Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Mamaskatch by Darrel J., McLeod

3 reviews

memorable's review against another edition

challenging reflective tense medium-paced

Oh what a book! I really enjoyed McLeod’s writing style! This book is as the title also says about his life growing-up and there is a lot to think about. I really liked how intertwined his and his mother’s life story were written.
There are a lot of TWs for this one. I listed them all as graphic as it’s really hard for me to “rank” them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Violence

Intergenerational trauma

katjoyphil's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

charleyroxy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

"A pattern of my mother's stories is different from the ones I hear at school. The timelines are never linear. Instead, they are like spirals. She starts with one element of a story, moves to another and skips to get a different part. She revisits each theme several times over, providing a bit more information with each pass. At first I find it hard to follow, but I've learned that if I just sit back and listen without interrupting, she will cover everything and make each story complete."

This quote from Mamaskatch by Darrel J. McLeod not only stood out to me because it was the way Darrel also told us his story but it reminded me of how Ernestine Hayes told us her story in Blonde Indian. I am growing to love these spiralling stories when they would have once confused me. Nothing in the story of our lives is truly linear as we are being moved along with memories of the past and ideas, hopes and dreams of the future.

"The word, mamaskatch, has stuck with me over the years. Mom used to say it a lot when we were kids when things happened that were a bit extraordinary. I gave the book that title after going online with some fluent Cree speakers. I asked them what it meant and they gave various meanings, ranging from, 'How strange' to 'It's a miracle.' It is the perfect title." From a 2018 interview with McLeod

Mamaskatch is a heartbreaking and often extraordinary Cree memoir which brought up incredibly heavy topics of residential school abuses, child sexual abuse, internalised and externalised homophobia to name a few. I will add the full content warnings on Storygraph so go there to see what you should be prepared for. In the face of all that though comes the story of resilience. I would definitely recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Suicide, Addiction, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Transphobia

There are scenes of grooming a young child, an exorcism and conversion therapy as well.