Go Alice Go

I have so many thoughts about Dietland and I need more time (and more episodes) for them to come together more completely but I want to find a place to start because, while there are plenty of shows I enjoy or even love, this is one that has made me excited that it’s Monday just so that I can watch the latest episode!

Dietland isn’t perfect but I don’t think it has to be.  In the past, I might have called out some of its stereotypes or use of exaggerations, but the marvelous Roxane Gay has convinced me that I’m not a perfect feminist and that’s okay.

It’s stylized, it creates its own little world of quirks, and I recently described it to others by saying it was like if Bryan Fuller, Wes Anderson, and Tim Burton had a baby…and that baby is Dietland. It is atmospheric; sometimes it has vibrant, rich visuals, other times it uses an understated palette, and sometimes it’s just downright dark and comical.

What is consistently does is make me feel and think. If you are a woman, and especially if you are a fat woman, you will probably find relatable moments in this show. Certainly, I can’t relate to everything that Plum, the main character, experiences but I can relate to the feelings she goes through.

If you haven’t watched Dietland, the premise is that Plum is a 30-something fat woman who writes for a teen magazine but she is a ghost writer for the editor who is a middle-aged, power-hungry woman who cares more about her image than the well-being of anyone else. I confess that when I first read the description I was NOT going to watch the show. But then I happened to be up at strange hour with a toothache after some recent dental work and decided to give it a shot. I am so glad I did, because it’s nothing like I expected it to be. It’s not a soap opera-type show at all. This show is filled with hard truths, with heart, with hatred, and with murderous mystery and intrigue.

I’ve seen some less-than-glowing reviews of Dietland, including an article for Jezebel that said the show is exhausting and dated (specifically, it was said that “it feels like 2008”). You can find the full article here:    https://themuse.jezebel.com/it-feels-like-2008-a-conversation-about-amcs-exhaustin-1826544329 

At first, I was disheartened and annoyed, and then I read the comments. Normally, I know that can be a very dangerous undertaking but in this case it perked me up. Maybe Dietland seems dated to a younger generation, one that considers themselves #woke, but for those of us who very much grew up in a generation where teen and women’s magazines were full of sexist, misogynistic bullshit this show is relatable. Sure, times have changed in that there are now body positivity and fat acceptance movements but it’s still common for fat people to face stigma (and worse), and it was even more acceptable to shame fat people a couple decades ago. For middle-aged women, fat shaming was the reality during some of the most formative years of body image and self-discovery. We’ve come a long way, but not so far that you won’t easily find all kinds of fat-hater websites, Instagram accounts, and more. The thing is, this show is relevant in 2008 and in 2018.

Before I post my book reviews I want to say a couple of things. The first is that I am not an indigenous person. I state that only so that it is clear that I am not misrepresenting myself or appropriating another culture. Rather, and this is the second thing that is so important to me to say, I wish to contribute to Truth & Reconciliation in the ways that I am able. One of those ways is to support Indigeous authors so that we may honour their contributions and learn from what they have to say and teach. We are so lucky and priviliged to have talented storytellers and activists in this country and I plan to continue to seek out books by Indigenous authors from Canada and all over the world.

Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson

You can order this book through Amazon in a number of formats here: https://amzn.to/2yH1UA7

There are a few reasons I enjoyed this book and will be seeking out more books from this author. The story takes place in the small towns of Kitimat, Terrace, and Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia. Having lived and worked in the area for many years, I’m very familiar with all of those communities so it was amusing to read about places I know well (lakes, streets, highways…). The story isn’t an easy one in many ways. It might feel easy to pass judgement about the characters in this story, it might feel easy to decide who is worthy of your empathy or who is worthy of forgiveness, but to truly experience the journey of this story you will need to put your judgements aside.

Son of a Trickster is the story of a young man trying to navigate his own life where culture, addictions, abuse, and neglect play important roles. This is not your typical coming-of-age story but in so many ways that is exactly what this is.  Through all of the protagonist’s struggles, there is a thin line of mysticism that eventually comes to the forefront of the story and weaves itself into the very fabric of reality.

It’s okay not to believe in magic but you will do yourself and this author and her story a disservice if you don’t believe in the power of connection.

