Hello friends, happy Wednesday! I hope you’ve all been having a good week so far. Today I’m posting my review of Clayton Thomas-Müller’s book Life in the City of Dirty Water.

This novel was short-listed for Canada Reads 2022.

Life in the City of Dirty Water by: Clayton Thomas-Müller: This was more than just a memoir of this author’s life, this really dug deep into the roots of the land and showed how everything is connected. This was a very moving memoir and not in the way that the reader had expected. This dealt with a lot of hardships and the harsh realities of growing up Indigenous in Canada, but it also went deeper than that. This also dealt heavily with the environment and how much of an impact big, especially oil companies, take advantage and rip through indigenous lands. This was eye opening in a whole new light and made an impression on the reader to another layer of injustices that happen to Indigenous peoples. This was well told, Thomas-Müller is a good writer and was able to convey his point across clearly and effectively. There were parts in the middle that dragged a bit as he continued to talk about the different organizations he either worked with, alongside or knew about. That part read more like a textbook and at times was hard to follow, but everything else was smooth and read easy. This was not fast-paced, this book demanded to be read slowly, processed and comprehended in small parts. The way this was sectioned off was done well too. The way Thomas-Müller associated each section to a different word and then connected it all to the greater story was clever and artful. This is a must read to learn more and to read of the healing that is beginning to happen with Indigenous communities.