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A review by nicomarlyse
Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese's by Tiffany Midge
It feels unfair of me to give this a rating because I am reading it about 5 years after its publication, and a fair portion of this is very of it’s time political satire. I feel like I would have enjoyed the political satire bits had I read this when certain events were of social relevance; I just don’t find pussy hat satire funny in 2024. Personally!
It took me a bit of effort to get into this at first. The middle was incredible and I read for a few hours straight. I also had to expend a bit of effort to get through the section or so.
Midge’s more personal pieces were incredible. “The Siam Sequences” grabbed me hard and held me tight; I LOVED it. Other pieces I loved include:
Ghoul, Interrupted
Fertility Rites
Champion Our Native Sisters! (but Only Selectively and Under Certain Conditions)
Redeeming the English Language (Acquisition) Series
Midge is hilarious! The lack of celebrated Indigenous humor writers/comedians in America became HUGELY apparent to me when reading Bury My Heart. Aside from Midge, I don’t think I could name you a single one. Which is so dismal. When we seek to center Indigenous stories, to amplify voices from the margins, we center stories of pain far more often than we center stories of laughter, of humor. This is so limiting. Midge knows this and she knows the power of laughter and she came right for us all with wit.
What I enjoyed, I REALLY enjoyed. I would probably have rated this 4 or 5 stars if I had read it in 2018, but since I read it years later I am leaving it unrated. Because literally I think that was the only reason I didn’t love this as much as I expected to love it.
It took me a bit of effort to get into this at first. The middle was incredible and I read for a few hours straight. I also had to expend a bit of effort to get through the section or so.
Midge’s more personal pieces were incredible. “The Siam Sequences” grabbed me hard and held me tight; I LOVED it. Other pieces I loved include:
Ghoul, Interrupted
Fertility Rites
Champion Our Native Sisters! (but Only Selectively and Under Certain Conditions)
Redeeming the English Language (Acquisition) Series
Midge is hilarious! The lack of celebrated Indigenous humor writers/comedians in America became HUGELY apparent to me when reading Bury My Heart. Aside from Midge, I don’t think I could name you a single one. Which is so dismal. When we seek to center Indigenous stories, to amplify voices from the margins, we center stories of pain far more often than we center stories of laughter, of humor. This is so limiting. Midge knows this and she knows the power of laughter and she came right for us all with wit.
What I enjoyed, I REALLY enjoyed. I would probably have rated this 4 or 5 stars if I had read it in 2018, but since I read it years later I am leaving it unrated. Because literally I think that was the only reason I didn’t love this as much as I expected to love it.