This was my first Canada Reads 2021 read, and I got it done in just over a day. I wasn’t trying to finish it off either-- it's just not a large book to start with, and the storytelling is so engaging that I never really wanted to stop (although I’m sure those in line behind me appreciated it).

Johnny is a two-spirit “NDN glitter princess” who lives in Winnipeg, making money as a cybersex worker, while trying to navigate all the other parts of growing up and leaving home for the first time. However, when he learns his step-father has died, he realizes he has to get back to the rez, and starts trying to make enough money to catch a cab in time for the funeral, one week away. In this week, Johnny reflects on his past, his identity, and his space in the world.

What I found so engaging about this book is Johnny’s stories are at once both tender and heartbreaking. We hear about how his babysitter, Kokum, and mother accept his two-spirit identity, but then how others rejected it, often through verbal and physical violence. But somehow, Johnny still comes through tender and loving, not hardened. As he weaves in and out through time telling stories, his vulnerability made me rally for him, and love him. How he protected himself by changing the expression of his queer indigenous identity as he interacted with white people, indigenous folk, city folk, rez folk, and cybersex clients really stood out to me and made me feel deeply for Jonny, who is just trying to find his place. 

So, to come to the Canada Reads theme, how does the book transport me? This book transported me through time, and it wasn’t always to a place I wanted to be transported to, but so often it was: moments of tenderness between Johnny and his Kokum, or mother, or his childhood friend Tias. These flashbacks, describing scenes so brief, but with so much detail and love, are places that were worth the darker moments.