Tag: LGBTQIA+

“A Two-Spirit Journey” Review

Posted on by Jen

“A Two-Spirit Journey: The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder” by Ma-Nee Chacaby, with Mary Louisa Plummer

A Two-Spirit Journey is Ma-Nee Chacaby’s extraordinary account of her life as an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian. From her early, often harrowing memories of life and abuse in a remote Ojibwa community riven by poverty and alcoholism, Chacaby’s story is one of enduring and ultimately overcoming the social, economic, and health legacies of colonialism.

As a child, Chacaby learned spiritual and cultural traditions from her Cree grandmother and trapping, hunting, and bush survival skills from her Ojibwa stepfather. She also suffered physical and sexual abuse by different adults, and in her teen years became alcoholic herself. At twenty, Chacaby moved to Thunder Bay with her children to escape an abusive marriage. Abuse, compounded by racism, continued, but Chacaby found supports to help herself and others. Over the following decades, she achieved sobriety; trained and worked as an alcoholism counsellor; raised her children and fostered many others; learned to live with visual impairment; and came out as a lesbian. In 2013, Chacaby led the first gay pride parade in Thunder Bay.

Ma-Nee Chacaby has emerged from hardship grounded in faith, compassion, humour, and resilience. Her memoir provides unprecedented insights into the challenges still faced by many Indigenous people.

Review

This one was a hard read especially during Ma-Nee’s childhood and teenage years. So much happened to her during that time. The only bright spot was her grandmother. I did enjoy reading about her later years and the work she did to help others. I also enjoyed the explanation of the writing process that was provided at the end of the book.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “A Two-Spirit Journey”.

Book Details

The author Ma-Nee is shown on the front cover dressed in native style holding a drum in her hands. She is looking up off in the distance. Her shirt is blue with stripes of green and red on her chest. There are ribbons attached to the stripes. She is wearing a beaded necklace that circles her neck multiple times.

Publisher / Website / Date
University of Manitoba Press, April 2016
Genre
Memoir
Page Count
256
Completion Date
August 22, 2023

“Under Every Sky” Review

Posted on by Jen

“Under Every Sky” by Kenzie Brooks

Seventeen-year-old Maeve Barnes is poised on the brink of freedom—from her city, her past, and her unruly magic. Mere weeks from now, she will be on a plane bound for London and well on her way to starting a nice, ordinary life for herself.

But luck has never been on Maeve’s side. A beautiful stranger appears with a dire warning: the Shadow King is coming. All Maeve’s carefully laid plans for her future are put on hold when the shadowy demon crashes through the wards of the city, attacking her family and churning long-buried secrets to the surface.

In the days that follow, three things become abundantly clear. One, the Elder Council is useless. Two, Hanna—the caustic and evasive stranger—knows more than she is letting on. And three, someone inside Leto is colluding with the Shadow King to bring death and destruction within the city walls.

Amidst a flurry of unlikely alliances, near misses and heartbreaking realizations, Maeve must come to terms with her magic, her resentment toward Leto, and the possibility that she won’t make it to London, after all.

Review

I wasn’t sure about this book at first because Maeve was a little frustrating – but I did remind myself she’s only seventeen and dealing with a lot. I did like that as soon as everything started happening she went to work. There were still some moments of “I can’t do this!” but they were brief and made sense for the moments they happened. The rest of the characters were great too though this was the sort of story where adults end up being almost entirely useless and kids have to save the world. But I knew what I was getting into when I started the book. Overall the story is great and the resolution of a certain plot point actually ended up working out in a way I liked.

Book Details

Blue cover with various circles and symbols on it with the title and author's name in the middle.

Author’s Website
Kenzie Brooks
Publisher / Date
Self Published, May 2023
Genre
Fantasy, Young Adult
Page Count
366
Completion Date
July 24, 2023

“The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester” Review

Posted on by Jen

“The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester” by Maya MacGregor

Sam Sylvester’s not overly optimistic about their recent move to the small town of Astoria, Oregon after a traumatic experience in their last home in the rural Midwest.

Yet Sam’s life seems to be on the upswing after meeting several new friends and a potential love interest in Shep, the pretty neighbor. However, Sam can’t seem to let go of what might have been, and is drawn to investigate the death of a teenage boy in 1980s Astoria. Sam’s convinced he was murdered–especially since Sam’s investigation seems to resurrect some ghosts in the town.

Threatening notes and figures hidden in shadows begin to disrupt Sam’s life. Yet Sam continues to search for the truth. When Sam discovers that they may be closer to a killer than previously known, Sam has a difficult decision to make. Would they risk their new life for a half-lived one?

Review

Originally read this last year soon after it was published – I still love it. It’s a great quick read with awesome characters. The central mystery is a little predictable but it was still fun waiting to see what was going on. I liked it more for the character interactions. Especially Sam realizing there is a place where they can be themselves and have friends and date safely. This is both a story about being non-binary and Autistic and finding people who get you in all the ways that matter. Their father already does but having people beyond their father understand them is something new.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester”.

Book Details

A young person shown on the cover with white/purple hair and wearing a black t-shirt with a logo of something that is covered up by the book they're holding in their right hand against their chest. Their right arm is covered with a tattoo of sky and a bird and tree. The background is purple and white with stars. The title is shown at the top of te cover.

