I’ve finally read my first book by Maracle! This one was mostly a hit for me and I’m curious to check out more of her work, fiction and non-fiction. This essay collection covers a broad number of topics but it’s centered around Maracle’s experience as an Indigenous woman. She details her encounters with readers throughout her publishing career, offers her thoughts on Canadian policies and the attitudes of wider Canadian society, and shares some of the teachings of the Sto:lo people.

It’s a very personal collection as these essays are Maracle’s experiences and her opinions. But even with this personal approach, there’s a lot to learn here and a lot I’ve taken away from her examination of colonialism in Canada and even the microaggressions she’s faced on book tours.

I listened to this one on audio (a free version available through Spotify) and while I enjoyed the format, the chapter breaks were unnatural, breaking in the middle of sentences and words, so it was a little difficult to follow along, but that hasn’t affected my rating. I did find some parts unnecessary, like when Maracle suddenly talked about enjoying intercourse, it seemed as a way to make an argument in favour of same-sex couples and letting people love who they love. While I don’t argue with that statement, I think this topic could’ve been better presented without the personal approach. It felt like taking away focus to talk about her own lack of desire for sexual acts with same-sex partners. There were also some chapters that felt like they meandered a lot, serving more as memoir-like recollections rather than working towards a thesis as many of these “conversations” seemed to aim to do. Still, Maracle’s many experiences as an Indigenous woman can offer Canadians much to reflect on.