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A review by pastelwriter
This Accident of Being Lost: Songs and Stories by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I have so many notes for this book because of how amazing it was that this review is probably going to turn out to be a mess. If you take anything away from this review, it should be that you should definitely pick up this collection of short stories and songs. I listened to this as an audiobook, and I desperately want my hands on a physical copy so I can annotate it.
One of the things I found incredibly compelling about this book is that one of the speakers (I will use this term as these are stories and songs that seem deeply interconnected) deals with anxiety and has attachment issues. This was incredibly relatable. She was the type to need a lot of reassurance and be crippled by anxiety if the people she cared for did not provide her with reassurance when it had become routine for them to do so. It was incredibly toxic in some points, but I could totally understand where she was coming from.
A major theme in this book is also whiteness. This book does not shy away from discussions on performative activism and how whiteness so often goes unmentioned. There is definitely sections here that also tackle the entitlement white people feel over determining the "right" way to do things while at the same time wanting to do the bare minimum to help Indigenous people. The book also discusses how whiteness plays into the distribution of resources—who these are given to and whose needs go ignored.
One of my favorite stories in here is the one where the speaker is learning to shoot and is in this predominantly conservative space. She knows precisely how to navigate this white space without ruffling too many feathers, and she brings up something that in many situations can be very true. The speaker argues that conservatives know how to "save face" better than liberals. As long as you don't bring up a "touchy" subject, conservatives will be perfectly content treating you politely and ignoring everything about you that makes them uncomfortable. But liberals will be so comfortable talking openly that they inevitably reveal prejudice and racism in what they say while thinking they are so much more progressive than they really are.
In addition, this same story also tackled the inherent politics of attending a class to learn how to shoot and the contradictions in how land is framed in this class. There's a quote about respecting the land you're on, but in this space the assumption is that the land belongs to someone white. Completely dismissing how the land rightfully belongs to Indigenous people. Really, it was an excellent story.
Finally, I just had to feature one of my favorite quotes in my review because I just loved it so much: “What I’m good at is satire and sarcasm which I tend to use to make good situations bad.”
There's just so much going on in this book. It is so rich in themes. I adored it. I originally thought about rating this 4.5 stars, but when I sat down to write this review it felt ridiculous to give this anything less than 5 stars. It is absolutely worth the read and worth rereading.
One of the things I found incredibly compelling about this book is that one of the speakers (I will use this term as these are stories and songs that seem deeply interconnected) deals with anxiety and has attachment issues. This was incredibly relatable. She was the type to need a lot of reassurance and be crippled by anxiety if the people she cared for did not provide her with reassurance when it had become routine for them to do so. It was incredibly toxic in some points, but I could totally understand where she was coming from.
A major theme in this book is also whiteness. This book does not shy away from discussions on performative activism and how whiteness so often goes unmentioned. There is definitely sections here that also tackle the entitlement white people feel over determining the "right" way to do things while at the same time wanting to do the bare minimum to help Indigenous people. The book also discusses how whiteness plays into the distribution of resources—who these are given to and whose needs go ignored.
One of my favorite stories in here is the one where the speaker is learning to shoot and is in this predominantly conservative space. She knows precisely how to navigate this white space without ruffling too many feathers, and she brings up something that in many situations can be very true. The speaker argues that conservatives know how to "save face" better than liberals. As long as you don't bring up a "touchy" subject, conservatives will be perfectly content treating you politely and ignoring everything about you that makes them uncomfortable. But liberals will be so comfortable talking openly that they inevitably reveal prejudice and racism in what they say while thinking they are so much more progressive than they really are.
In addition, this same story also tackled the inherent politics of attending a class to learn how to shoot and the contradictions in how land is framed in this class. There's a quote about respecting the land you're on, but in this space the assumption is that the land belongs to someone white. Completely dismissing how the land rightfully belongs to Indigenous people. Really, it was an excellent story.
Finally, I just had to feature one of my favorite quotes in my review because I just loved it so much: “What I’m good at is satire and sarcasm which I tend to use to make good situations bad.”
There's just so much going on in this book. It is so rich in themes. I adored it. I originally thought about rating this 4.5 stars, but when I sat down to write this review it felt ridiculous to give this anything less than 5 stars. It is absolutely worth the read and worth rereading.