jessicablehman's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse and Child abuse
thelizzabee's review against another edition
4.0
3.5. I listened to the audiobook, but I think that reading the physical book would have been my preferred way of reading this book. I think it would have flowed better with the author's, use of language/ definitions given and the topics covered.
woolgatherer's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.25
Carry is moving and heartbreaking, written from the perspective of a Métis woman who also happens to be white-passing. I really appreciate how Jensen presented her insights with this in mind and its relations to the various topics she covers ranging from gun violence to domestic abuse. She doesn’t shy away from sensitive topics but never sensationalizes them. There’s a lot of care that went into each chapter, especially as Jensen considered the impact various circumstances and issues had on her own life.
I would say it’d be more accurate to describe this book as a collection of essays tinged with personal anecdotes as opposed to a memoir due to its structure. Not that this is a bad thing, since I still enjoyed this memoir (of sorts). Something I really appreciate about Carry is Jensen’s unique voice and writing style. It was very clear that she found her rhythm, which allowed each chapter to come together as beautifully as they did.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Mass/school shootings
Moderate: Classism, Trafficking, and Racism
Minor: Genocide, Rape, and Suicide
angelahambaobao's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely phenomenal. Jensen's prose is stunning. She provides incredible insight with the way she interweaves her own story/family history with how the violent foundation of America has caused generational trauma on Black and Indigenous peoples. She talks about the violence of erasure, how even the very language we use pushes back their origins (or diminishes the meaning of certain words by making them the third, fourth, tenth definitions) until modern-day society no longer knows of the origins, what these words mean to non-white people.
Seriously, everyone needs to read this.
Seriously, everyone needs to read this.
krissyronan's review against another edition
4.0
Intertwining threads of personal, historical, and systemic violence made this memoir incredibly thought-provoking.
rseykora's review against another edition
4.0
The writing is poetic. I appreciated how the author incorporated birds, dictionary meanings and gun violence with her personal experiences with trauma, abuse, and life as a BIPOC woman.
missrhinnan's review
3.0
First off, the cover of this book is gorgeous. That said, I was really looking forward to this book. I love it when authors read their own books, especially memoirs of personal essays. Unfortunately the author’s reading in this case was a distraction: sometimes in a somewhat sing-song rhythm, often just in an inscrutable cadence that both detracted and distracted from the content, with rises and falls and flats in places in the sentences that I just could not understand. I realize that she is a poet and this could explain some of that but I just had a hard time focusing on the content bc I found her reading cadence so distracting. Additionally, I realize that this is a collection of essays, some previously published, but there was also a lot of repetition.
gemini_love3's review against another edition
4.0
I'm surprised how much I did enjoy the book. There were difficult parts but how else does one write about the horrors of domestic, gun, and state violence. It was honest and brutal. A story worth reading and digesting.
juliadejong's review against another edition
3.0
3.5* probably my own fault for taking so long to finish it