An absolutely stunning essay collection by a talented poet, author, artist, and punk rock musician (!) about Indigenous identities past, present, and future. From the spiritual nature of salmon to decolonizing relationships to classical opera, Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe knows how to tell a story that resonates.

This memoir touched on so much and I think that is one of its greatest strengths. I really felt like we were traveling through the many seasons of a life. At the same time, Sasha stops and gives broader context about feminism, punk rock, indigenous identity and advocacy, music and all the meanings of love.. plus much more!
I am intrigued by this author and her relationship to art and would seek out more by her.

Thank you NetGalley and Counterpoint for the ARC.

A lovely account of an indigenous punk's life navigating the world and her connection to her family legacy.

Beautiful book… I loved the authors first book and also loved this one. Such a singular voice in her writing and gives so much depth into her family history and current experiences.

Profound. Moving. Restorative. I found so much to connect with through these stories. I am eastern band Cherokee and grew up outside of the reservation. I found myself recalling things I had long forgotten about from my childhood, specifically my native grandparents. I haven't had many opportunities to connect with my identity, but there was a refreshing soul-stirring for me as I read about another native woman's experiences. LaPointe is a poignant writer, a fantastic storyteller, and a beautiful narrator.

Thunder Song contains a variety of essays from author Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe that are engaging, heartfelt, and inspiring in their own ways.

LaPointe presents us the lense through which a queer, indigenous child experiences the world. From the startling realization that your darker sibling isn't as welcome in places as you are to discovering the riot grrl scene- LaPointe's storytelling is vivid and sometimes painful.

How do you make space for yourself in a town that only wants to see one side of you?

How do you pull inspiration from a music scene that never really gave you any thought?

These are questions that some may view as small, but to an indigenous youth they are monumental. Thunder Song connects LaPointe's past and present to the history of those that came before while discussing Black Lives Matter, COVID lockdowns, and more. Highly recommend!

Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe's THUNDER SONG is beautiful, fresh, and much needed! I appreciate her ancestral excavation work alongside punk and DIY and riot grrrl. Her writing is vibrant and thoughtful. I'll be thinking about this for a while. Thank you to Ms. LaPointe and NetGalley!

✨ Review ✨ Thunder Song: Essays by Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe

Thanks to Counterpoint, Dreamscape Media, and #netgalley for the gifted advanced copy/ies of this book!

This book was incredible! I don't always love memoirs or essay collections, but the author's storytelling was off-the-charts (you can see where she learned through through her female relatives!) The essays flow together in a way that feels special and continuous like a memoir, despite being written as essays.

Things I loved:
1. The author's Queer and Indigenous perspectives and the ways she brings these different facets of her identity together
2. Her punk background and aesthetic shape the stories and style
3. Stories about salmon and the environment and decolonizing her diet
4. Stories about the women in her family and their different storytelling specialties
5. Her reflections on Coast Salish identity and experience -- the importance of the persistence of language and culture and community in the 21st century.
6. There's a section about the start of COVID and storytelling and rest that really spoke to me. When considering the old ways and her feel that she needed to be working during COVID like it was a pre-COVID era, her therapist asked her to consider " do you think a basket weaver would be weaving when there is a mountain lion circling?"
7. the author also narrated the audiobook, which I love because it brings so much added emotion and inflection to the story which is her own.

This is definitely a great way to engage with Indigenous perspectives and queer identity, to listen and to learn!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: essay colection, memoir
Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
Pub Date: March 5, 2024

Thunder Song encapsulates why I love essay collections. Sasha LaPointe included a wide variety of topics that include family, motherhood, being indigenous, veganism, etc. Lapointe is very raw and honest in her writing, which made it a hard book to set down. While Thunder Song can stand on its own, I would recommend reading Red Paint first because of some continuing topics.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review!

This was such an interesting essay collection! I do think some essays worked better for me than others. My favorite essays were the one about being indigenous and punk, and the author's relationship to their mom. I learned a lot and took a lot of notes about ideas I want to return to! I would recommend.

Indigenous author, Sasha LaPointe, shares a collection of vulnerable essays about her experiences growing up. She talks of family, reclaiming her culture, her own assaults, and navigating the world as a punk-indigenous soul. I found the beginning of her collections to be filled with harsh and bitter feelings-- lost and confused-- but as we read on there is a lightness that begins to take breathe and her essays become steadier. I thoroughly enjoyed the layout of Sasha LaPointe's book and her writing, I wish there was a little more on how different communities can heal together,.

After enjoying this so much I need to start looking into more memoir/essay collections. I found this collection really interesting because it has such a wide variety of topics that it covers because LaPointe has led such an interesting life. I enjoyed learning about the things that she found important to share ranging from her family history, bits of culture from the Coastal Salish, or highlighting certain injustices.

