Jesse Thistle

Jesse and his two older brothers (Metis-Cree) were abandoned by their parents when Jesse was only 3-years old (older brothers Jerry and Josh were 4 and 5). They spent a short time in a foster home before their paternal grandparents in Ontario came to get them. Jesse did not do well growing up – he got into trouble with alcohol and drugs, stealing, and he was off-and-on homeless. He was in and out of jail a few times before he eventually turned his life around.

This was really good. Jesse also writes poetry and it is sprinkled throughout the book. The chapters are short and overall, the book is fairly quick to read. So many times I shook my head, and thought: ok, this has to be rock-bottom, when you’ll turn your life around. But it wasn’t. So many times. I also wondered occasionally how he remembered as much as he did looking back on his life, given all the drugs and alcohol, but he addressed this in a note at the end.… (más)

This is a true story about a mixed breed Canadian Indian that grew up with a drug addicted father and a emotionally detached mother. He ended up in foster care and without a lot emotional problems himself. He went through a period hard core drug addiction and homeless, including severely injuring his foot so that chronic pain the rest of his life. He ended in jail many times, then rehab. Like the book title, he rose from the ashes of his life to marry, graduate from college and is now university professor. I understand very much the difficulty he had growing up as adopted a teenage boy that had been through a traumatic childhood, and he has similar issues maintaining a normal life. Jesse Thistle's book is raw and emotional but also very touching. We need to need to learn to be more compassionate to people with emotional pain.… (más)