Hi friends and happy Monday! I hope you’re all doing well. Today I’m going to be posting my review of Joshua Whitehead’s novel Jonny Appleseed.

I read this for my Canada Reads project (reading all the nominated books for #CanadaReads).

Jonny Appleseed by: Joshua Whitehead: Jonny is learning to live and love off the rez, but when his stepfather dies, he has one week to get back for the funeral and back to his former life. The week that leads up to his return is full of flashback stories of love, heartbreak, trauma, recollections of his kokum, grandmother, as he prepares himself to go back home. This was a fascinating, coming of age, story of young native boy trying to figure himself out. This novel didn’t shy away from anything and showed the true colours of what it’s like to be gay and Native Indian. This was a fast-paced and quick novel that covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. The reader for the most part, enjoyed reading along, but at times it was hard to follow along because there didn’t feel like there was a cohesive plot; timelines jumped from one point in time to another and it left for a very disjointed read. As much as there was some really good, poignant writing, especially near the end, it wasn’t enough to keep the reader engaged to the story trying to be told. This story was also filled with writing that came off as crude, as the author chose to talk about the character’s bodily fluids a lot, which the reader found didn’t add to the story. The characters were deeply developed, getting to know them and watching them grow felt special as they all tried to find themselves in a world that wasn’t kind. Even though this wasn’t this reader’s cup of tea, they can see how it would resonate with other readers. This was still a worthwhile and interesting read.