jonny appleseed - joshua whitehead

published by arsenal pulp press (2018)

this is the first time i finished a book and immediately realized i might have gotten more out of it if i had read it as an audiobook.

so much of the content of this story has to do with the impact of cultural context on individual identity. jonny is brash, abrasive, fiercely loving, stoic, sarcastic, hilarious, a storyteller, and resourceful; all things he became as a result of where he came from. i mean that both in the sense that he was raised on a canadian native reserve, but also having been raised by his mother and kokum. the women in jonny's life are fiercely protective, but are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. they do not hide their fears or insecurities from jonny, and he is as much a part of them as they are of him. i think its a perfect framing of the nature versus nurture debate, and how much of who we are is tied to the people who make us who we are.

i want to hear whitehead pronounce all the cree words used across the book. through written context, i was able to figure out what about half of them mean, and through google, the other half. but i really believe the impact of hearing them said would make all the difference. in a book about cultural context and impact, and in a book written about a culture that primarily practices oral storytelling tradition, i really think audio would probably be the optimal way of receiving this book.

i really liked the fact that the sensory descriptions were a little bit grimey. there was a whole chapter about how jonny has a deep belly button and he got a tick stuck in it once as a child and thought he was pregnant. there are all sorts of bodily fluids and functions described. something about the way he does not shy away from describing the uncomfortable feels completely apropos and effective. i feel like i've known versions of jonny in people from my own life: people who will say or do the weird thing, in search for the fun and satisfying thing, or just because its all they know. this kind of description and perspective just gave me a really clear understanding of who he is outside of the events of the book. a really fleshed out, fleshy character,

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