Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

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

4 reviews

akaspiderlily's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Broke my heart and mended it in many different ways. Trying to fix what has been warped by so many outside forces, the reckoning with queerness, the oppression of religion and colonialism. The abuse. I thank the elders who impart their stories bravely. We need them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Homophobia, Suicide, Pedophilia, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Rape, and Child abuse

Moderate: Child death, Deadnaming, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Bullying, Fatphobia, Incest, Medical content, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, and Addiction

zee's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

4.0

Mamaskatch explores McLeod's coming-of-age in a very frank but thoughtful approach. There are undercurrents of abuse and trauma, but also bright moments of success and growth. That being said, there is a LOT of heavy subject matter, but rarely is it dwelled upon; one gets the sense that despite all of the trauma in his life, McLeod was a very loving and gentle child. It isn't entirely linear in telling, and the author rarely specifies the year something takes place, nor his age, which makes it difficult to picture in the mind's eye as a result, but this is a tie-back to the way he notes his mother told stories. 

I really liked how the book shows how deeply McLeod's childhood and young adult years were intertwined with his mother and her story. The last few chapters are especially powerful.

Be VERY mindful of content warnings. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Deadnaming, Transphobia, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Medical content, Death, Forced institutionalization, Suicide, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, and Racism

Minor: Drug use and Domestic abuse

amanda_marie's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Memoirs can be tricky, repetitive, or overdone. Mamaskatch is none of those things. It is beautiful, insightful. It covers tragedies but emphasizes moments of beauty. It is about the complications of family, of intersectional identities, about how we keep living, we keep going on, no matter what life does to us. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Toxic relationship, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Drug use, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Deadnaming

xoodlebooks's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

“The 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.” 

Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age by Darrel J. McLeod is a raw memoir about a gay Cree boy growing up and discovering himself while facing intergenerational trauma and complicated family relationships. It is told in a nonlinear fashion. The author talks frankly about his experiences growing up as a gay Cree boy and the tremendous amount of trauma and abuse he faced. 

McLeod writes about the internalized homophobia and racism he faced growing up because of the Catholic Church. He also writes about his mother’s horrific experiences in residential school. This book made the way religion was/is weaponized by colonizers very clear.

This book is very heavy; you should take care when reading it. Please note the content warnings. 

McLeod frequently misgenders his transgender sister, Trina, and refers to her by her deadname. At first, I wondered if it was just a questionable stylistic choice, but in the author’s note, he refers to her as his brother/sister and deadname/Trina. I don’t know if he discussed this with his sister. 

There is also a scene where McLeod refers to suicide as selfish. I haven’t seen anybody mention this, so I thought I would warn people.

Memoirs are deeply personal, so I do not want to rate this book. I will say that I am glad I read it!

This was the February book for Erin and Dani’s Book Club (Instagram: @ErinAndDanisBookClub). Thank you so much to Erin and Dani for the work you do to organize this club!

Finally, I am a White settler, so I want to direct you to reviews of Mamaskatch by Indigenous readers. I highly recommend checking out @Erins_Library, @Floury_Words, and @ThunderbirdWomanReads’s reviews on Instagram. You should follow them! They have amazing pages!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Deadnaming, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Car accident, Excrement, and Terminal illness

Residential schools, Internalized homophobia, Grooming, Misgendering, Cheating, Religious trauma, Foster care