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winemum's review against another edition
4.0
This book should be required reading. At times it was incredibly hard to keep going, so I cannot imagine what these things are like to experience.
graceless's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, this book is powerful. I have had a copy for 6 months sitting in my 'to be read' pile but it jumped to the top of the queue this week as I prepare to be on a panel with the author for an event next week. I feel massively inadequate now I've finished this book.
This book is such an important piece of work. It tells Veronica's story, her past and all the bits in between that make us human and make her who she is. Being Aboriginal in Australia is still really bloody hard. Being an Aboriginal police officer is even harder. I'm so grateful this book exists.
It has given me a lot to reflect on in my own life. The conflict between being black and being blue. The impact of trauma and the culture of 'suck it up'. Being born different but existing in an environment where same-ness is what everyone strives to be. Do I have to make these choices? Why should I have to? Why aren't we better to each other?
Highly recommend reading this - especially as we enter National Reconciliation Week - to educate yourself, to challenge your biases and to try understand the world from a perspective that isn't your own.
This book is such an important piece of work. It tells Veronica's story, her past and all the bits in between that make us human and make her who she is. Being Aboriginal in Australia is still really bloody hard. Being an Aboriginal police officer is even harder. I'm so grateful this book exists.
It has given me a lot to reflect on in my own life. The conflict between being black and being blue. The impact of trauma and the culture of 'suck it up'. Being born different but existing in an environment where same-ness is what everyone strives to be. Do I have to make these choices? Why should I have to? Why aren't we better to each other?
Highly recommend reading this - especially as we enter National Reconciliation Week - to educate yourself, to challenge your biases and to try understand the world from a perspective that isn't your own.
sisyphista's review against another edition
5.0
Gorrie walks readers through a harrowing journey of pain and violence, through childhood and a relationship with the police, culminating in her politics of abolitionism. Her voice is powerful, her story important. A must read.
madamegeneva's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
4.0
A raw look into the author’s life as an Aboriginal woman and former police officer in an institutionally racist policing system (and country). This book made me angry and sad, but also thankful to Gorrie for sharing this necessary story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Rape
readingwithcarla's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
I could not put this one down, Veronica Gorrie guides readers through a perspective on Australia that we like to keep hushed, the systemic racism and the large, classist divide between colonialists and the traditional custodians of the land.
The writing is very accessible, and I wish this book was pushed out more to the Australian public. I Gorrie continues a very important conversation on how our system is structured. How can we change something when you must fit into this incredibly flawed system just to climb to the top? Our system benefits from white privilege and benefits from police members making judgements based on prejudice and racism. Violence is overlooked and hidden from the public eye when anyone in uniform can be seen at fault.
The only thing I wish the novel could improve on was the organisation and structure. Often a chapter would begin talking about Gorrie's relationship with someone in her life, and then the chapter would veer off on a completely different topic. This would make me confused - thinking I may have skipped pages but no, just an editorial issue. I did like how the book was structured into two parts: 'Black' for Gorrie's childhood, and 'Blue' for her time in the police force. This worked particularly well when talking on a linear timeline in 'Black', making every section even easier to follow. This well-structured expectation set out for the reader was then dismantled when 'Blue' took more of a thematic approach. It was, admittedly, confusing to read at first. But if this is the only thing that I found at fault personally, it was a bloody good novel otherwise. I believe this is a very important book that more Aussies should know more about.
The writing is very accessible, and I wish this book was pushed out more to the Australian public. I Gorrie continues a very important conversation on how our system is structured. How can we change something when you must fit into this incredibly flawed system just to climb to the top? Our system benefits from white privilege and benefits from police members making judgements based on prejudice and racism. Violence is overlooked and hidden from the public eye when anyone in uniform can be seen at fault.
The only thing I wish the novel could improve on was the organisation and structure. Often a chapter would begin talking about Gorrie's relationship with someone in her life, and then the chapter would veer off on a completely different topic. This would make me confused - thinking I may have skipped pages but no, just an editorial issue. I did like how the book was structured into two parts: 'Black' for Gorrie's childhood, and 'Blue' for her time in the police force. This worked particularly well when talking on a linear timeline in 'Black', making every section even easier to follow. This well-structured expectation set out for the reader was then dismantled when 'Blue' took more of a thematic approach. It was, admittedly, confusing to read at first. But if this is the only thing that I found at fault personally, it was a bloody good novel otherwise. I believe this is a very important book that more Aussies should know more about.
amythompy's review against another edition
a confronting but important read.
i regret looking at goodreads reviews halfway through because some of the editorial critiques only stuck out to me after i'd read them. regardless of the structure of the book, i was gripped by gorrie's story and i wish she had narrated the audiobook herself.
i regret looking at goodreads reviews halfway through because some of the editorial critiques only stuck out to me after i'd read them. regardless of the structure of the book, i was gripped by gorrie's story and i wish she had narrated the audiobook herself.
astridandlouise's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
samaira's review against another edition
I admire this woman, with all the hardship she's had to go through, very deeply. I think I just cannot handle the sexual assaults she talks about in her memoir, so for that reason, I'm DNFing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape