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Reviews
Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
lsparrow's review against another edition
5.0
Sometimes when you go to a book reading and think - "this is gonna be so great" you go home and read it and realise all the best parts were read at the reading and it really doesn't feel the same without the author's physical voice - but this book was every bit as good as the reading!
I loved the journey that was the book.
Also I love books that are written in Toronto - this city that is my home.
I loved the journey that was the book.
Also I love books that are written in Toronto - this city that is my home.
thelibraryskeeper's review against another edition
4.0
Its really incredible everything Leah went through to become the person she is today.
This memoir is raw and extremely emotional. It is written in a way that makes it feel like a collection of stories or memories. Her struggles waiting for her immigration landed status to be approved, her hunger, the fear, her past, all of it is so vividly written. Through her struggles and perseverance she learns who she is, her identity as a femme and a woman of color. It was tough to read this book only because of all the raw emotions and pain the author has gone through. As the reader you can really feel it all.
I'm glad I accidentally found this book while looking for something else on my libraries website.
This memoir is raw and extremely emotional. It is written in a way that makes it feel like a collection of stories or memories. Her struggles waiting for her immigration landed status to be approved, her hunger, the fear, her past, all of it is so vividly written. Through her struggles and perseverance she learns who she is, her identity as a femme and a woman of color. It was tough to read this book only because of all the raw emotions and pain the author has gone through. As the reader you can really feel it all.
I'm glad I accidentally found this book while looking for something else on my libraries website.
choi_lacroix's review against another edition
fast-paced
2.75
Idk there's something really Western and white and pink-washing about nonconsensually referring to your brown dad a "f*g" bc he hints at his sexuality in a way the author interprets as queer. Feels like even though they didn't mean it disrespectfully, it was a choice made in bad taste. For that and other reasons, I lost a lot of respect for Piepzna-Samarasinha as a writer even though a younger version of myself really enjoyed reading Care Work.
djparvy's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
lesbrary's review against another edition
4.0
I feel like I am totally unqualified to talk about this book. It's like someone cracking open her ribcge and showing you what's inside, while fixing you with a glare like vulnerability is the most badass and resilient thing you can do.
zlibrarian's review against another edition
5.0
It’s not easy to explain, but this book feels alive. Excellent, poignant, and memorable. Piepzna-Samarasinha beautifully captures the inner and outer environments of life, love, and learning in queer communities of color and the world. Her vivid descriptive style appeals to the senses, making one want to reach for a blanket while reading about a coatless Toronto winter. At other times, you can feel yourself dancing or falling in love. Anyone who has lived through similar experiences during the era she describes will remember the close link between personal and political struggles, and how people lived it instead of just talking about it. She also handles complex, painful family relationships honestly, listening between her parents’ words to hear the things they won’t -- or can’t -- say. This valuable historical perspective makes this more than a coming-of-age novel. A more appropriate term, to borrow from Audre Lorde's ZAMI, would be 'biomythography'. This isn't to question the veracity of DIRTY RIVER, rather to praise it and try to describe it power and depth. Throughout the book, Piepzna-Samarasinha depicts the changing realities of living between cultures: not fully accepted as South Asian among Toronto’s queer communities, but finally defining her identity and thriving in communities that are as brilliantly diverse as the real world itself. As a librarian, I’d recommend this to faculty and students of English, Creative Writing, Gender and Women’s Studies, and perhaps History and Politics too. Have already requested purchase. Highly recommended.