Birdie by Tracey Lindberg

You can order this book in paper copy through Amazon via the following link:  https://amzn.to/2Km2Iix

For kindle: https://amzn.to/2OpAKBz

Goodreads describes Birdie this way:

“Birdie is a darkly comic and moving first novel about the universal experience of recovering from wounds of the past, informed by the lore and knowledge of Cree traditions. Bernice Meetoos, a Cree woman, leaves her home in Northern Alberta following tragedy and travels to Gibsons, BC. She is on something of a vision quest, seeking to understand the messages from The Frugal Gourmet (one of the only television shows available on CBC North) that come to her in her dreams. She is also driven by the leftover teenaged desire to meet Pat Johns, who played Jesse on The Beachcombers, because he is, as she says, a working, healthy Indian man. Bernice heads for Molly’s Reach to find answers but they are not the ones she expected.

With the arrival in Gibsons of her Auntie Val and her cousin Skinny Freda, Bernice finds the strength to face the past and draw the lessons from her dreams that she was never fully taught in life. Part road trip, dream quest and travelogue, the novel touches on the universality of women’s experience, regardless of culture or race.”

It’s a great synopsis but I’d like to add a couple of things. Obviously, First Nations Peoples are individuals and there is no single, collective experience or way of being First Nations. I’ve known a lot of First Nations Peoples in my life and have had incredibly in-depth conversations with many of them. From my own experience, many of a certain age (middle-aged and older) who were raised in small communities on their home territories or on Reservations tell stories or share experiences in a way that is often non-linear. At one point, early on, it was difficult for me to follow at times and then, at some other point not so much later, I came to the realization that the order of events is almost insignificant when you’re sharing your experiences with someone. These are the things that happened in my life; why should it matter which came first, or next, or much later? Shouldn’t the quality of the experience, the memory of it, the feelings of it, and the lasting effects be the crucial parts? I grew up in a Eurocentric culture with Eurocentric expectations of time and while those are still very much engrained in me I have come to appreciate and respect the non-linear storytelling format. It forces my brain to process information in a different way and I would even venture to say in a deeper way. It has helped me to search for understanding and processes rather than for sequence and outcomes. I am certainly grateful to all of the people who have helped me learn a new way of thinking.

This book reminds me a lot of those story tellers. There are times in the book when the reader can’t entirely be sure *when* we are in the story (What age is our main character in this memory? Is it a memory or is it happening right now? Sometimes, the brain can’t tell, and neither can the reader). The non-linear fashion of the writing may be confusing at times, it might feel challenging, but it is worth your while to just carry on. Let the story unfold and accept each moment, each word, for what it is because the result is that this is a beautiful, funny story about women who are survivors.

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline

You can order this book through Amazon via this link: https://amzn.to/2KkC725

This book is like a time-travel wormhole, except that it’s not about time travel at all. It takes place in a dystopian future but is also telling a story of the past and the present of Canada (and so many other nations where Indigenous Peoples were colonized by those who came later). The premise is that less than a hundred years from now the world has ruined much of its fresh water supply. At some point, most people are only able to have dreamless sleeps and it is driving people to madness. The exceptions are the Indigenous Peoples who are still able to dream, to have visions, to maintain something resembling sanity in a cruel world where they are now hunted for their marrow by non-Indigenous people who hope to extract some sort of magic from their bones in hopes that their dreams with return.

It’s a story of survival, of Indigenous resilience and courage, of loss, and love, and tragedy. It mirrors so much of our history in this country including the experience of residential schools, of children being torn from their parents’ arms in the name of the greater *good* (read: assimilation), of Indigenous Peoples having to preserve their culture in secret for fear of punishment or death. One important thing of note is that this book never goes into any gory details. In fact, many details are left to the reader’s imagination, and maybe that is even worse, but I want to be clear that nothing in this book is there for shock value. If anything, the reality of the horrors is severely understated.

Many of the similarities between this story and the realities of our past and present in this country may be unrealized if you are not familiar with the historical and present treatment of Indigenous Peoples in Canada but it’s worth reading, either way.

I do wish that this book had been longer and that there had been some sort of resolution. I don’t know if Dimaline intends to write a sequel but I hope she does because I’d like to know what happens next to these characters. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for another book!