Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

A Two-Spirit Journey by Ma-Nee Chacaby

13 reviews

abbie_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

I finally picked up the autobiography of two-spirit lesbian Ojibwa-Cree elder, Ma-Nee Chacaby, who has lived an extraordinary life, overcoming countless traumas to live as her true self once she hit her 40s. In her 60s, Chacaby, together with Mary Louisa Plummer, took on the monumental task of putting not only her life, but the lives of her parents and grandparents, to paper. To say she’s not had an easy life would be a gross understatement. Chacaby has endured alcoholism, child abuse, racism, rape, child death, domestic abuse, deteriorating vision, homophobia and more, but she’s come out the other side of it determined to find the joy in life. Her mindset is admirable. 

Even through audio, I found myself struggling a bit with the style though. It’s very direct, no fanfare, and more a laying down of events in chronological order than a true reflection of everything. But it would be a very long book if that were the case, and I think the authors were more concerned with squeezing in every remarkable aspect of Chacaby’s 60 years. 

In the afterword, Mary Louisa Plummer draws comparisons to other told-to autobiographies of Indigenous women, pointing out that these lacked ‘emotional depth’, recounting only the facts and not engaging with any of their feelings around the events. She says that a Two Spirit Journey has tried to offer more emotional depth, and while it’s true that Chacaby does not hold back from baring the most traumatic times of her life, I personally did not find much introspection within the book. The emotions displayed felt a bit surface level. The memoirs I usually read (though I am aware of the difference between autobiographies and memoirs) dwell for pages on a singular event, a memory, the author plumbing their emotional depths. It’s just a difference in approach, and one of the reasons I’m not going to rate this otherwise remarkable book. A valuable read for the perspective Chacaby offers as an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian elder!

Oh, and if you listen to the audiobook like I did, I’d recommend 1.8 or even 2 x speed - the narrator is decent but talks extremely slowly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Rape, Child abuse, Homophobia, Racism, Lesbophobia, Violence, Child death, and Sexual violence

kchin's review against another edition

challenging hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

An important voice we must listen to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Misogyny, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Child death, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Sexism, and Sexual assault

woolfinbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Incest, Domestic abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Addiction, Violence, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Colonisation, Bullying, Mental illness, Homophobia, Grief, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

trigger warning for residential schools

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Rape, Racism, Medical trauma, Medical content, Addiction, Child abuse, Ableism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Homophobia, Grief, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Bullying, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Classism, Chronic illness, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Child death, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, and Drug use

literarylarisa's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Suicide attempt, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Homophobia, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Animal death, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Addiction

Moderate: Rape

therainbowshelf's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

A really well done and engaging memoir retelling a life filled with pain, hardship, and triumph. I highly recommend this read, but it comes with strong content warnings for alcoholism, drug use, child abuse, rape, assault, homophobia, racism, torture, domestic abuse, child death, and other content that may be difficult for some readers.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Racism, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Medical trauma, and Sexual violence

Minor: Ableism

SIDS

mirireads's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Grief, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Child death, Sexual harassment, Violence, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Addiction, Racism, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail

aus10england's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Wow. This is one of the best memoirs I have ever read. 

It hit on all levels, such an eye-opening, inspiring, reflective, and deeply personal read. The authors really did the subject’s stories justice. Ma-nee has lived many, many lives, and the world is lucky to have this published work to live on forever. 

I appreciated the afterwords of this book, that explained how the publication came to be, since the subject of the memoir has vision issues that would make writing a book from start to finish difficult. So much went into it, and it made me appreciate the book even more. 

Overall, this book is severely overlooked, and should be read by anybody who wants to better understand native (queer) identities and culture. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Drug abuse, Grief, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Drug use, Lesbophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Addiction, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Sexism, Death of parent, Medical content, Self harm, Outing, Bullying, Misogyny, Suicide, Cancer, and Infertility

Minor: Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, and Miscarriage

caidyn's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced

4.75

A gorgeous book. It has a lot going on in it but, ultimately, it's an uplifting story of a woman coming into her own and discovering herself. It's never too late to come out as queer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts