Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott

25 reviews

fiaharringbook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was a life-changer for me. It was like Get Out but make it Indigenous Canadian, meets Everything Everywhere All at Once or Interstellar. The scope of imagination, creativity and originality in the way this story was told was gob-smacking. My favourite book of the year so far, absolutely bloody exquisite, I cannot recommend enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism

caitlinxreads's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Cultural appropriation, Alcohol, and Colonisation

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

 

And Then She Fell is the story of Alice, a Mohawk woman married to a white man and the mother of a newborn who has recently moved to suburban Toronto. I found Alice’s story to be a rich one, full of many layers, and while I’m not a fan of horror I thought horror elements were used here to excellent effect. The first half of the story appears straightforward. We first meet Alice as a young teen and witness the beginning of her mental health problems, as she sees and hears things that aren’t actually there. It’s clear that intergenerational trauma, misogyny, sexism and the legacy of colonisation plays into this. As an adult her mental health struggles are exacerbated by her move to the city where she feels alienated and unwelcome, encounters micro aggressions as well as more blatant racism, and is also troubled by cultural appropriation - her husband building his career on the back of her culture, gaining knowledge she hasn’t had access to. Add in the tough reality of a new baby and postpartum depression and it’s not a total surprise when she experiences a total psychotic break. Or does she? For at this point the story takes a really interesting turn. I don’t want to give too much away but it definitely left me with lots to think about - particularly the cultural lens through which we view mental illnesses, how something that is viewed as an illness in one culture could be viewed very differently by someone steeped in the knowledge of another culture. I was also left pondering the power of cultural knowledge and understanding, as well as the nature of horror, particularly that which is part of some people’s everyday reality. While aspects of this novel were tough to read - none more so than Alice’s terror at her hallucinations - there were other aspects that were a delight. Chief amongst these was the bonds between the women in Alice’s life. Her aunt, niece and cousin clearly had her back but by the end of the novel we’d seen that the bonds of female solidarity and empowerment ran far deeper and were much more complex. There is also a story within a story - a version of a Haudenosaunee creation story which Alice is attempting to write. There are clear parallels to be made between Alice’s story and that of the Sky Woman. The ending Alice crafted for her was perfect. I’d love to see this book on the shortlist. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, and Colonisation

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

And Then She Fell is a beautiful horror novel. Yes, beautiful. Elliott describes new motherhood, parental loss, indigenous identity, microaggressions, toxic marriage, and intergenerational hope. Each of these topics is blended to create an incredibly believable and complicated main character in Alice. I was simultaneously devastated and grateful for this book's ending.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation

jessicakornelsen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Drug abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, and Classism

mmccombs's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

That ending!! I was not so sure of this book at the beginning, I almost dnf’d like 35% of the way through, but I am so glad I kept going. The pace was a bit slow, but ultimately that made the way the ending unfurled so rewarding. Such beautiful themes at play here, highlighting the interconnectedness of Native women and their stories and their generations of striving toward hope. It definitely got kind of bonkers there at the end, which made for some delicious horror moments and also very poignant pieces about postpartum depression and psychosis and how that experience intersects with (and is further compounded and criminalized by) colonization and racism. This is such a well constructed book, would definitely recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Mental illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Colonisation

drownedinfictionx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

L

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Classism

tenderbench's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Racism, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Moderate: Vomit, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

brit_is_reading's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

To be totally honest, I nearly DNF'd this more than once in the time it took me to read. But once I hit about 64%, I decided to see it all the way through.

 While I was interested in the themes that Alicia Elliott was exploring in the first half of the book, I found the back half to fully descend into madness (which, I understand, is part of the plot), but was largely difficult to follow and understand.

I don't think I'm unable to explore dense material, but it just came across like there were so many interesting ideas here, and just one or two couldn't be decided upon - so it had to be all of them.

The end in particular, while I found it to be sweet as an idea, felt wholly out of place in comparison to the rest of the novel.

If I had to do it all over again, I’d probably skip this one. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child death, Racial slurs, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Colonisation

Minor: Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy

evawondergem's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Colonisation