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A review by carriepond
Another Appalachia: Coming Up Queer and Indian in a Mountain Place by Neema Avashia
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Another Appalachia is a memoir of essays in which author Neema Avashia, who is Indian and queer, reflects on growing up in West Virginia.
I really liked this essay collection. I appreciated hearing about Avashia's experiences, which she recounts with equal parts love, respect, and gentle critique. And for all the parts of Avashia's upbringing that were not familiar to me, a white woman married to a man whose religion and culture were very much the dominant culture growing up, Avashia's feelings of simultaneously belonging and not-belonging and the way she grapples with loving a place and a people who do not always love her back (relationships that both "nourished and starved" her) resonated with me nonetheless.
This is a slim essay collection with a lot to like. Recommend for people who like personal essays and especially for those looking for nuanced portrayals of what it means to be Appalachian.
I really liked this essay collection. I appreciated hearing about Avashia's experiences, which she recounts with equal parts love, respect, and gentle critique. And for all the parts of Avashia's upbringing that were not familiar to me, a white woman married to a man whose religion and culture were very much the dominant culture growing up, Avashia's feelings of simultaneously belonging and not-belonging and the way she grapples with loving a place and a people who do not always love her back (relationships that both "nourished and starved" her) resonated with me nonetheless.
This is a slim essay collection with a lot to like. Recommend for people who like personal essays and especially for those looking for nuanced portrayals of what it means to be Appalachian.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Racism, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Gun violence
Minor: Cancer, Suicide, and Mass/school shootings