Author’s Website
Maya MacGregor
Publisher / Date
Astra Young Readers, May 2022
Genre
General Fiction, Mystery, Young Adult
Page Count
355
Completion Date
July 20, 2023 (2nd read)

“We Have Always Been Here” Review

Posted on by Jen

“We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir” by Samra Habib

Samra Habib has spent most of their life searching for the safety to be themself. As an Ahmadi Muslim growing up in Pakistan, they faced regular threats from Islamic extremists who believed the small, dynamic sect to be blasphemous. From their parents, they internalized the lesson that revealing their identity could put them in grave danger.

When their family came to Canada as refugees, Samra encountered a whole new host of challenges: bullies, racism, the threat of poverty, and an arranged marriage. Backed into a corner, their need for a safe space–in which to grow and nurture their creative, feminist spirit–became dire. The men in Samra’s life wanted to police them, the women in their life had only shown them the example of pious obedience, and their body was a problem to be solved.

So begins an exploration of faith, art, love, and queer sexuality, a journey that takes them to the far reaches of the globe to uncover a truth that was within them all along. A triumphant memoir of forgiveness and family, both chosen and not, We Have Always Been Here is a rallying cry for anyone who has ever felt out of place and a testament to the power of fearlessly inhabiting one’s truest self.

Review

This was a really interesting memoir. There was so much to learn and understand about Samra and their past. I really liked learning about their history and their exploration of their own queer identity. I’m glad that Samra was able to find themselves by finding other queer Muslims to be around. I also recommend checking out their photography project (which Samra talks about near the end of the book) Just Me and Allah which documents the lives of LGBTQ Muslims.

Note: Samra’s pronouns are now they/them. Previous publications about Samra and descriptions of their memoir may refer to Smara with other pronouns, but they/them is correct and should be used.

Book Details

The cover has shapes that look like the heads and shoulders in multiple colors - light pink, dark pink, light green and dark green. The title is written out across the cover taking up most of it and then the authors name is at the bottom. There's a circle logo for the Canadian Reads that says it was the 2020 section for that award.

Author’s Website
Samra Habib
Publisher / Date
Viking, June 2019
Genre
Memoir
Page Count
272
Completion Date
July 2, 2023

“Hell Followed with Us” Review

Posted on by Jen

“Hell Followed with Us” by Andrew Joseph White

Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him—the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with.

But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all.

Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s terms…until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.

Review

This was a really good book! There’s a lot of gore and body horror but I don’t think it was as graphic as it could have been. If it was a movie or a tv show I’d probably have trouble watching because of the gore but in text it didn’t seem so bad. If you read the introduction of the book the author explains where a lot of it came from and how he felt as a teen struggling with his identity. Which is the whole book too.

All of the characters were great and I liked how everything worked out. Even Nick’s “secrets” worked out well in the end. Benji was a great character to get to know. I did wonder if some things could have been explained a little better but at the same time I wasn’t sure how much the characters knew or could explain because they’re all teenagers dealing with the world they’ve been left in. I’m not sure how fully they understood everything to start with. Even Benji’s awareness of everything and understanding of what was happening seemed suspect.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Hell Followed with Us”.

Book Details

The cover has a blue background with black clouds. At the bottom of the page are the ruins of several buildings in red brick. In the middle of the cover there is the figure of a person with six wings with a red eye on each wing. The person has their head turned to the left with a scar on their cheek and bandages on their hands with blood dripping from their hands and chest. There is a chain around the figure in a circle and the title is written on a ribbon at the persons legs.

Author’s Website
Andrew Joseph White
Publisher / Date
Peachtree Teen, June 2022
Genre
Science Fiction, Dystopian, Young Adult
Page Count
416
Completion Date
June 30, 2023

“Depart, Depart!” Review

Posted on by Jen

“Depart, Depart!” by Sim Kern

When an unprecedented hurricane devastates the city of Houston, Noah Mishner finds shelter in the Dallas Mavericks’ basketball arena. Though he finds community among other queer refugees, Noah fears his trans and Jewish identities put him at risk with certain “capital-T” Texans. His fears take form when he starts seeing visions of his great-grandfather Abe, who fled Nazi Germany as a boy. As the climate crisis intensifies and conditions in the shelter deteriorate, Abe’s ghost grows more powerful. Ultimately, Noah must decide whether he can trust his ancestor — and whether he’s willing to sacrifice his identity and community in order to survive.

Book Review

This a novella, so it’s shorter than my usual reads, but I still enjoyed it. It’s another ambiguous ending however I do think the main point of the story is made and clarified. I won’t spoil it by explaining further, but I felt like the main issue is resolved in a satisfying way so while I would have liked to see more I don’t feel like I need to. There’s an interesting group of characters and the way things played out was very realistic.

Warnings and additional reviews are available on the StoryGraph page for “Depart, Depart!”.

Book Details

The cover is dark toned water ripples at the top. There's a vague figure of a person in the background mostly under the water. The word Depart is reflected upside down in the water making the two words of the title - Depart Depart. The author's name is at the bottom

Author’s Website
Sim Kern

Publisher / Date
Stelliform Press, September 2020
Genre
Science Fiction, Horror
Page Count
94
Completion Date
June 22, 2023