Reviews

Apple: by Eric Gansworth

annebennett1957's review against another edition

4.0

Yesterday, as I was talking to my daughter about a different book, she suggested that sometimes one needs to just read a book and let it sweep over you. Read it fast, not slowly, not worrying about all the details. In that way the mood of the book and the words will form an impression and an appreciation. I read the last half of this book that way. I read to feel not to understand and it made all the difference. When a turn-of-phase would stop me in my tracks I would slow down and appreciate before barreling on.

The book is so heart-breaking and revealing. It must have been very painful to write for Gansworth. I only wish that I had read the book in e-book version so I could highlight and preserve those beautiful phrases/thoughts to refer back to later.

"When we are born outsiders, we sometimes
find bridges we can make with our own stories
embracing the ways we are connected, instead
of pointing out the gaps between the two sides" (284)

https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2021/03/review-and-quotes-apple-skin-to-core.html

jkwriting24's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

I don’t often leave reviews, but this one is worth the time. There were so many beautiful phrases that I highlighted. The work as a whole was deeply moving. I would highly recommend this to anyone. 

afro8921's review against another edition

4.0

Eric Gansworth memoir of growing up haundenosaunee on the Tuscarora reservation is a love letter to his culture and also an examination on generational trauma experienced by Native American people in general. This novel in poem form is wonderfully complex and rich.

carstensena's review against another edition

5.0

A masterpiece, complicated, important. Well done, Printz Award committee for the recognition.

bookworm91's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective relaxing sad medium-paced

4.5

chazaloo's review against another edition

5.0

This coming-of-age memoir is marketed as a Young Adult book, but handles its material with such maturity and originality that this adult reviewer found it beautiful, challenging, and rewarding. It chronicles the difficulties—and rewards—of growing up on the rez (in upstate New York, near Niagara Falls), and incorporates some history of the U.S. government-run boarding schools that destroyed so many native families, and discusses the effect of the boarding schools on the author’s family. The book incorporates free verse, prose, and artwork to tell the story. Sections of the book are structured around the sequences of songs on Beatles albums, with one part mapping the story onto the structures of the songs themselves. It’s remarkable that the author is able to pull this off, but not only does it work, the result is remarkably cohesive and heart-wrenchingly powerful. Highly recommended. I recently re-read it and found it equally as moving as I did on the first reading.

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny informative sad medium-paced

4.0

Lots of pop culture references esp Beatles 

smphillips's review against another edition

medium-paced

3.0

wesleylebakken's review against another edition

4.0

this was an incredibly eye opening read that delves into regular, day to day. native american life and experiences. the title, based on the slur natives use for another who is “red on the outside and white on the inside” based on forced assimilation practices from boarding schools really shocked me. 

i wouldn’t normally find myself reading a memoir in verse, but i think this one’s elegance in explaining the mundane in free verse didn’t make me feel like i was reading poems the entire book. there was so much to learn about heartbreaking family dynamics, historical (mis)representations, reservation life, language, sci-go and much more. 

there was also a lot of relation to the beatles, and though i didn’t pick it up initially, i appreciated the dedication to making it connect throughout!

aprilbooksandwine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

3.5