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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Heart Berries: A Memoir in Books

Mar 18, 2018

Chaotic coming-of-age manifesto from a First Nations female survivor

This memoir about pain and trauma written by an indigenous woman should not be typecasted and categorised as "Native Writing", although many themes do arise in this area.

As the author explains, this book is less about identity and more about coping with huge swathes of pain - from having a baby taken away right after birth, child sexual abuse to being institutionalised with bipolar disorder, Terese Mailhot is first and foremost a survivor. What she reveals in her writing, is that these issues take different shapes in every community, and for her, she attempts to consolidate her experiences and what she has learnt from her parents together.

In one instance, she talks about how she can't understand the notion of forgiveness preached by white therapists, because she has learnt that pain is a ritual to undertake. And in this way, we see where she appears similar to other survivors and where she diverges because of her belief structures. She also speaks about pain being inherent in the Native condition because of centuries of mistreatment by colonial powers - and so she refers to it differently than some.

Where I struggled with this, is her relationship with her 'boyfriend' Casey, which felt irritating because it took up far too much of the book - and I did just want to shake her and tell her to get a grip especially as she has young children, and it seemed almost juvenile. But overall, an important piece of literature in this growing sphere.

Kudos

The Happy Hack: A Memoir of Fleet Street in its Heyday

Mike Molloy

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Today, Fleet Street is just a term for the newspaper business. But not so long ago it was a real...

Tal: Move by Move

Cyrus Lakdawala

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Mikhail Tal is a true legend of chess. He was the World Champion and also holds the world record for...

Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens: Reportage

Laszlo Krasznahorkai

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Known for his brilliantly dark fictional visions, Laszlo Krasznahorkai is one of the most respected...

BookInspector (124 KP) rated Invisible In A Bright Light in Books

Sep 24, 2020

Invisible In A Bright Light

Sally Gardner | 2019 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics, Young Adult (YA)

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

This story is told from multiple perspectives and the protagonist of this book should be Celeste, a girl who wakes up in a basket as someone else, a girl called Maria. Celeste is very confused about who is this Maria, and why she is living her life. Even though this book tells Celeste’s journey, for me, the true protagonist of this book is Hildegard, a young girl, who was abused and bullied by her self centred mother. This whole story is kind of about her. That is the beauty of this book, the characters are so closely connected and entwined, that it makes this book a one beautiful and complex work of art.

I have to admit, this book was quite hard to read sometimes. Even though the plot is great and absorbing, the writing style felt quite jumpy and chaotic, and that made this book a little difficult to understand sometimes. I have to admit, if I would read it as a child, it would not make sense to me, but reading it as an adult, I truly learned how to enjoy it to the fullest. The author discussed very important topics in this book, such as emotional and physical abuse against children, lack of confidence in children, loss, friendship, self-obsession, and many more. The plot was quite layered, sometimes it is a ghost story, sometimes an adventure and it is filled with plenty of magic as well, all these changes in the atmosphere kept me entertained throughout the pages.