Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
This book completely captivated me with its fierce mixture of unsentimentality and poeticism. Therese Mailhot writes with such personal and artistic authority that nothing about this memoir felt exhibitionistic, only truthful.
There's pay-off if you stick with it, but sticking with it was hard to do.
[Listened to the audiobook.]
[Listened to the audiobook.]
Just read it
Beautiful! Every will find a lesson and a mirror on each page. This book is a gift ripped out of the pile of pain and joy that makes up the life of Mailhot.
Beautiful! Every will find a lesson and a mirror on each page. This book is a gift ripped out of the pile of pain and joy that makes up the life of Mailhot.
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
If you’re looking for an exposé into the lives of Native women or an exploitation of life on a reservation, kindly look elsewhere. What you’ll find here is a story of perseverance and bravery from a woman who had the odds stacked against her but found freedom in vulnerability. Even when her life was a certifiable mess, she seemed graceful and beautiful to me.
The book begins with Terese Marie Mailhot as an adult and slowly reveals pieces of her childhood and past experiences. Poignant, poetic... the first few pages felt like I was “reading between the lines” to try to place myself in the plot, but with time the story became more transparent and easy to follow.
I appreciated how Mailhot did not rest on cliches or societal assumptions, and instead found her own unique voice. This line in particular stood out to me: “As an Indian woman, I resist the urge to bleed out on a page, to impart the story of my drunken father...” We have enough stereotypes in this world and I am happy Mailhot chose to write this book for herself, firstly.
The book begins with Terese Marie Mailhot as an adult and slowly reveals pieces of her childhood and past experiences. Poignant, poetic... the first few pages felt like I was “reading between the lines” to try to place myself in the plot, but with time the story became more transparent and easy to follow.
I appreciated how Mailhot did not rest on cliches or societal assumptions, and instead found her own unique voice. This line in particular stood out to me: “As an Indian woman, I resist the urge to bleed out on a page, to impart the story of my drunken father...” We have enough stereotypes in this world and I am happy Mailhot chose to write this book for herself, firstly.
4 stars - loved the narrative of the author and gave such insight into the native woman identity
It seems as though today is the day for disappointing „berry“ books. Just not what I thought this would be - but in this work‘s defence I only saw the title and jumped to my own conclusions. Autismed too close to the sun expecting this book to be about berries.
I am so torn with this memoir. It is well-written and has an engaging writing style. I just am not sure I liked the topic. The "obsessive love mixed with trauma and mental illness" story just felt a bit TMI for me. Obsessive love makes me uncomfortable as a topic and mix it with other personal issues and I really feel invasive reading about the person. I know this a personal feeling and others will really like this book. I just feel torn on if I enjoyed it or not.