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A review by deedireads
Carry by Toni Jensen
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
Carry is one of those memoirs that just stands so far out from all the others. The writing is fierce, poetic, and self-assured. Read it.
For you if: You liked Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House.
FULL REVIEW:
Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land absolutely blew me away. Toni Jensen’s prose sings and cuts, drawing you in and rooting you to the spot until it’s finished.
Jensen masterfully weaves together two defining focuses of her life: her Native identity, and the recurring presence of guns and gun violence — be it in her fraught childhood home, on any of the various campuses where she’s taught, or in the neighborhoods where she’s lived. Somehow, she never loses the examination on either one of those things, even though they are not always related to one another. She also broadens out to examine the impact of racism against Native people, violence against women, classism, and more.
It’s heavy, but it rings with humanity. It’s honest, it’s sad, it’s hopeful, it’s important. I cried, I shook, I laughed. I’m still in awe.
This won’t be for everyone, in that it’s an untraditional memoir — but in the best way, I thought. It’s written in essays rather than a narrative arc, jumps around in time, and rings with metaphorical, poetic prose. The best comparison I can draw is In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. If you liked that one, I think you’ll like this one. Jensen’s skill with words is incredible.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Child abuse (physical); Child abuse (sexual); Animal abuse; Gun threats and violence; Pregnancy, breech/emergency C-section birth
TL;DR REVIEW:
Carry is one of those memoirs that just stands so far out from all the others. The writing is fierce, poetic, and self-assured. Read it.
For you if: You liked Carmen Maria Machado’s In the Dream House.
FULL REVIEW:
Carry: A Memoir of Survival on Stolen Land absolutely blew me away. Toni Jensen’s prose sings and cuts, drawing you in and rooting you to the spot until it’s finished.
Jensen masterfully weaves together two defining focuses of her life: her Native identity, and the recurring presence of guns and gun violence — be it in her fraught childhood home, on any of the various campuses where she’s taught, or in the neighborhoods where she’s lived. Somehow, she never loses the examination on either one of those things, even though they are not always related to one another. She also broadens out to examine the impact of racism against Native people, violence against women, classism, and more.
It’s heavy, but it rings with humanity. It’s honest, it’s sad, it’s hopeful, it’s important. I cried, I shook, I laughed. I’m still in awe.
This won’t be for everyone, in that it’s an untraditional memoir — but in the best way, I thought. It’s written in essays rather than a narrative arc, jumps around in time, and rings with metaphorical, poetic prose. The best comparison I can draw is In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado. If you liked that one, I think you’ll like this one. Jensen’s skill with words is incredible.
TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Child abuse (physical); Child abuse (sexual); Animal abuse; Gun threats and violence; Pregnancy, breech/emergency C-section birth
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Child abuse
Minor: Pedophilia