time. This goes even further beyond redlining in its horridness and feels absolutely evil. I think also, another important lesson despite the book not dwelling on it too much was just about the pain that many Native Americans feel and how commonly shared that it in Native experiences.
In addition to learning a lot about Indigenous experiences, I was drawn a lot to how the book discusses but also handles stories. I love how each chapter begins and ends with the same repeated sections in that they really emphasized/called into view the role of oral storytelling in the making of this book, kind of like a once upon a time and a happily ever after kind of deal. I found it very interesting how King wove stories and his own discussion together in such a natural way even though I feel like that type of writing isn’t encouraged really in schools and it make me wonder what reading and writing were like if this was more of a typical practice. I also especially liked the section used in the final paragraphs of each chapter in how it calls us to internalize these stories and hold them with us rather than just forgetting them right after we have heard them. This feels like a particularly important lesson to me which I think I have tried to do more of, especially more recently, and that inspires me to work even more to turn what I learn from stories into rules that guide my actions. The final chapter of this book made this point extra clear and I think this was made so poignant by the intense personal nature of the chapter and the King’s relationship to it. It helped to make me consider my own life more critically and extensively because of that added layer, making this book feel like a genuine plea from the author directly to me.
I am really grateful that I was made to read part of this for school since it introduced me to this book and got me interested enough to read it. I loved it so much and I think it is for sure worth many rereads in the future, especially because I think it’s lessons are so true but also so pressing. In keeping those lessons alive in me I want to do what I can to avoid sitting idly by and being more actively involved in the world around me whether it is being there for someone in a difficult time or by advocating for change in the world.