From the Bookshelf of La Crescent Public Library…

[close] As a fan of her first memoir, Red Paint: The Ancestral Autobiography of a Coast Salish Punk, Jess was excited to finally dip into LaPointe's second work, Thunder Song.

Vulnerable and thought provoking, the essays in this collection include family stories as well as expand upon topics we've been learning about in our library through 2024's indigenous speaker series. The importance of language preservation, the increasing threats and low media coverage for murdered and missing indigenous women, and the cultural acceptability of two-spirits all play a vital role in LaPointe's essays. She also discusses the common issue of low quality healthcare for native women, cycles of addiction that impact families, and being a survivor of sexual assault.

I highly enjoyed the audio version (available through the library Libby app!), as it's read by the author and includes several Coast Salish traditional stories and some language.

~ Jess