I enjoyed the whole thing, but a few sections I found particularly interesting. I really enjoyed the section where she discussed becoming a vegan. She acknowledges that it is not only expensive, but also a difficult diet to follow depending on where you live. I found the discussion around the colonization of diet really interesting and made me think about all the different foods that our ancestors used to eat. I'm white European and upon studying the contents of bogmen they've discovered with only like 1% of the stomach contents the remnants of 16 different plants. I think that our diets aren't as varied as our ancestors and we certainly aren't eating as locally or seasonally as they used to. Sorry, that went on a bit of a bender, but it's a section that I'm probably going to be thinking about for awhile.

I found the sections discussing violence towards and the kidnapping and murder of indigenous women. It's quite simply not getting enough attention. The sections on the healthcare system while not exactly shocking to me, just highlighted how much more abysmal it is on a reservation. I've lived in a quite a few different countries now and the only one that didn't have universal healthcare is the U.S. and I am so ready for us to join the rest of the modern world on that. I also really enjoyed the essay on making punk more accessible/friendly towards indigenous people. Reading about all of her punk experiences brought a smile to my face.

Overall, I think that this essay collection will be well received by essay/memoir readers, but also readers looking to read outside of their viewpoint and maybe comfort zone. It's a quick read and well organized. All of the essays don't necessarily link together, but I didn't really have any difficulties sliding from one to another. I'm interested in reading LaPointe's first memoir now and maybe finding more of a similar vein. It's a tough collection to read at time, but I think that those who read it will really take something away.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an eARC of this collection, however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lapointe’s essays are meticulously and beautifully written. Her ability to weave the past and the present through her cultural, family, and personal histories is skilled and continues the storytelling and cultural preservation traditions of her great-grandmother (as discussed in some of the included essays.) Equally remarkable is her mixture of vulnerability and strength, which together culminate in resilience and authenticity.

As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I found the essay in which she discusses her status as a Two-Spirit person and how queerness appears in her family eye-opening and beautiful. I also loved the traditional stories and Coast Salish customs discussed; Basket Woman, the Maiden of Deception Pass, and the salmon ceremony were all so vivid and will remain in my memory. There will be many, I think, who will see themselves reflected – or find something worthy to reflect upon – when reading through these essays and recommend it.

Thunder Song is a remarkable collection of short stories that skillfully navigates the intricate intersections of Indigenous and Queer identities, set against the vibrant backdrop of Seattle. The author's ability to paint a vivid picture of life in the city, intertwined with the rich tapestry of Indigenous history, provides readers with a profound and enlightening reading experience.

The opening story, a poignant narrative about the author's grandmother, serves as a powerful introduction, setting the tone for the entire book. Through the lens of personal experience, the author weaves together the threads of family, culture, and history, creating a narrative that is both deeply personal and universally relatable.

One of the strengths of this collection lies in its exploration of the Indigenous history of Seattle and how it continues to shape the lives of the characters in the present day. The author seamlessly integrates historical context into the narratives, allowing readers to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural landscape and the challenges faced by Indigenous communities. This educational aspect enriches the storytelling, making it not only an engaging read but also an opportunity for readers to learn and appreciate the complexities of Indigenous experiences.

I rapidly found myself deeply absorbed after I began Sasha taqwšəblu LaPointe's "Thunder Song." I particularly enjoyed everything indigenous that LaPointe covered in her writings, from the little bits I could learn about Coast Salish culture, to larger issues like the ongoing high rates of sexual violence and disappearances among native woman (and the pathetically and unjustly little coverage that it continues to receive from outside native communities). It made for helpful and informative reading from outside my normal perspective, to say the least. However, even when LaPointe wasn't musing about explicitly indigenous matters, my attention did not waver. Her writing still wielded an unapologetic honesty and thoughtfulness that led to numerous moments of contemplative pauses on my end.

On numerous levels, this is a wonderfully rich collection of essays - and one that makes me a little regretful that I let her original book, "Red Paint," initially pass my notice (and I hope to rectify that quite soon).

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I devoured this essay collection/memoir - I read and finished it the same day I downloaded it from Netgalley. I couldn't stop reading Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe's essays. I especially loved the incorporation of her great-grandmother's life and stories.

One of the essays that stood out to me the most was the one about LaPointe becoming vegan, but realizing that veganism is a privilege, and that she needed to make space and cultural allowances for herself to be able to eat her own indigenous foods, such as salmon. She makes a ton of great points throughout all of her essays, but this one really stood out to me.

This is not a collection to miss!