A review by ceallaighsbooks
Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

”This tradition repeats throughout my life: I'm expected to chop wood for ceremonies rather than knead frybread, learn how to hunt with my uncles rather than knit with my aunties, perform the Fancy Feather dance when I really want to do the Jingle Dress dance. "Man up" was the mantra of my childhood and teenage years, because the dick between my legs wasn't enough proof of ownership of NDN manhood. There are a million parts of me that don't add up, a million parts of me that signal immodesty. When I think of masculinity, I think of femininity. Everything's finished in beauty…. I am my own best medicine.”

TITLE—Jonny Appleseed
AUTHOR—Joshua Whitehead (oji-nehiyaw 2SQ otâcimow)
PUBLISHED—2018
PUBLISHER—Arsenal Pulp Press (Vancouver)

GENRE—novel
SETTING—Turtle Island
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—two-spirit/Indigiqueer MC, differently gendered experiences, fictional quasi-autobiographical memoir structure, poetic narrative voice, reservation life, “that strange hunger”, sex work, matriarchal role models, toxic masculinity, heartwarming friendships & family relationships, home & home-going

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

BONUS ELEMENT/S—I love reading fiction written by poets. Nothing compares.

PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ ”Silly little bird, I always think, building a home in a dead place.”
PREMISE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
EXECUTION—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“My skirt apparently did not meet his ceremonial expectations; he told me to take it off and put on a pair of XXL Adidas shorts he had, or to return at another date in proper attire. While my kokum argued with him in Cree, I flipped him off and stormed back to the van. It turns out that tradition is an NDN's saving grace, but it's a medicine reserved only for certain members of the reservation, and not for self-ordained Injun glitter princesses like me.“

My thoughts:
This is one of those books where the writing is so strong you don’t even notice it at first you just immediately flow right into the story. After reading a few pages I looked up the author and saw that he is a poet and when I say that fiction written by poets is a whole genre in and of itself, this book is exactly what I’m talking about.

The narrative structure of this book also reminded me a little of the Sámi tradition of joiking. Norwegian Sámi musician, Ánde Somby talks about joiking in this way: “A yoik… starts suddenly and stops just as abruptly. In this respect, a yoik has neither a beginning nor an end, and is therefore circular rather than linear.” Similarly, while Whitehead’s book follows a very vague thread of a plot (Jonny’s journey home for his stepfather’s funeral), various other events and memories, feelings and experiences from Jonny’s life are pulled in to demonstrate that this home-going is about more than just returning for a funeral, as is every journey he takes throughout his life which is itself a journey—one without a real beginning or end as well.

One small detail that stood out to me as a poignant example of queer personhood was the part where the MC talked about going “by the name Lucia and pretend[ing] to be a girl to flirt with other boys” online—this reminded me of what Kit Heyam discusses in their book, WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN TRANS, about people playing with different gender expressions without necessarily being “trans” as a way to have the experiences they want to have in a society that only allows those experiences to a specific gender, regardless of how they personally feel in regards to their gender. There is a lot of gender fluidity in the MC’s experiences that demonstrates the sacred and spiritual uniqueness and specificity of understanding gender in an Indigenous context as a Two-Spirit individual.

I also enjoyed and appreciated the discussion of sex work in this book which the MC clarifies with: “I don’t sell sex, I sell fantasy and companionship” and the chapter on water as a mentor—“Water was a mentor to me, a playmate; water was a feral child… The water is a furious road and the only words we can say to one another are simple: witness me.”—and the one on the mannegishi as well.

Final note: If I don’t find a copy of this book at one of the spring library book sales this month, I’m going to have to just buy it from my local indie. This book is definitely a new favorite for me that will sit between FRESHWATER and THE NIGHT BETWEEN THE DAYS on my shelves.

”As my momma used to say, if anyone could do it, it would be me, cuz I'm stubborn as a mule and strong as a bear. I guess I was running, like Florence said, fast for my mother, and away from my father; the squaw days aren't over.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

CW // sexual content, sex work, genocide, racism, childhood trauma, alcoholism, bullying, homophobia (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Further Reading—
  • SACRAMENT OF BODIES, by Romeo Oriogun
  • THE TRUTH ABOUT STORIES, by Thomas King
  • ALL BOYS AREN’T BLUE, by George Johnson—TBR
  • THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI, and DEAR SENTHURAN, by Akwaeke Emezi 
  • GIOVANNI’S ROOM, by James Baldwin 
  • ANNIE JOHN, by Jamaica Kincaid 
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