Reviews

A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt

thatsoneforthebooks's review against another edition

4.0

This is a hard one to review because it reads somewhere between a novel and memoir, and the writing is complicated -- both in complexity of language and complexity of feelings. But if you hang in there, and continue with this, you'll find so much beauty within. I loved that it brought queer Indigenous perspectives through the unnamed narrator, and that it plumbed the depths of academia, rez life, and other complex systems of power. While it was not an enjoyable read necessarily -- it was a hard read -- I appreciated the journey that it took me on.

Thanks to WW Norton and #netgalley for an early copy of this book!

jgwatt's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

kayjpotts's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

5.0

jxhnnykang's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

lushtooth's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Short and lovely, with exciting experiments in narrative voice. Sometimes it read like a casual  dissertation, as relevant to the plot, but other times the quotations/critical reflections were a little too academically coded. Important reflections on isolation experienced by queer youths, the politics and spirit of indigenous life, and surrounding one’s writing with the voices of others. 

_kairhone_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

Belcourt offers poetic insight into the otherness of being both First Nations and queer; at "failing at boyhood" and carving out a space in the white, heteronormative and appropriative higher education world. But then there are passages where he asks a potential Tinder date to describe the "texture of his sadness," which is an example of what you'd expect from an MFA writing course. Kind of insufferable poetic assides.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Hate crime and Racism

hilaryreadsbooks's review against another edition

5.0

Gorgeous and tender, A MINOR CHORUS left me thinking about the power of the novel and the role stories play in the survival of marginalized people (at times, feeling so autobiographical that it read like an intimate memoir on writing). There are so many beautiful lines in here I saved for re-reading when I sit down to write (in line with the wonderful tradition of writing lineage mirroring our narrator’s own), one of my favorites being: 

“Suppose a body were trapped between two parentheses…made to be an aside, a distraction, a trace of another narrative possibility. Would you set it free, set it loose on the world?” 

In a book theorizing about the novel, it would be easy to drift into the abstract. But A MINOR CHORUS is also so grounded, so in the body. Intimacy and desire, fear and fragility—emotions are felt deeply, held as words, sentences, paragraphs. The body, instead of being trapped, set…maybe not yet free, but loose, wandering, searching. Like stories, finding their way from the memories and mouths of their tellers outward. 

nathansnook's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

4.0

Less of a novel and more of a masturbatory love letter to fiction and the novel. What 𝘓𝘢 𝘓𝘢 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥 or 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘮𝘢𝘯 is to cinema, this narrates the very struggle of beginning fiction.

With references from Cusk, Lispector, Ocean Vuong, and Chee, we get explorations into the why's in which we go into the practice of writing, finding out where it comes from.

Ahh but yes, this is every MFA student's dream, to pass this off as novel and really just write about writing.

Though the prose gets carried away at times, Belcourt is a voice that is doing incredibly important work for the unsung.

*I wish I had this in my undergrad, when I was still exploring voice and trying to understand where I fit into the world. But I'm a wonky cardboard crumble to a 1000-piece 𝘐 𝘚𝘱𝘺 puzzle set. There are questions and thoughts here that remind me of a lesson I learned somewhere in a 300 or 400 course. When asked about writing about a painful experience, I was asked 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮? 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦? And it's through this text do you see, operationally, where it hurts. From the queerness. From being a minority. For every kid who feels less-than in this world who submits themselves to the writer's path, this is an incredibly important text. Perhaps that's why the first part of this review may feel a bit better. Because Belcourt has gotten away with creating something like this and I haven't. Is there any space for me? At this age? 

Well, if not for me, then for the future. 

There is still hope for you. To any young writer out there, you will find your voice <3

dovessej's review against another edition

5.0

everyone please read this book im begging

tinamayreads's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0