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spillie's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
A fascinating read from many perspectives, this memoir thrilled and shocked me simultaneously. I appreciate the author’s commitment to speak the truth and her ability to walk between two world views. Strongly recommended.
foxreadsbooks's review
*Audio*
This was certainly eye opening. I didn't know much about Wilson-Raybould or her connection to the SNC Lavalin scandal before reading this, but this gave some broad strokes of behind the scenes issues leading up to her being shuffled out of the MOJ position in Trudeau's cabinet. I'm glad she was able to tell her story- or as much as she was legally allowed to share. The takeaway here isn't just the overall issues in our democratic system as we know it- including the ability for corruption to fly under the radar- but that there is still hope to change.
This was certainly eye opening. I didn't know much about Wilson-Raybould or her connection to the SNC Lavalin scandal before reading this, but this gave some broad strokes of behind the scenes issues leading up to her being shuffled out of the MOJ position in Trudeau's cabinet. I'm glad she was able to tell her story- or as much as she was legally allowed to share. The takeaway here isn't just the overall issues in our democratic system as we know it- including the ability for corruption to fly under the radar- but that there is still hope to change.
fox_reads_books's review
*Audio*
This was certainly eye opening. I didn't know much about Wilson-Raybould or her connection to the SNC Lavalin scandal before reading this, but this gave some broad strokes of behind the scenes issues leading up to her being shuffled out of the MOJ position in Trudeau's cabinet. I'm glad she was able to tell her story- or as much as she was legally allowed to share. The takeaway here isn't just the overall issues in our democratic system as we know it- including the ability for corruption to fly under the radar- but that there is still hope to change.
This was certainly eye opening. I didn't know much about Wilson-Raybould or her connection to the SNC Lavalin scandal before reading this, but this gave some broad strokes of behind the scenes issues leading up to her being shuffled out of the MOJ position in Trudeau's cabinet. I'm glad she was able to tell her story- or as much as she was legally allowed to share. The takeaway here isn't just the overall issues in our democratic system as we know it- including the ability for corruption to fly under the radar- but that there is still hope to change.
justabean_reads's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
For those not following Canadian politics, Wilson-Raybould was the first Indigenous person to serve as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, which position she held until she refused to bend (or possibly break) the rules for the sake of political expediency. Then followed shuffling her aside, cover ups, scandal, smear campaigns and expulsion, possibly not in that order. Following getting kicked out of the governing party, she ran as an independent, won, then retired from federal politics before the last election.
It's probably mostly of interest if you were following the above, since it's primarily "this was my perspective on what happened." However, I also appreciated that she went into the day to day life and duties of a cabinet minister, how party politics work (or don't work), and a lot of how her background as a lawyer and a regional chief of the AFN played into how she saw all this. She's a mix of very unimpressed with a lot of how the sausage gets made stuff generally, and our current government and prime minister specifically, and proud of the work she got done, including working on legalising medically-assisted dying and recreational cannabis use. She talked a lot about how much she wanted to do on Crown-Indigenous relations, but couldn't get any movement on due to lack of political will, and the overwhelming feeling is frustration and disappointment that so much of the Sunny Ways good will of 2015 got wasted on bullshit when we could have made real change. There was an epilogue about her feelings on how Canadian politics should work, which I felt ran a little long, as she'd made most of the same points earlier.
I'm glad I got her reading the audiobook. She's got a great speaking voice, and added a lot of expression.
It's probably mostly of interest if you were following the above, since it's primarily "this was my perspective on what happened." However, I also appreciated that she went into the day to day life and duties of a cabinet minister, how party politics work (or don't work), and a lot of how her background as a lawyer and a regional chief of the AFN played into how she saw all this. She's a mix of very unimpressed with a lot of how the sausage gets made stuff generally, and our current government and prime minister specifically, and proud of the work she got done, including working on legalising medically-assisted dying and recreational cannabis use. She talked a lot about how much she wanted to do on Crown-Indigenous relations, but couldn't get any movement on due to lack of political will, and the overwhelming feeling is frustration and disappointment that so much of the Sunny Ways good will of 2015 got wasted on bullshit when we could have made real change. There was an epilogue about her feelings on how Canadian politics should work, which I felt ran a little long, as she'd made most of the same points earlier.
I'm glad I got her reading the audiobook. She's got a great speaking voice, and added a lot of expression.
petrichortrails's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
All Canadians should read this. We need more leaders like JWR
_emmat's review
4.0
Ever so slightly repetitive in some spots, but otherwise incredible. Totally changed my view of Canadian politics.
melhara's review against another edition
2.0
Right from the prologue, this book dives into the SNC-Lavalin affair, exposes Trudeau's poor leadership, and criticizes the Canadian government.
There were certain aspects of this book that I enjoyed, including learning about the differences between Indigenous and mainstream politics. While it was certainly interesting to read Wilson-Raybould's perspective on Canadian governance from the viewpoint of an Indigenous person who grew up with Indigenous politics, this book was kind of a mess.
This book was both repetitive and all over the place. It bounced back and forth between the SNC-Lavalin affair to Wilson-Raybould's other political experiences, and back to SNC-Lavalin. The book also expects readers to already have a good understanding of recent Canadian politics, the Indian Act, the Idle No More Movement, and most importantly (as it makes up the bulk of this book), the SNC-Lavalin affair before reading this book. It would have been beneficial if background information was provided for readers first, before taking a deep dive into the details of the matter.
There were certain aspects of this book that I enjoyed, including learning about the differences between Indigenous and mainstream politics. While it was certainly interesting to read Wilson-Raybould's perspective on Canadian governance from the viewpoint of an Indigenous person who grew up with Indigenous politics, this book was kind of a mess.
This book was both repetitive and all over the place. It bounced back and forth between the SNC-Lavalin affair to Wilson-Raybould's other political experiences, and back to SNC-Lavalin. The book also expects readers to already have a good understanding of recent Canadian politics, the Indian Act, the Idle No More Movement, and most importantly (as it makes up the bulk of this book), the SNC-Lavalin affair before reading this book. It would have been beneficial if background information was provided for readers first, before taking a deep dive into the details of the matter.