Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Crazy Brave by Joy Harjo

19 reviews

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

Joy's Crazy Brave is such a powerful walk through of her lived experiences. Her storytelling is gripping and awakening. Her words eloquent and vivid. She, as a narrator and storyteller, is passionate and almost musical in her rhythm and delivery. Stunning story, beautiful performance.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark fast-paced

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

incredibly moving. i read it all in one sitting on an airplane and cried in public. it felt transformative.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional hopeful fast-paced

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

I deeply admire Joy Harjo's writing and this memoir only increased my admiration.  There were moments that were heartbreaking, and many moments where I felt a connection and understanding with the author, despite never having experienced many of these hardships myself.  And often through the memoir, I was reminded just how similar our struggles and oppressions are even when we are from different communities.  The way the memoir was divided into four directions, North, East, South, and West, was so interesting.  I would pick up this book when you have the space to read about heavy topics.  While they aren't individually focused on, there are many traumatic and triggering events that are mentioned.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark reflective sad slow-paced

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

“‘My story is like a falling star,’ I said as we watched a small universe blaze and fall from the sky. ‘That star was a person. It was a being of fire that laughed and cried. Someone is missing that star in the sky. The star’s lover is bereft, calling its name.’ As I spoke, I realized that I did not want to be alone beneath the eternal sweep of the sky.”

TITLE—Crazy Brave
AUTHOR—Joy Harjo
PUBLISHED—2012
PUBLISHER—W. W. Norton & Company

GENRE—memoir
SETTING—Turtle Island in the 50’s, 60’s, & 70’s
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—Native American life in the 1960’s, art & poetry, Indian school, child & domestic abuse, Indigenous spirituality, mental illness & panic attacks, Indigenous family & parenthood, finding your path/obeying your calling

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERIZATIONS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

BONUS ELEMENT/S—I loved how delicate her voice was as she told her story. I also loved everything she says about “the knowing.”

PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
PREMISE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
EXECUTION—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

“I often painted or drew through the night, when most of the world slept and it was easier to walk through he membrane between life and death to bring back memory. I painted to the music of silence. It was here I could hear everything.”

My Thoughts:
I’ve been looking for more books written by Muscogee authors and was excited to find CRAZY BRAVE at my local library. This was truly a poet’s memoir and such a beautiful, inspiring read. Highly recommended to readers who enjoy memoirs as this one was excellently and uniquely done.

“There are many doorways in our lives. Some are small and hidden in the ordinary. Others are gaping and obvious, like the car wreck we walk away from, meeting someone and falling in love, or an earthquake followed by a tsunami. When we walk through them to the other side, everything changes.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

CW // domestic abuse, child abuse, racism, genocide, rape, alcoholism (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Further Reading
  • WHITE MAGIC, by Elissa Washuta
  • THERE THERE, by Tommy Orange
  • THE TRUTH ABOUT STORIES, by Thomas King
  • THE WAYS OF MY GRANDMOTHERS, by Beverly Hungry Wolf—TBR
  • THE WORLD WE USED TO LIVE IN, by Vine Deloria Jr.—TBR
  • THE RIGHT TO BE COLD, by Sheila Watt-Cloutier—TBR

Expand filter menu Content Warnings