Book
From the ashes : my story of being Métis, homeless, and finding my way
Record details
- ISBN: 9781982101213 (paperback)
-
Physical Description:
354 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm
regular print
print - Edition: Simon & Schuster Canada edition.
- Publisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2019.
- Copyright: ©2019.
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Thistle, Jesse Métis -- Biography Cree Indians -- Canada -- Biography Homeless persons -- Canada -- Biography Addicts -- Canada -- Biography |
| Genre: | Autobiographies. |
| Topic Heading: | Aboriginal. Indigenous collection. |
Available copies
- 38 of 46 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 0 of 1 copy available at Terrace Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 46 total copies.
Other Formats and Editions
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrace Public Library | 971.004 THI (Text) | 35151001100791 | Adult Non-fiction | Volume hold | Checked out | 2024-01-24 |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2019 July #1
Growing up in Saskatchewan, Thistle and his two brothers fended for themselves from a young age, after their mother fled their abusive father and their father abandoned them. After a brief but terrifying stint in foster care, they moved in with their grandparents. The boys all start drinking young, but Thistle, haunted by his addict father, quickly escalates his use, steals to support his habits, and ultimately gets kicked out of the house. Living on the streets in between jail stays, he hits rock bottom and realizes he must change. His powerful and moving memoir is also a scathing indictment of the treatment of Indigenous people and the myriad ways systems fail them. It can be hard to read, not only because of how terrible things get for Thistle, but also in its structure: brief essay-like snippets that often lack resolution, true to the nature of memory and time lost to addiction. Hand this to readers seeking a follow-up to Terese Marie Mailhot's memoir Heart Berries (2018) or Tommy Orange's novel There, There (2018). Copyright 2019 Booklist Reviews. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2021 April #2
A Métis-Cree writer and professor examines how poverty, addiction, and poor choices led to a life of homelessness and crime. The son of a Métis woman and an Algonquin-Scot man, Thistle spent much of his childhood in Saskatchewan dealing with his drunk, abusive father, who taught his children how to beg and steal. Eventually, the police put the children into foster care until Thistle's paternal grandparents became their guardians. Under their stern but loving care, the author's life normalized somewhat. Meanwhile, however, schoolmates taunted Thistle and his siblings for being "ugly Indians" abandoned by their parents. Self-identifying as Italian, the author began drinking and taking drugs during high school. Though his burgeoning habit temporarily abated when he fell in love with a young woman named Karen, an argument with his grandfather angered him enough to spend all of his hard-earned college money on drugs and alcohol. When his grandfather finally told him to leave, Thistle's life spiraled out of control. He became homeless and relied on "food banks, churches and shelter beds," drifted from city to city, and got addicted to crack. One night, while high, he fell 35 feet from an open window and shattered his leg, which eventually developed gangrene. He was in and out of jail and rehab, and his health continued to deteriorate drastically. Estranged from family and gravely ill, he returned again to rehab, "shaking and vomiting and praying for mercy." Then he started the long road back to not only personal recovery, but also reconciliation with friends, family, and his Native past. As Thistle narrates his personally harrowing, ultimately uplifting story of survival, he also addresses the life-altering damage that colonialism has wrought on Indigenous people everywhere-especially "how, when one's Indigeneity is stripped away, people can make poor choices informed by pain, loneliness, and heartbreak, choices that see them eventually cast upon the streets, in jail, or wandering with no place to be." A courageously heartfelt journey from profound self-destruction to redemption. Copyright Kirkus 2021 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved. - LJ Express Reviews : LJ Express Reviews
First-time author Thistle (Métis studies, York Univ., Ont.) presents a gritty memoir recounting the devastating long-term effects of childhood abandonment. Raised by his grandparents after the end of his parents' abusive relationship and his father's disappearance, the author struggled with issues of identity and anger, falling into a life of drug addiction that left him homeless, ill, and estranged from family and friends. Unsparing in his depiction of life on the streets and the desperate measures and dangerous behavior his addiction drove him to engage in, he makes a clear connection between his destructive lifestyle and the pain, fear, and loneliness of his past. Similarly, Thistle credits the supportive community and educational opportunities he found in rehab, as well as a reclamation of his identity through a reconnection with his Métis ancestry, as essential components of his eventual triumph over addiction and his reconciliation with his mother.
Copyright 2019 LJExpress.VERDICT Although Thistle's memoir does not deal extensively with issues of native identity and oppression, the theme of estrangement is powerfully portrayed in what is ultimately a story of courage and resilience certain to strike a chord with readers from many backgrounds.âSara Shreve, Newton, KS - PW Annex Reviews : Publishers Weekly Annex Reviews
Thistle traces his path from neglected child, then homeless addict, to lauded academic in his powerful debut. Born in 1976, he grew up in Saskatchewan in a volatile household after his mother left him and his older brothers in the care of their alcoholic father. " brash troublemaker," Thistle struggled in his studies, and after high school became addicted to alcohol and crack and ended up on the streets of Vancouver, where he'd "never seen such squalor." The sections about this time are particularly grim, including a startling depiction of Thistle being stabbed in the face. Scarred both physically and mentally, Thistle at one point was so desperate that he attempted to rob a store by pretending that a submarine sandwich was a gun ("I thought,
Copyright 2021 Publishers Weekly Annex.This has got to be the worst moment of my life "). After calling the cops on himself, he went to jail and eventually got clean in rehab. In his mid-30s, he became a student at Toronto's York University where he now teaches Métis studies. Thistle's judicious use of his own poetry between chapters captures his deep suffering ("i swill back the pain; it burns and it belches rage and despair") and underscores how he ended up one of the lucky few to emerge from what he endured. Readers will be gripped.(June) Correction: An earlier version of this review misstated that the author was at one point addicted to heroin.
