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A Mind Spread Out on the Ground

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A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott is a bold and profound memoir reflecting on trauma, legacy, oppression, and racism experienced by Indigenous peoples in North America. Drawing from her own life spent between Indigenous and white communities, Elliott explores personal and intergenerational mental health struggles, offering a visceral portrayal of the ongoing effects of colonial trauma. The title draws from the Mohawk phrase for depression, evocatively capturing the depth of emotional pain. Themes such as race, parenthood, love, art, poverty, sexual assault, gentrification, and representation are intricately woven into her narrative, linking personal experience with broader sociopolitical issues.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This memoir is suited for readers interested in Indigenous experiences, mental health, social justice, and contemporary issues around race and identity in North America. It will resonate with those seeking a deeply personal yet politically aware narrative, including fans of nonfiction essays and memoirs addressing trauma and resilience.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A bold and profound meditation on trauma, legacy, oppression, and racism in North America from an award-winning Haudenosaunee writer.

In her raw, unflinching memoir, she tells the impassioned, wrenching story of the mental health crisis within her own family and community. A searing cry. - New York Times Book Review

The Mohawk phrase for depression can be roughly translated to "a mind spread out on the ground." In this urgent and visceral work, Alicia Elliott explores how apt a description that is for the ongoing effects of personal, intergenerational, and colonial traumas she and so many Native people have experienced.

Elliott's deeply personal writing details a life spent between Indigenous and white communities, a divide reflected in her own family, and engages with such wide-ranging topics as race, parenthood, love, art, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrification, and representation. Throughout, she makes thrilling connections, both large and small, between the past and present, the personal and political.

A national bestseller in Canada, this updated and expanded American edition helps us better understand legacy, oppression, and racism throughout North America, and offers us a profound new way to decolonize our minds.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

New York Times Book Review praised it as a "raw, unflinching memoir" and a "searing cry" highlighting mental health crises. Vogue called it "a gripping read" capturing the modern Indigenous experience, while The Globe and Mail described it as a "tour de force" akin to work by essayists like Roxane Gay. Terese Marie Mailhot, author of Heart Berries, hailed it as "a new lens on North American Indigenous literature." Other authors like Zoe Whittall and Leanne Betasamosake Simpson applaud its insight, emotional impact, and incisive style. Booklist recommends it as essential reading for its intelligence and reflection.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781612198668

Publisher: Melville House Publishing

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 04 August 2020

Country: United States

Imprint: Melville House Publishing

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 140.0mm

Height: 210.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 256

About the Author

Alicia Elliott's writing has been published in The Washington Post, The Globe and Mail, Vice, and The Best American Short Stories 2018, among others. She has been shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction. Born in Buffalo, NY and raised between there and Ohio, she now lives in Brantford, Ontario with her husband and child.

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