Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Highway of Tears: A True Story of Racism, Indifference, and the Pursuit of Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous by Jessica McDiarmid

8 reviews

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.75

such an important book that humanizes these victims rather than letting them fall victim to forgotten history. i was tearing up at some points because my heart hurt at how these indigenous GIRLS--yes mostly teenage girls--were treated before and after their murders/disappearances. how shameful that this continues to be something that these families are fighting to get recognized, and that indigenous women are still going missing at higher rates than average. mcdiarmid reports both sides of the story, from the families as well as law enforcement. as a journalist, she sticks to her duty and highlights all aspects of the story (that can be tracked down). i only vaguely knew about this genocide beforehand, and so i'm glad i picked this up and am able to put names to faces--not just know their tragedies, but also their personalities and how much they meant to the people around them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Genocide, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Colonisation, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Rape, Death, Drug use, Grief, Sexual violence, and Xenophobia

emmehooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.5

I struggled to keep up with all of the names and places at times, but the author did a wonderful job highlighting the humanity of missing women and girls, the neglect and discrimination by police, and the inclusion of photos and maps was helpful.  Well written prose was easy to read and engaging 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Gun violence, Violence, Child abuse, Child death, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Abandonment, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, and Rape

ninjamuse's review against another edition

dark emotional informative slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death of parent, Classism, Sexual violence, Sexism, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Drug abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Rape, Murder, Child abuse, Trafficking, and Addiction

ladykatka's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Heartbreaking and worthy read
The journey of Truth and Reconciliation must include books like this, the ones that tell the sad and hard stories that nobody wants to think about for too long. that talk about the systematic racism that occurred and still occurs. That brings to light the goodness and real people that the victims were and the families are. Until everyone fully understands what happened in the past but is also happening right now the journey to Reconciliation is going to be much harder.

I avoided this book for a long time because I wanted to opt for books written by Indigenous authors but this was very respectfully done and well researched. I had known about the missing and murdered women and girls as well as the highway of tears but this provided so much more information including details about the women, girls, and their families. it is moving and tragic and leaves with a desire to do something. 

Definitely recommend this book just as an eye opening read that gives you a small look into a huge problem. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Addiction, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

sarah984's review

challenging emotional medium-paced

3.0

I think that this is absolutely an important topic that needs to be spoken about more in Canada and British Columbia (especially since the government is still only kind of implementing the proposed changes piecemeal) but I was expecting more from this book. I found the organization of it a bit confusing since it jumps back and forth in time a lot, and I was expecting a stronger stance taken in the book itself based on the title. The actual book is more of a list of facts than an essay making a statement, and some questionable statements about the RCMP (that one officer saying he doesn't see colour was particularly egregious) are just stated with no clarification or authorial opinion attached.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death of parent, and Police brutality

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Medical content, Grief, Addiction, Child abuse, Colonisation, Murder, Racism, Rape, and Trafficking

Minor: Car accident, Forced institutionalization, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, and Suicide

laur_o's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Death, Genocide, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Misogyny, Murder, and Racism

miraclesnow's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, and Murder

merrrry's review against another edition

informative sad

4.0

Thoroughly researched, moving, nuanced, and horrifically organized. A beautifully written and highly informative book about a topic I cannot believe people aren't screaming about on the streets everyday. I also learned a lot of unexpected things unrelated to MMIW. From the existence of forensic entomology to the workings of the RCMP to the shortcomings of archiving in policing systems. Reading this made me realize how truly marginalized indigenous people are, and how apathetic I was towards the issues despite being somewhat aware of them. This book was a good reminder that these issues are real and harming people everyday. I definitely will be doing more reading and learning surrounding indigenous peoples in Canada. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Grief, Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, Racism, Murder, Hate crime, Gaslighting, Death, Colonisation, and Bullying