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thejadedhippy's review
5.0
Brant packs a lot of information and emotion into this small book. Heartrending at times, sensuous at others, it's a book well worth reading.
wollibs's review
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
caseythecanadianlesbrarian's review
4.0
If you’ve never heard of Beth Brant (Degonwadonti), that’s a damn shame. I mean, she’s one of the founding grandmothers of lesbian writing in English, of Native lesbian writers, and women of colour writers. Shame on me for not reading her earlier, and shame on the mainstream queer literary scene for not paying more attention to this fascinating Mohawk author, today and in the past. Did you know that she didn’t start writing until she was forty? If that’s not inspirational for aspiring literary types, I don’t know what is. Actually, the whole story of how she began to write, as told in her bio, is awesome:
Brant began writing at the age of forty after a motor trip through the Mohawk Valley, where a Bald Eagle flew in front of her car, sat in a tree, and instructed her to write. She has been writing ever since.
Mohawk Trail is Brant’s first book, published in 1985—so it’s as old as me!—and I thought that I might as well start with it. It’s multi-genre, containing poetry and fiction. There’s a visceral quality to many of the pieces in this book, an immediacy evoked by the disarmingly simple writing and the often direct, clean voices. These are stories and poems about Native, working-class, and queer people (usually women) but they’re not about identity. They’re slices of life, in seamlessly authentic voices that sound just like there’s someone beside you, or maybe across the dinner table, talking. Take the simply titled “Terri”:
My name is Terri. With an i. Yeah, I was born right here in this neighborhood. It don’t matter much how old I am, let’s just say I’m over twenty-one. Ha! I’ve been dancing for about two years now. I like it. Five days a week I work at K-Mart as a cashier. It sure gives me something to look forward to, being a go-go girl on Friday nights. It makes me feel happy to get all dolled up and go out and dance for the ladies…Did I tell you my ma was part Indian? Yeah, Chippewa. My dad’s a Polack. That’s how come I got Indian hair and hazel eyes. Some of the girls here thought I should change my name to Honey on account of the colour of my skin. But they thought it should be spelled Honee. With two e’s.
You can picture the woman talking to you, can’t you? Brant has such a strong command of voice...
See the rest of my review at my blog: https://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/ink-on-paper-picking-up-trails-a-review-of-beth-brants-mohawk-trail/
Brant began writing at the age of forty after a motor trip through the Mohawk Valley, where a Bald Eagle flew in front of her car, sat in a tree, and instructed her to write. She has been writing ever since.
Mohawk Trail is Brant’s first book, published in 1985—so it’s as old as me!—and I thought that I might as well start with it. It’s multi-genre, containing poetry and fiction. There’s a visceral quality to many of the pieces in this book, an immediacy evoked by the disarmingly simple writing and the often direct, clean voices. These are stories and poems about Native, working-class, and queer people (usually women) but they’re not about identity. They’re slices of life, in seamlessly authentic voices that sound just like there’s someone beside you, or maybe across the dinner table, talking. Take the simply titled “Terri”:
My name is Terri. With an i. Yeah, I was born right here in this neighborhood. It don’t matter much how old I am, let’s just say I’m over twenty-one. Ha! I’ve been dancing for about two years now. I like it. Five days a week I work at K-Mart as a cashier. It sure gives me something to look forward to, being a go-go girl on Friday nights. It makes me feel happy to get all dolled up and go out and dance for the ladies…Did I tell you my ma was part Indian? Yeah, Chippewa. My dad’s a Polack. That’s how come I got Indian hair and hazel eyes. Some of the girls here thought I should change my name to Honey on account of the colour of my skin. But they thought it should be spelled Honee. With two e’s.
You can picture the woman talking to you, can’t you? Brant has such a strong command of voice...
See the rest of my review at my blog: https://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/ink-on-paper-picking-up-trails-a-review-of-beth-brants-mohawk-trail/
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