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yasmeexn's review against another edition
4.0
wowww so good, haven’t read a memoir type poetry book before like this.
dvnielletreads's review against another edition
5.0
joy harjo is an amazing human being, and i love her and her work.
claireescott's review against another edition
5.0
Joy Harjo is an amazing and powerful storyteller, so I definitely recommend the audiobook narrated by her. She's such a gifted poet, artist, and voice.
morgob's review against another edition
4.0
This book really enforces the idea that you have no clue what someone's story is unless they tell it to you. I didn't read the inside cover before I started this, but still it was not what I expected. I will admit, I was very confused during the first few pages just because of the interesting style it's written in, like she is describing her birth in an odd mixture of truth and fiction, though maybe that was because I did not understand her beliefs as a person. However, I quickly got used to the style in which she combines her fiction writing style with this memoir. Joy Harjo was the U.S Poet Laureate for the last three years. She is a very creative and accomplished person, and she has done so much with her life so far. This book really gave me a look into her past and what led her to those accomplishments. Surprisingly, the book doesn't go too much into her professional career as a poet or musician, but rather focuses on her younger life, from her birth to her life as a single mother, which led her eventually to poetry. After reading, I realize how strong and admirable a person Joy is, adding to that admiration I feel for her. It opened my eyes to several issues, including how many women, especially Indigenous American women, suffer and have suffered from domestic abuse, and how few resources there are/were for them. Although Joy grew up in a vastly different time than me, I don't think things have changed so much since then that all of the issues she talks about have been resolved. I really enjoyed this book, but I will admit that it made me very sad to learn how many things she went through before she even became a poet. I love Joy Harjo's work and this only made me appreciate it more.