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A review by justabean_reads
Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age by Darrel J. McLeod
dark
emotional
sad
2.5
sighs. I would like there to come a day when reading CanLit queer memoirs isn't a harrowing adventure in trigger warnings. Because the things that have happened in this country are deeply, deeply fucked up. Which isn't a surprise, but it's still pretty heavy going.
Though this was on the queer reading list, the focus is more on McLeod's relationship with his deeply damaged, alcoholic mother, and his struggles to find meaning after a childhood full of every kind of abuse. When we see McLeod at peace at all, it's when he's finding connections through his Cree heritage and through classical music. I was definitely rooting for the kid to end up in a better place (LOW BAR!) and was pleased that he seems to have.
However, McLeod doesn't really explain the shift from self-loathing Pentecostal sex addict to self-accepting gay man in a stable relationship with a community he loves. Likewise, his transgender sister is treated mostly in passing, and her story is left on a pretty negative note (apparently sex reassignment in the '70s sucked a lot). I don't want every book to be rah rah gay pride, but I'd have liked to have more exploration of those issues, since they seemed central to his life while at the same time the treatment here felt shallow.
Loved, loved, loved the narrator, who is obviously familiar with Cree and the Cree community. We need more own voices books recorded by own voices.
Though this was on the queer reading list, the focus is more on McLeod's relationship with his deeply damaged, alcoholic mother, and his struggles to find meaning after a childhood full of every kind of abuse. When we see McLeod at peace at all, it's when he's finding connections through his Cree heritage and through classical music. I was definitely rooting for the kid to end up in a better place (LOW BAR!) and was pleased that he seems to have.
However, McLeod doesn't really explain the shift from self-loathing Pentecostal sex addict to self-accepting gay man in a stable relationship with a community he loves. Likewise, his transgender sister is treated mostly in passing, and her story is left on a pretty negative note (apparently sex reassignment in the '70s sucked a lot). I don't want every book to be rah rah gay pride, but I'd have liked to have more exploration of those issues, since they seemed central to his life while at the same time the treatment here felt shallow.
Loved, loved, loved the narrator, who is obviously familiar with Cree and the Cree community. We need more own voices books recorded by own voices.