Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

33 reviews

hyperpension's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Classism, Colonisation, Transphobia, Sexual content, Homophobia, Racism, Violence, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Death, Misogyny, and Abandonment

djbobthegirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Grief, Transphobia, Alcoholism, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Biphobia, Cursing, Drug use, Homophobia, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Addiction, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Body shaming, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Outing, Physical abuse, and Bullying

Minor: Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Cancer, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Racism, Vomit, Excrement, and Infidelity

dominiq_ec's review against another edition

very heavy on the inner monologue, which I usually don’t mind. however, i’m reading this book digitally, and its becoming hard to concentrate. hopefully I can pick it back up at a different time!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Grief, Animal death, Blood, Death, Homophobia, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment, Hate crime, Bullying, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, and Racial slurs

Minor: Kidnapping, Colonisation, and Fatphobia

most of the content warnings pertain to the lived experiences of native peoples / NDN folks. if you’re not familiar with this, please do adequate research before reading.

dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, and Body shaming

macknificent's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I respect this book, I understand its importance, but I did not enjoy it. 

Took off a quarter star because the book is described as sex positive when it really isn't. There was A LOT of talk about penises and laying in semen, but a lot of it was presented as something that caused the MC pain/shame. Sex neutral seems a better descriptor, though still not quite right. 

Anyway, I think this is an important read that I never want to read again. Ranks right up there with Freshwater and Split Tooth.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, Colonisation, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Mental illness, Drug abuse, Body shaming, Death, Classism, Drug use, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, and Pregnancy

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Drug use, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Colonisation, Cursing, Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, and Sexual content

Minor: Pregnancy

fuguefire's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

A fantastic story, I can't wait to read more from Joshua Whitehead. Easily one of the best books I've read so far this year, Whitehead has an incredible aptitude for description and implication, a gift I feel lucky to find applied towards an indigenous genderqueer narrative. 
A note to fellow queer readers: this book made me feel uncomfortable in a way that only queer lit can. Some scenes felt like the characters were looking me in my eyes and speaking my name. I have rarely felt as much of a kinship with a book as I did with this one, and I'm honestly not sure if that's a good thing. 
Regardless, it makes for a good argument in favor of this book and Whitehead's ability as an author. I look forward to reading more from them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Sexual content

Moderate: Homophobia, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Vomit, Transphobia, Mental illness, Body shaming, and Racism

Minor: Bullying, Classism, Gore, Colonisation, Xenophobia, Dysphoria, Excrement, Infidelity, and Pedophilia

jayisreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

Jonny Appleseed is a messy and beautiful coming-of-age (of sorts) novel. This was such an unflinching reflection of the titular character’s understanding of his life, relationships, and identity. And all of this was at the forefront, while the story of him having to go back to the reservation for a funeral played out in the background.

I was really taken to how Whitehead explored gender and colonialism through Tias and Jonny, and how colonial ideas of the gender binary (especially masculinity) impacted these two young adults. I also enjoyed how so much of this was explored through Jonny’s life as a cyber sex worker, with Whitehead writing with such ease about sexuality and more. Something else I utterly enjoyed was seeing the amount of love and acceptance Jonny received from his mother and his kokum, especially.

Lots to think about in this book. It is messy in the emotional sense (it’s all over the place from funny to heartbreaking), but also that it’s not quite clear where Whitehead wants to take the reader at times. But, you know, sometimes not knowing is the journey. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Drug use, Colonisation, and Death

Minor: Body shaming

journey2's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

Jonny Appleseed is the story of an indigiqueer 2 spirit (self proclaimed NDN glitter princess), Canadian living in Winnipeg. 

This is the story of Jonny, who has left the rez he grew up on and is now living in Winnipeg. He's working as a cyber sex worker and getting by digital date by digital date, becoming whoever it is that his clients need. 

Jonny is faced with having to return to the rez for his stepfather's funeral. In the week before he heads home he is lost in recollections of the past. Of his mother, of his kokum, and of his on again off again lover since they were preteens. His lover who's not gay. Never. He just likes to be close to Jonny. 
 Jonny visits with him and his girlfriend, both of whom he loves very dearly. 

This book is sad, beautiful, romantic, and heartbreaking on many levels. It deals with love and loss and pain and suffering and discrimination and the mundaneity of life. 

It also deals with family and love and connection and heart. I listened to this on audiobook and I was completely enraptured. It made me think and it made me cry. If you're looking for a sad but beautiful story that will make you very introspective and touch your heart, than this is definitely the book for you. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Death, Racism, Drug use, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Blood, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Death of parent, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Medical content

Reference to residential schools and their lasting impact on survivors

dfrancis's review

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Well-written and very interesting. I loved reading about a point of view that is not often heard from: indigenous, two spirit, sex-worker. But I’m not a huge fan of this type of character driven book. There is not much plot at all so it was hard for me to stay motivated to keep going. But it helped that I listened to the audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Racism

Moderate: Colonisation, Alcoholism, Drug use, Grief, Homophobia, Child abuse, Death, Addiction, Death of parent, and Transphobia