Scan barcode
A review by kerri_strikes_back
Spirit Run: A 6,000-Mile Marathon Through North America's Stolen Land by Noé Álvarez
2.0
I am looking forward to discussing this one... I have many disparate thoughts on it. It feels wrong to dislike something that is trying to share a new (and disenfranchised) perspective, but for the middle half of this book I was just kept repeating to myself, wtf?
The first section is about Noe's life growing up as the son of undocumented immigrant laborers in Yakima, WA, and that part is beautiful and evocative. It paints a nuanced picture of the pain vs. pride.
Then he (mild spoiler this paragraph) goes to college, feels completely unqualified, is not doing well in most of his classes (I saw many parallels here to themes from the book "Educated") and learns about the Peace and Dignity Journeys pan-America run, and feels called to participate. And again, so far, so good - and by good I mean understandable, interesting, well-written memoir, etc.
Then he joins the run and this is where the story went off the rails to me. This is taking place in 2004, so not the long ago past.
Noe sends a email at some point to a past professor of his about the lack of water who then makes inquiries - when the people ostensibly ORGANIZING this run are made aware of these inquiries, their solution is to ask the person "responsible" to confess, and when nobody confesses, they say "fix it" and Noe goes and emails his professor that, oh, everything is fine now!
So, I don't know. There's a Guardian article on the book from last May that includes a (new) quote from Noe saying "If you didn’t want to run, you didn’t have to. Others took on the miles.” but that is not at all the impression I got reading his memoir, and the vibe conveyed of this thing that was supposed to be sacred and activist and meaningful getting mired in these petty but also DANGEROUS conversations really did not sit well with me.
But I must add the caveat that I have no indigenous heritage; had never heard of this run before reading this book; am a very white-privileged woman; maybe I am missing something.
The first section is about Noe's life growing up as the son of undocumented immigrant laborers in Yakima, WA, and that part is beautiful and evocative. It paints a nuanced picture of the pain vs. pride.
Then he (mild spoiler this paragraph) goes to college, feels completely unqualified, is not doing well in most of his classes (I saw many parallels here to themes from the book "Educated") and learns about the Peace and Dignity Journeys pan-America run, and feels called to participate. And again, so far, so good - and by good I mean understandable, interesting, well-written memoir, etc.
Then he joins the run and this is where the story went off the rails to me. This is taking place in 2004, so not the long ago past.
Spoiler
The run is characterized by in-fighting factions. There are a few "strong-willed" participants who believe the run must be experienced in suffering, going so far as to HOARD WATER IN THE DESERT because they believe some of the runners are not "taking the run seriously enough." Noe is one of the runners "not taking the run seriously enough," a BOY who is running 15+ miles per day on excruciating knees, inadequate nutrition, never saying no to when he is told to run MORE (often BY these so-called "leaders" - I am sorry, if you believe you should be suffering for this run, then why don't YOU get out there and run more??????). The two ringleaders of this "run is pain" faction end up in relationships with some of the women on the run and I am reading this all very concerned from the (admittedly limited) view presented that those relationships might be abusive. (One girlfriend "sneaks Noe a water bottle" at one point -- is that something she would be punished for? Noe frequently expresses his fear of these men. So, WTF?)Noe sends a email at some point to a past professor of his about the lack of water who then makes inquiries - when the people ostensibly ORGANIZING this run are made aware of these inquiries, their solution is to ask the person "responsible" to confess, and when nobody confesses, they say "fix it" and Noe goes and emails his professor that, oh, everything is fine now!
So, I don't know. There's a Guardian article on the book from last May that includes a (new) quote from Noe saying "If you didn’t want to run, you didn’t have to. Others took on the miles.” but that is not at all the impression I got reading his memoir, and the vibe conveyed of this thing that was supposed to be sacred and activist and meaningful getting mired in these petty but also DANGEROUS conversations really did not sit well with me.
But I must add the caveat that I have no indigenous heritage; had never heard of this run before reading this book; am a very white-privileged woman; maybe I am missing something.