Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott

6 reviews

ivi_reads_books's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

This book is a good mix of memoir and history and stats on indigenous people in Canada and the US. The author describes growing up with a bipolar mother in precarious environments and how their suroundings influenced their behavior.
The author doesn't tell the reader what to do or think. She rather observes what happens and what doesn't happen. What gets said and what doesn't and thus encourages readers to self-reflect on their own behavior

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Violence, Death, Deportation, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Vomit, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Police brutality

remimicha's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcoholism, Classism, Police brutality, Body shaming, Child abuse, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Cancer, and Death

biancafrancisco's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Through a very personal narrative - using herself, her family and her nation as examples - the author touches upon more themes than I can mention, connecting bridges between a myriad of crucial societal issues, always leading back to the macro vision of the effect of capitalism, colonialism and the action of the state on people, while simultaneously making us keep checking our prejudices.

The book teaches you a lot about the issues indigenous communities and individuals struggle with (most that were imposed on them by colonizers), and how not only they are still dealing with and trying to heal from the very real and tangibly present damage this legacy of colonialism and genocide has transfered through generations, but are simultaneously dealing with modern versions of the same violence nowadays. 

I was surprised to see, that through the connections she makes between several systemic structures, there was much for me to relate to as well. I'm an immensely priviledged white european, but I'm still a woman, I'm still a daughter, I'm still bound by the constraints of capitalism and the patriarchy as well as witness to intergenerational trauma, to mention a few, and, in the end, you can't accurately assess any structural issue without it intertwining with the others.

All in all, I recommend it to literally everyone, as I think there's learning opportunities in this book for all of us. I'm extremely glad I picked it up. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Sexism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Xenophobia

hrwohl518's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Genocide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

5.0

This is a series of autobiographical essays about dehumanization and the intersections of misogyny, poverty, mental illness and racism in the US and Canada. I really enjoyed the way the author would pull in disparate elements (the history of dark matter, a Susan Sontag essay about photography) to illustrate wider points, and most of the essays were beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, and Religious bigotry

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

This collection of essays shows how Native identity intersects with various other hardships that the Canadian/American governments have bestowed upon non-white and lower class people: mental illness, child services, lack of acknowledgement of the genocides of Native and Black people.

I really enjoyed this collection! I think Alicia's writing style is really accessible and almost conversational; she walks us through various aspects of her upbringing and how it relates to a broader commentary on being Native in modern North America. My favorite aspects where when she highlighted how many Native women have been killed and left, as if people still have this "hunting Indians" complex they want to fulfill. Unfortunately, I hadn't heard of these unjustified murders—to no surprise to anyone.

Her essay on sexual assault touched me so, so deeply and I could write an essay on how it made me feel. I hope she knows how much that essay meant to me as someone who's been SA'd (trigger warning, btw).

There were some essays that were just fine but I overall enjoyed it and learned a lot, so I'm giving Alicia her flowers. She reframed how I look at a few things (see: essay on photographs). Read more Indigenous authors! This is a great place to start.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Miscarriage, Hate crime, Gun violence, Genocide, Death, Alcoholism, and Addiction