This Canada Reads nominated title is a solid memoir. I appreciated the author's candidness when sharing his story. He didn't shy away from the details of his childhood, is trouble with alcohol and substance abuse, his complicated family relationships, and his general coming-of-age struggles.

What was missing for me as a reader was emotion from the author. I felt like this memoir was written in such a factual and event focused way, that there wasn't a lot of time for reflection from him on his past. I also listened to parts of this memoir on audio, but I was unimpressed with the audiobook. Even though the author was reading his story himself, it felt robotic and it lacked the emotion that many authors who read their memoirs give to their performance. His narration was flat and I felt like he was just reading off the page.

It was still interesting to read about the author's story. I would have enjoyed more about his Metis heritage than there was. It wasn't until the end of the memoir that he was diving into his genealogy, but perhaps that was truly how he learned about himself.

I still think this was a good book and I enjoyed it. But compared to other memoirs I read, it was under par. I'll be curious to see how it does in the Canada Reads competition.