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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
The audiobook was an entire experience. Her throat singing by the end made me feel at peace
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide
Moderate: Self harm
dark
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don’t know that I understood even half of this read, the writing is very stylized and lyrical. I had a hard time following the story. But also feel like I got the majority of the message, my mind somehow made sense of what I reading though I couldn’t verbalize what that is if you asked. Lots of emotions packed into a short story.
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Poetry uses words about magic to ease the world back into something beautiful. The ugliest of crimes becomes the most marvellous of natural phenomena. Tanya Tagaq is a true poet, a painter, even, and a musician. Knowing her music makes reading Split Tooth all the more visceral - interestingly, the poetry parts are the most grounded, as the narrator instead slips around half-truths and repressed memories. Split Tooth is hard, strange, touching, queer in passing, wide and frozen like the steppes, shiny like the Northern Lights which act like the uncorporeal, omnipresent, and yet silent villain.
I’ve been hesitant to write reviews on this app because I feel my words could never reflect the dynamic complexities of an entire book and Split Tooth is certainly no exception. However after finishing this book, I felt compelled to at least try.
Tanya Tagaq’s Split Tooth is the tale of a young girls journey navigating the trials and tribulations of her youth, deep-seated ancestral wisdom, intergenerational trauma, the cycles of violence, addiction and abuse, and perhaps most captivatingly- the wonders of the North (Nunavut). Tagaq is able to create such vivid Northern imagery while using so few words that it makes you feel as though your eyes have been replaced by hers. As someone who grew up in “Southern” Canada, this insight into the lives of Inuit in the North was incredibly eye-opening.
This was the first book I ever read that the author bounced effortlessly between so many writing styles- fiction, non-fiction, history, memoir, poetry, fantasy- in a way that is both compelling and deeply essential to the flow & essence of the story. I read the physical copy but am told the audiobook includes the authors world-renowned throat singing which no doubt adds to the overall experience.
Tagaq does a beautiful job at juxtaposing Pain and Love, Cold and Heat, Spirit and Flesh. She describes returning to a deep state of “Knowing”, beyond the physicality of flesh and bone by exploring the Land around her as Spirit out of her human form. It sounds confusing and difficult to wrap your head around, and at times you wonder if you really “get it” at all. But somehow, there is an intuitive understanding.
No matter how eloquent the authors writing, there is no question that Split Tooth is a jarring, heartbreaking, dark and at times brutal read. Readers continue to bounce between feeling like they’re immersed in an enchanting dream and an inescapable nightmare.
I think my favourite part of Split Tooth was the way it blurred reality with fantasy often in an indistinguishable way. Tagaq’s writing is filled with the wisdom of multiple generations while simultaneously encapsulating the curiosity and wonder inherent to youth. The truth comes from the spaces between the authors words and will leave you breathless.
Also important to note: this book should contain a sexual violence warning, as the author does not shy away from detailing instances of sexual abuse.
Tanya Tagaq’s Split Tooth is the tale of a young girls journey navigating the trials and tribulations of her youth, deep-seated ancestral wisdom, intergenerational trauma, the cycles of violence, addiction and abuse, and perhaps most captivatingly- the wonders of the North (Nunavut). Tagaq is able to create such vivid Northern imagery while using so few words that it makes you feel as though your eyes have been replaced by hers. As someone who grew up in “Southern” Canada, this insight into the lives of Inuit in the North was incredibly eye-opening.
This was the first book I ever read that the author bounced effortlessly between so many writing styles- fiction, non-fiction, history, memoir, poetry, fantasy- in a way that is both compelling and deeply essential to the flow & essence of the story. I read the physical copy but am told the audiobook includes the authors world-renowned throat singing which no doubt adds to the overall experience.
Tagaq does a beautiful job at juxtaposing Pain and Love, Cold and Heat, Spirit and Flesh. She describes returning to a deep state of “Knowing”, beyond the physicality of flesh and bone by exploring the Land around her as Spirit out of her human form. It sounds confusing and difficult to wrap your head around, and at times you wonder if you really “get it” at all. But somehow, there is an intuitive understanding.
No matter how eloquent the authors writing, there is no question that Split Tooth is a jarring, heartbreaking, dark and at times brutal read. Readers continue to bounce between feeling like they’re immersed in an enchanting dream and an inescapable nightmare.
I think my favourite part of Split Tooth was the way it blurred reality with fantasy often in an indistinguishable way. Tagaq’s writing is filled with the wisdom of multiple generations while simultaneously encapsulating the curiosity and wonder inherent to youth. The truth comes from the spaces between the authors words and will leave you breathless.
Also important to note: this book should contain a sexual violence warning, as the author does not shy away from detailing instances of sexual abuse.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Searing with light and ice.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
all raw wet edges and brutal beauty - poetic and wild visions as memoir, not for the faint of heart.
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes