Reviews

A History of My Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt

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sharnanigans's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

3.0

amyw_97's review against another edition

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I feel obligated to finish this as research for my MFA. But truthfully—this text feels very inaccessible. So many things could've been said in simpler ways. I understand Belcourt's academic background, but from the first 20 pages I read, I was begging for reprieve from the way things were written.

I'd like to acknowledge that Belcourt speaks from lived experience. This emotion is real and visceral, and speaks to his identities. It's only the language that has alienated me. Language being: prose, word choices, references to theory. I am pained when invaluable experiences are clouded by inaccessible language.

This leads me to another point—many writers who've spent time in academia fall into this problem. In no way is this Belcourt's fault. The institution often encourages us to write in jargon-y language laden with references to academic theories and platitudes that make it hard for us to exit a bubble. I ache when this happens. Academic institutions are places where writing and creativity are encouraged, but it's also a very exclusive environment. I could go on but what I'm saying is: I wish we could reach outside of the institution and traverse classes; to speak to marginalized folks who may not have access to academia. To share experiences and messages regardless of academic affiliation.

I'd prefer not to rate something this personal. But I hope my comments convey my general thoughts. So much respect, only wish the language was easier to digest.

erinphillips613's review against another edition

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3.0

This is a hard book. I wanted to like it, as the essays are often intrusively personal and vulnerable, but I can't help but feel like the writing is kind of pretentious. Often the author either directly quotes or paraphrases other writers, while going off on streams-of-consciousness which are not clearly connected to a realistic touch point, while calling this a memoir. The best parts were the actual stories of BRB's life, but those are like one or two sentence nuggets amidst paragraphs of weird imagery.

atsundarsingh's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

Really dense and beautiful but difficult.

hunterandrew's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

One of my favorite books of all time. It felt as if I were highlighting every line, not only for the beauty, but for the way I wanted to live within them. For the way I wanted them to become a part of me. Devastating and insightful, a book I must own a hard copy of very soon. The opposite of simplicity. Everything inside of everything unfolding itself back inside of itself.