Jonny Appleseed takes us on an immersive nonlinear stream-of-consciousness journey, with a few overarching threads.

We’re following Jonny, a young Indigiqueer/Two-Spirit person forging his own path in the big city who suddenly learns that he has to come home to the Rez for his stepfather’s funeral. As he prepares to return, he reflects on his family, love, identity, and current life as a cybersex worker. 

As readers, we’re dropped right into Jonny’s life. I felt a profound sense of grief for his kokum (grandmother - who died while Jonny was away from home) and I also grieved the disconnection with Jonny once I finished the final page. 

Jonny takes us back through his childhood and young adulthood, framing moments that sparked his discovery that he is Two-Spirit, and uncovering the many facets of his sexuality. And now, as a sex worker, he has learned how to subtly take control, camouflaging himself for his clients while secretly struggling to survive.

He has a deep, powerful love for his kokum. He spends so much time reminiscing over their connection, and all the ways she was there for him and shaped him, and his grief over her passing. Through memorializing her, he also finds a softer place in his heart for his mother. 

Jonny is a mess. But he’s got a good heart and a good sense of humor, and he navigates messy relationships, poverty, complicated family dynamics, and life on his own with a poetic, charming, and often blunt voice. 

It reads almost like a memoir or a longform essay – and I know Whitehead has stated clearly that Jonny is not him – this is just a testament to Jonny’s excellent narrative voice and his character development.

I did find it a bit tricky to get into the flow of the novel at first, but once I picked up on Jonny’s rhythms I was happy to be along for the ride. My one other disappointment centered around Tias; I feel like we never fully got to know him (he was only really vulnerable in one of the final moments), and other supporting characters like Jonny’s mother & kokum & even Jordan felt much more fleshed out. 

CW: death, child abuse, drug use, addiction, pedophilia, homophobia, racism, animal death, colonization, transphobia, fatphobia, infidelity, mental illness, terminal illness, sex work, bullying, vomit, sexual content

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