Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - Jonny Appleseed

Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

33 reviews

danaaliyalevinson's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-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

A lyrical and moving character study of a 2S Cree teenager in search of home. I liked this one a lot. It was razor sharp, confrontational, and emotional. It reminded me a lot of "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" in form. So if you loved that, you'll probably love this. As I said above though, it is very much a character study, so the plot is thin, sometimes a little too thin for my *personal* tastes. But the characters are beautifully drawn and compelling, and the prose is beautiful.

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stonedbeyonce's review

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emotional hopeful reflective sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Beautifully written. Almost read as autobiographical at times, that's how well the author brought Jonny to life. I felt sad for Jonny and wanted more for him... I always appreciate a story that makes me feel something. Looking forward to more from this author.

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nkmustdie's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

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

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arsenic_'s review

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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foldingthepage_kayleigh's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective slow-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

4.0

I tried to listen to this audiobook last year, but it was right during the middle of a heat wave, and I was feeling stressed, trapped in my body, and the visceral way in which this book is written was just too much for me at the time, and enhanced my hyper fixation on the physicality of being.

I am so glad that I tried again this year, because I feel like I read this at the right time. Having just read People Change by Vivek Shraya, which increased my appreciation of mutability and change, helped me better grasp the beauty of impermanence and the way things shift as portrayed in this book. I also read Full-Metal Indigiqueer, Whitehead’s debut collection of poetry before coming back to this audiobook, which helped me recognize the stunning poetics across this book.

All in all, the more time I have away from this book, the more I like it. Going in, be prepared for a visceral slice of life story that will immerse you into the seasons of Jonny Appleseed.

“You gonna be changing, and that’s fine. But you come back when you do, okay? You come back here and you change me too.”

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criticalgayze's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny fast-paced

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

5.0

At the risk of being explicit, Queer millennial writers are the shit. (Side Note: If that little bit of cursing was too much for you, do not pick up this book - see my trigger warnings.) While I am late to the Whitehead party, he has joined the ranks of Emezi, Taylor, and Purnell in writers who are revolutionizing form, storytelling, and identity in a way that is going to have a major impact on literature from here on, and it is no wonder when reading works like this that power structures are so terrified of Queers.

From the opening scene-setting of sneaking Queer as Folk in the bedroom as a child, Whitehead creates a sense of the Queer kid who is exposed early to what it means to understand yourself as a sexual being. In that way, I felt myself immediately seen on the pages. While being a mere (but learning) spectator in his specific experience as a Queer person of Indigenous heritage, I also felt incredibly in tune with his experience of impoverished matriarchal and tight-knit extended family dynamics.

Having read Dear Senthuran and Jonny Appleseed, two Queer books steeped in culturally specific spirituality, Baldwin's refrain strikes me all the more that we white people have truly done terrible harm, not just to the marginalized peoples that were subjugated and expelled and murdered, but to ourselves through colonialism. This lack of access to a deeper spiritual identity that we white people suffer from leads us to a toxic sense of personal restlessness that makes us a danger to ourselves.

This was just such an extremely powerful book that I am thankful the Canadian book gatekeepers had the good sense to prioritize.

Quotes:
And I always got a tickle out of how you could anthropomorphize yourself within the gay animal kingdom: "bear," otter," "wolf," "fox," "cubs." If only these gays knew how powerful Mistahimaskwa could really be. (18)
I thought for a second, then accepted it: I added "canine" to the list of entities I could morph into and started charging an extra few bucks per session. (25)
Like the leech, I too felt like a hermaphrodite: part boy, part girl, and always needed by hunters and fishermen. And I always left a red mark on their bodies somewhere, as if to say: I was here./
Plus, leeches are medicine, didn't you know? (81)

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