At once extraordinary, uncomfortable and sometimes weird, stark, shocking, and mostly depressing; exquisitely poetic and metaphorical; convicting, compelling, and eco-conscientious; supremely sad, heart-wrenching, jarring, and deeply disturbing…

This was not an easy nor enjoyable read. I didn’t like it—how could you? The story portion was stomach-turning, revolting in places. But the telling is necessary. We listen to the horror of abuse and neglect invoked by oppression and the leftover damage of recent residential schools and the sickness of incest, child abuse, rape, bullying, and the ripple effect of drugs and solvents and substances and alcoholism and self-harm and suicide…and we cringe and cry and curse at the caustic cost of it all…

I recommend listening to the author narrate the work as the musical intervals of Inuk throat singing and her intonation and meaningful pauses in this spoken-word style writing brings insight—and we feel the simmering satisfying surge of piercing feathery blows, multiple revenges, and the urgency and stillness and anger and grief.

The illustrative interjected imagery of a northern earth, a fierce tundra, an expanse of sky and sea and nature’s beauty breaks up the pain of the abuse connected to this harsh reality.



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A Side-Dish Interaction and Commentary  (for the record, I’m in total agreement with the author on her assessment of Institutionally Organised Christianity as presented in the work…)

The idea that ‘Christians seem to love shame’ and ‘take pleasure in destroying the earth’ is the ultimate shame and destructiveness of centralised religious rule, that distorted power granted to a religion in the name of ‘God’ and wielded in a twisted sort of blind-eyed Authoritarian Oligarch State under the weak guise of a God-centred Democracy. This oppressive religious rule destroys as it seeks to control and stifle and tyrannise, while shame and guilt are wielded as tools of oppression in the name of an unrecognisable God—a God more like the Devil than Love. This brand of Christianity should be criticised and eradicated and named as an imposter to the image of God; this sort of imperious rule has nothing to do with Jesus the Christ who did not require anyone to bear guilt and shame as he willingly became these things so humanity could be free. Though, I do feel the “Christian Religion” has consistently missed that point for centuries. Christianity has been used as a front for tyrants and dictators and clowns-masked-as-presidents; originally used as a derogatory insult to the Christ-followers thrown to the lions; then used as a sort of reverse badge of honour for those who survived persecution; later twisted to become the title of the oppressors; and most recently till now an embarrassment to those who call themselves disciples of Christ… definitely time for tearing off the masks and breaking down the pedestals.