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maryanneross's review against another edition
3.0
Alexi’s style was hard for me to get used to at first. After a while, I was all in. The pages turned quickly and though my background is entirely different, I found the author highly relatable. My other complaint was the repetition of the material. While I know that this is a collection of essays and poems, I felt it could have been edited a bit more carefully. In the end, Alexi accomplished his goal, a memorial to his mother with whom he had a complex and at times contentious relationship.
kirstenrose22's review against another edition
5.0
This is simply incredible. Some sections are absolutely searing. Alexie is such an amazing storyteller.
queenbethie's review against another edition
5.0
I appreciate books like this that challenge my assumptions and raise into question the “history” I’ve been taught. Alexie paints a vivid picture of growing up “on the rez” and the good and bad that brought him. He shares his conflict over leaving the reservation and becoming a city dweller. A great read (or listen, in my case) that I encourage others to read. Note: there is quite a bit of foul language and that might be bothersome to some.
nichebooks's review against another edition
5.0
I tried to give this four stars because I thought, don't be too generous with the stars. There's always got to be room for growth, but gosh. This was so well-crafted. The mix of poetry and prose, the layering of the stories, sometimes told three times but in different ways.
Of course, it has to have five stars. Of course. To top it all off, this was my first Sherman Alexie, and I'm hooked.
Of course, it has to have five stars. Of course. To top it all off, this was my first Sherman Alexie, and I'm hooked.
kaz9's review against another edition
4.0
Amazing, as always. Beautifully written and crafted, enlightening (sadly) to my white self, and emotionally true. This is really a 4.5. The only reason it's not five is because as much as I love the quilt metaphor and that every piece of the quilt is integral to the whole and agree that circles and repetition are healing, I thought there were places it could've been tighter. Then again, as I kept reminding myself, whose intensely personal story is ever (should ever be) "tight?"
jennajean's review against another edition
5.0
LOVED. My favorite book I read in 2019. I highly recommend the audiobook, read by the author, for its emotional intensity and vulnerability and realness.
erinthompson11's review against another edition
5.0
I'm amazed at the way Alexie was able to be so incredibly vulnerable about his life experiences. One of the biggest reasons we read is to understand the human experience through the eyes of others and Alexie's memoir does not disappoint. Powerful and emotional writing that might leave you in tears.
birdinflight1's review against another edition
4.0
This story tugged at my heart in so many ways. The most heart-wrenching part of the book was the way Alexis so explicitly illustrates intergenerational trauma. From the abuse received in the boarding schools to the way the government took away native people's spirituality, sustenance, and purpose in life by putting them on reservations and damming the Columbia which destroyed the salmon lifestyle, these abuses of mind, body, and spirit affect the way parents cope and care for their children, thus passing on the trauma. When I lived on an Indian reservation in my early twenties, I heard the elders' stories about how the teachers would whip them for speaking the Indian language at boarding school, but I didn't understand how this would affect future generations of children. Also, I didn't understand the extent of the emotional and sexual abuse in the boarding schools, and how that kind of trauma can affect future generations.
I appreciated learning about how his mother, who had undiagnosed bipolar disease and indescribable trauma in her own life, self medicated with alcohol. However, after a particularly bad night of drinking, she swears of alcohol, but doesn't get help for the underlying chemical imbalance or trauma that she was medicating with alcohol. Thus she is prone to rages and general meanness towards her children. In this book, Alexis is working through his mixed feelings about his mother after she dies.
I really enjoyed the last chapter of the book about the little bird that experienced trauma (hitting a window) but how it shook and shook and walked in circles and eventually healed itself. This reminds of TRE, which I am just starting to explore, as a way of releasing past trauma.
I appreciated learning about how his mother, who had undiagnosed bipolar disease and indescribable trauma in her own life, self medicated with alcohol. However, after a particularly bad night of drinking, she swears of alcohol, but doesn't get help for the underlying chemical imbalance or trauma that she was medicating with alcohol. Thus she is prone to rages and general meanness towards her children. In this book, Alexis is working through his mixed feelings about his mother after she dies.
I really enjoyed the last chapter of the book about the little bird that experienced trauma (hitting a window) but how it shook and shook and walked in circles and eventually healed itself. This reminds of TRE, which I am just starting to explore, as a way of releasing past trauma.