Reviews

Pulling the Chariot of the Sun by Shane McCrae

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nickel_books's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective medium-paced

4.5

When a poet writes a memoir of their own kidnapping, beautiful language and rhythm is to be expected. An added treat was the conscious interrogation of memory and its impact. How it can make it difficult to even tell our own stories.

theeuphoriczat's review against another edition

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3.0

Pulling the chariot of the sun is a vulnerable memoir told in what feels like memory slips or a daze, Shane recalls a compulsive account of growing up as a mixed race kid who was kidnapped and raised by his white supremacist grandparents. He describes the disconnect he felt from both the White and Black community and the way he upbringing shaped his early view of the world. This included how his blackness was even policed from him and made out to be the worst thing about him.

Overall, I learnt a lot from reading this book. It discussed mental health, dissociation, white supremacy and the tireless search for truth and pursuit of what and who we love.

“... I wanted to look sad and feel sad, that's all I thought depression was, extended sadness, because I wanted anybody who saw me and anybody who spoke to me to
"Wow, he is depressed," because to be sad seemed to me an act of notable rebellion, and to be depressed seemed to me a state of notable revolution, possibly because I was raised by white people who had been teens in the optimistic, for white people, 1950s."

Thanks to Canongate Books for making this book available to me.

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

Content Warnings

lsparrow's review

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3.0

A memoir of a black boy kidnapped by his white grandparents - a book of racism, childhood traumas, of being uprooted from oneself. I was particularly interested in the style of writing and the retelling of memories. I wanted the book to unpack a little more some of the bigger concepts and ideas - but i guess it wasn't that kind of book.

haleymaple's review against another edition

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3.5

Poetry in a novel. It’s very interesting, beautiful prose, but I wanted to know so much more than what was share. As a book, so many holes are in the story surrounding the poetry.