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kittykets's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
carodono's review against another edition
5.0
Wonderful book! Should be required reading for all Canadians. Very insightful and thought provoking. I will be thinking about Jesse’s words for awhile to come. Highly recommend!
emmysnook's review against another edition
4.0
4.5. Wente’s message is clear and concise. The .5 off is only because sometimes he would start a point and would go off of it and finish it in the next chapter and it would be confusing. Regardless I think this is a book that should be taught and read in classrooms it is not only educational but would hopefully bring more focus onto the realties of what Truth and Reconciliation actually entail. His experiences especially at TIFF were powerful to read and the way it is described is heart breaking I don’t know how anyone could ever misconstrue his motives and thoughts. I encourage everyone to read this book.
mooncrab's review against another edition
4.0
So well-written, well-researched and well-lived. Jesse Wente has a strong, honest voice and speaks a powerful message that encapsulates the voice of his ancestors. It reminds me of Clayton Thomas-Müller’s “Life in the City of Dirty Water,” only with Toronto & Serpent River, ON as the setting & film and media as the wide focus rather than the environment. It’s a revealing insight to the deeply engrained systemic racism within Canadian media, the tokenism that exists within it, and the people who are working to dismantle such atrocities from the inside. Wente draws connection between George Floyd and Chantel Moore — racialized police violence — and the need to redistribute funding in order to achieve truth & reconciliation. He shares his emotional experience receiving hate and death threats while working hard to unveil ways cultural appropriation has harmed him & his ancestors, and a refusal to let it continue trickling down to his grandchildren. One of the most powerful lines in the book is simply: “Two generations.” One of Wente’s strongest theses is that colonialism simply failed. They spent so much money, time, energy and creates such violence and destruction to simply remove indigenous people from their roots for only two generations. He urges colonialism to “just stop.” The last chapter in particular is extremely powerful and a manifesto that all Canadians must become aware of. This should certainly be required reading for all settlers, not only Canadians but evidently internationally (Germans, Americans and beyond). It is an honour and a gift to have this book.