A review by mixedreader
Black Chameleon: Memory, Womanhood, and Myth by Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

. Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton recounts a childhood in which she searches for connection and belonging, moving back and forth between her younger POV and the reflective lessons of her present self. Interspersed with her stories are myths, some pulling from recognizable characters, others from the author’s imagination. These myths sit right up against her narrative, paragraph to paragraph, requiring the reader to bend with her and let go of linear time. It’s a book worth the trust fall, though, even if I felt floating without a tether sometimes. Through myth-making, Mouton reminds us of women’s inner worlds, their power, their wildness. This book is a reclamation as much as a memoir. 

“What are we Chameleons but the greatest imposters? Convincing ourselves that we can fit into the world. That our Joy doesn’t alter the bodies limits. What storytellers. But there is no longer a reason to hide one so much shelter can abound.”