Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age by Darrel J. McLeod

14 reviews

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

bookishcori's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death

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.

abbie_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Over the weekend I read the second memoir in the lineup for @erinanddanisbookclub year of memoirs 2021 and it was devastating. Mamaskatch is told in vignettes rather than in a linear narrative, as Cree author Darrel J. McLeod picks out moments from his and his family’s lives to share with the reader.

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He demonstrates the lasting trauma caused by residential schools, as his mother Bertha was forced into one as a young girl and the abuse she suffered there is passed down to her children. While there, she is punished if caught conversing in Cree and later in life, if Darrel asked her what a phrase in Cree meant, she would tell him but also emphasise the fact she wanted them to only learn English, the lasting effects of the residential school divorcing her children from their heritage.

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There are also horrific accounts of the sexual and domestic abuse Darrel suffered as a child and teenager, as well as racism and homophobia, as Darrel spends much of the book questioning his sexual orientation. He points out that his ancestors had a much more fluid and open approach to gender and sexual identities, but then Catholicism stripped away those attitudes.

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It goes without saying that it’s a difficult read, but a necessary story to hear. Darrel overcomes so much, and I know he has another memoir coming out this year that I’m definitely adding to my wishlist!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Suicide