Reviews

Au cours des derniers mois, j'ai lu plusieurs livres d'auteurs des Premières Nations, ou mettant en vedette des personnages des Premières Nations. Tous sont très variés mais mettent en lumière des thèmes récurrents qui m'ont souvent heurtée, choquée et j'ai eu du mal à lire certains passages. (violence et abus sexuels au menu) Mamaskatch, même s'il raconte l'histoire très difficile de Darrel, est un livre qui se lit tout seul. Certaines scènes sont dures mais écrites de façon très douce, voire même naïve, sous l'angle de vue du jeune garçon, ce qui rend la lecture facile malgré la thématique ardue.
Ce livre est une autobiographie, non romancée, on y retrouve même des photos d'époque.

kaitlinkirk45's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

anneke_b's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

So I started this book over a month ago, returned it to the library and ordered it again, just so I can finish it. It was a great read, totally would recommend it. Darrel McLeod has a unique voice, and though I do not share any of his struggles, he still made me feel like at least I get a bit what his difficulties are/were. A very likeable person too. Looking forward to part 2!

sssnoo's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

McLeod's memoir of growing up Cree in Canada was a compelling read. His story was full of anguish balanced by triumphs, but overall speaks to that primal bond a child has with their mother. If you like reading memoirs and want to learn more about Canada's First Nations, this is a good choice. It's also a more common tale of a boy coming of age in a chaotic, traumatized family. It's the tale of a boy searching for a place in a world that works pretty hard to keep him down. It's the tale of identity and how early influences often set up a conflict between a person's destiny and societal expectations.

This is a good book club pick with multiple topics worthy of discussion.

heykellyjensen's review against another edition

Go to review page

McLeod's memoir isn't one for the faint of heart or for those looking for a happy story about life as a First Nations person. It's a brutal story about intergenerational trauma -- McLeod's mother was a survivor of the residential school movement in Canada and an alcoholic, among other things -- as well as of sexual abuse, poverty, and the ways that society has failed Native people. McLeod's writing is episodic, as opposed to narrative, and at one point, the story is told from the point of view of his mother. Throughout, we meet his siblings, including one who is trans, and we learn who McLeod's own abuser was and how that abuse followed him through his own personal sexuality exploration, as well as what he experiences while working as an assistant in an emergency room.

As bleak and sad and tough as the book is to read, it doesn't feel hopeless. McLeod's voice really shines through as he works to understand what he carries within him and what it is he is able to offer the world to leave things a bit better than they were for him. There's an especially powerful moment when he works to help a man in the hospital who was on suicide watch to choose not to die and it allows us to not only see the massive size of McLeod's heart but also see the tremendous life he himself has lived.

We don't see enough First Nations or Native voices, let alone in memoir, as told in such a way to be authentic to their storytelling ways (so many white/Western readers are frustrated when it's not a linear narrative). This is a great one, but read knowing it's not going to be a feel good story. Nor should it be.

More...