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Reviews tagging 'Animal death'
Call Me Indian: From the Trauma of Residential School to Becoming the NHL's First Treaty Indigenous Player by Fred Sasakamoose
1 review
frasersimons's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.5
Sasakamoose recounts his days from early childhood, hazy as they were, to contrast the residential school experience he rarely was able to talk about, and affected every facet of his life. On top of this horrific abuse, he was heralded by loved ones for pioneering the way for indigenous people. It also meant he was completely alone in an environment not beneficial to him, until going home to his family, only to feel like a stranger there as well. Around 40% of the book is what happened to him after that, which is generally where his story ends, as far as people know.
It's always hard to evaluate the voice in an autobiography because it is the author's actual story and their voice, not a plot and not a narrative voice, but an authorial one. And more than that, they also have to decide how much to share with the reader. Given how many failings he admits to and how shocking some of them are, including some accusations when he was chief on the reserve, it rang true to me. It's told quite humbly. It's informative. Sometimes absolutely harrowing to read--particularly in the residential school stories. So many are similar. All include varying degrees of abuse. This one has essentially every version of child abuse you can think of, so gird yourself going in. It's about 20% of the book or so. later on, Sasakamoose talks about how that experience affected people he knew as well. Roughly tracing a through-line across the book to his being able to verbalize what had happened to him on the record.
Obviously not always an "enjoyable" book to read, with the heavy subject matter, but a successful one and well-rounded. If you want to know granular details about his hockey career, you've got that. What happened to him previously and after, shaping his 20-ish year-long career. Got that too. I wouldn't say there is a strong "arc". It's an old man touching on the predominant memories he has. I wouldn't say it features very strong writing, but it doesn't need to for this kind of story. And we now know it's good he decided to put these thoughts down--sadly he passed away from COVID at the end of 2020. He would not have a chance to tell his story. Or narrate his story, either. Wilton Littlechild does a good job telling Sasakamoose's story. Respectful, unemotional, and importantly, spoke Cree in portions recounting conversations between mother and son. In the "school" system he was put in they had tried to erase this from him. Perhaps the most inspiring sections of the book are these, showcasing how it was unable, in the end, to take that away from him. Especially given all he went on to achieve.
It's always hard to evaluate the voice in an autobiography because it is the author's actual story and their voice, not a plot and not a narrative voice, but an authorial one. And more than that, they also have to decide how much to share with the reader. Given how many failings he admits to and how shocking some of them are, including some accusations when he was chief on the reserve, it rang true to me. It's told quite humbly. It's informative. Sometimes absolutely harrowing to read--particularly in the residential school stories. So many are similar. All include varying degrees of abuse. This one has essentially every version of child abuse you can think of, so gird yourself going in. It's about 20% of the book or so. later on, Sasakamoose talks about how that experience affected people he knew as well. Roughly tracing a through-line across the book to his being able to verbalize what had happened to him on the record.
Obviously not always an "enjoyable" book to read, with the heavy subject matter, but a successful one and well-rounded. If you want to know granular details about his hockey career, you've got that. What happened to him previously and after, shaping his 20-ish year-long career. Got that too. I wouldn't say there is a strong "arc". It's an old man touching on the predominant memories he has. I wouldn't say it features very strong writing, but it doesn't need to for this kind of story. And we now know it's good he decided to put these thoughts down--sadly he passed away from COVID at the end of 2020. He would not have a chance to tell his story. Or narrate his story, either. Wilton Littlechild does a good job telling Sasakamoose's story. Respectful, unemotional, and importantly, spoke Cree in portions recounting conversations between mother and son. In the "school" system he was put in they had tried to erase this from him. Perhaps the most inspiring sections of the book are these, showcasing how it was unable, in the end, to take that away from him. Especially given all he went on to achieve.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, and Murder
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