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807 reviews for:
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City
Tanya Talaga
4.58 AVERAGE
807 reviews for:
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City
Tanya Talaga
4.58 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
A poignant book that discusses the horrific experiences of Indigenous students in Thunder Bay. It highlights how the police, the education system, and the federal government have failed them. It also provides context into how Indigenous students are treated in the education system, giving a holistic understanding of who these students are and their experiences.
I was deeply moved by the stories of the students, their families, and their communities. They have been through numerous hardships, and the neglect they experienced resulted in tragedy. Their stories made me feel sad and angry. It was infuriating to read about how the Thunder Bay police continuously failed to fully investigate their deaths or contact the families. The Government of Canada must act on their promises to support Indigenous communities and engage in reconciliation. It was inspiring to hear of the lawyers, activists, and community members who are pushing for change.
This book is biased and makes generalizations about both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. I believe that a more thorough discussion of alcohol accessibility, mental health, and Indigenous education funding would have been beneficial.
I was deeply moved by the stories of the students, their families, and their communities. They have been through numerous hardships, and the neglect they experienced resulted in tragedy. Their stories made me feel sad and angry. It was infuriating to read about how the Thunder Bay police continuously failed to fully investigate their deaths or contact the families. The Government of Canada must act on their promises to support Indigenous communities and engage in reconciliation. It was inspiring to hear of the lawyers, activists, and community members who are pushing for change.
This book is biased and makes generalizations about both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. I believe that a more thorough discussion of alcohol accessibility, mental health, and Indigenous education funding would have been beneficial.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Genocide, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Genocide, Colonisation
Coincidence but important that I finally finished this book on Canada Day. It was an excruciating read but so important for all Canadians to understand the devastation our ignorance and complacency has caused the Indigenous community. We need to do better.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
challenging
informative
sad
medium-paced
This piece of journalism does what so many others struggle to accomplish. Talaga is able to get extremely detailed and harrowing family and friend first accounts and weave them into her storytelling without giving off a heavy bias in her writing. All the while, you still get a distinct author perspective integrated into the novel. The stories of these seven teenagers are heartbreaking, but this is the reality for so many indigenous people in Ontario and across Canada (and North America). Our history teaches us that the mistreatment of the first nations people ended when the residential schools closed. This book expertly proves that is not the case. These people are still experiencing poverty, racism, unnecessary death and addiction problems due to lack of government support and resources. I think this should be required reading in school. Eye opening to so many of the failings of our society, expertly laid out in one piece of journalism.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
Talaga beautifully wove together the oppression and deaths of these students with the stories of all the students who had suffered similar fates in the Canadian Residential School System over generations. As an American I'm all too familiar with these sorts of stories and unfortunately this beautiful continent has a long road ahead of them to even begin to heal the severe injustices done to their native tribes. I made sure to take breaks in the audiobook to process each different story because they each weighed heavily on my heart. Stories like these belong in the hands of artists like Talaga to create works from the fires of deep pain and even deeper resilience.
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
38/70 for Mama in 2021
I wish I hadn’t gotten this from the library so I could have taken my time with it. This book is so heavy and heartbreaking, but an absolutely necessary read.
I wish I hadn’t gotten this from the library so I could have taken my time with it. This book is so heavy and heartbreaking, but an absolutely necessary read.