Publishers Weekly
09/28/2020
Originally conceived as a series of paintings, this ambitious memoir in verse by Gansworth (Give Me Some Truth), an enrolled member of the Onondaga Nation, explores intersectional identities alongside matters of generational and personal experience, erasure, and memory: “So much of my culture feels on the verge of vanishing. I wonder what part of that I’m contributing to with my own lack of knowledge.” Gansworth first describes his family’s history, beginning with his grandfather’s time in Native American boarding schools, where “you are being taught systematically to forget so that you will have nothing left to pass on to your children.” Subsequent sections detail variations on feeling like an outsider: Onondaga Gansworth’s childhood on a Tuscarora reservation, the way his early interest in art and pop culture (Batman, the Beatles) made him stand out among his peers, and his adulthood as a gay man after leaving the reservation. Phrases and concepts circle and repeat throughout—“apple,” for example, appears both as a pejorative (“red on the outside, white on the inside”) and in reference to the Beatles’ Apple Records, after which the work is structured—creating a raw, layered story about love and loss of community, culture, and place. Family photos, black-and-white reproductions of the author’s paintings, and project “liner notes” round out the telling. Ages 12–up. Agent: Jim McCarthy, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Oct.)■
From the Publisher
"With language rich in metaphor, this is a timely and important work that begs for multiple readings." - BOOKLIST (starred review)
"Easily one of the best books to be published in 2020. The kind of book bound to save lives." - LIT HUB
"A searing yet dryly funny, at times intimate and at times highly literary picture of life hemmed in by majoritarian expectations and gutted by exploitation that made staying in the family home intolerable but leaving it unthinkable." - BCCB
"Exceptional..A stirring depiction of Indigenous life likely to evoke empathy from and resonate with all who venture into Gansworth's world." - SHELF-AWARENESS (starred review)
"A powerful narrative about identity and belonging." - PASTE MAGAZINE
"A raw, layered story about love and loss of community, culture, and place."- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
School Library Journal
★ 12/01/2020
Gr 7 Up—This bittersweet but ultimately inspiring memoir in verse chronicles Gansworth's experience raised on a reservation. Gansworth, who is an enrolled Onondaga writer and artist, was born and raised at the Tuscarora Nation. The text aims to illuminate the truth about his family history and the trauma that shaped Gansworth's life. Black-and-white photos and original graphic art supplement the text. The book's very effective format creates emotional resonance. The straightforward narrative showcases themes of betrayal, racism, struggle, acceptance, resilience, risk, coming of age, and the power of family and community. The text opens by confronting and reclaiming the slur "Apple," which is a derogatory term used to describe a Native person who is "red on the outside, white on the inside." Gansworth's deft storytelling skills shine; he is not afraid to examine uncomfortable truths. He writes honestly about the appropriation of Native American songs and dances, the effects of boarding school on both sets of grandparents, learning his native language, longing for his father's approval, friendship, feeling lost, and leaving home for college. Throughout the narrative, he incorporates references to pop culture, such as television programs, movies, Batman, comic books, the Beatles, KISS, and Pink Floyd. All teens will relate to Gansworth's profound portraits of joy, pain, and hope. VERDICT A well-written and captivating autobiography about the modern-day Indigenous experience that should be widely shared. Recommended for middle and high school libraries.—Naomi Caldwell, Alabama State Univ., Montgomery
School Library Journal - Audio
03/01/2021
Gr 7 Up—This memoir, mostly in verse, is read by the author and tells the story of his life growing up on the Tuscarora Reservation in New York in one of the only families with Onondagan ties. The book begins and weaves itself around the history of three of Gansworth's grandparents attending Indian Boarding Schools and the long-lasting effects generations later. The insight he shares into his life experiences is a necessary look into reservation life. The references to bands and other pop culture from the 1960s and 1970s may be more difficult for teens to connect to in the same way as older audiences. The title comes from the slur—Apple—meaning red on the outside and white on the inside, referring to Native Americans who have assimilated too much into white culture. This theme and various metaphors of apples also recur throughout the memoir. VERDICT Hearing the story told from the author himself provides a personal connection to the stories included. But, listeners may miss out on the visual elements Gansworth describes in the Author's Note—paintings he created that connect to each section of the book.—Courtney Pentland, Omaha, NE
NOVEMBER 2020 - AudioFile
Poetic, intense, and defiant, Native American author and artist Eric Gansworth delivers his own coming-of-age story. The youngest child of seven, he grew up on a reservation outside Buffalo, New York, amid abject poverty and systemic racism. Like many children of the 1960s and ‘70s, he adopted pop culture icons like the Beatles, Batman, and Star Wars as his own and watched his brothers go off to Vietnam. Other siblings simply left and never returned. Later, catching up with the history and challenges of his own Onondaga culture was more problematic. Hearing Gansworth read passages in his grandparents’ native Tuscarora language is heartwarming and heartbreaking at once. This is the sound of an important, often overlooked, piece of America. B.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2020-08-04
Native American identity issues are explored in this ambitiously structured memoir in verse.
Gansworth (Onondaga) grew up among Tuscaroras. A minority on his reservation, his identity was further complicated by tribal intermarriage and the fact that three of his grandparents suffered forced assimilation in Indian boarding schools. Fascinated with Batman and masks, his boyhood was spent looking for a costume that would reveal his true self. His mother warned “it’s a white man’s world” while also acknowledging that Gansworth himself seemed destined for more. The memoir is high concept, structured like a palimpsest over the Beatles’ oeuvre. The title alludes to the Beatles’ Apple Records as well as the Native slur that implies someone is “red on the outside, white on the inside.” Written in a nostalgic tone, the book emphasizes cultural dislocation: “So much of my culture feels on the verge of vanishing. I wonder what part of that I’m contributing to with my own lack of knowledge.” Gansworth’s take on his great-uncles’ “erasing themselves too fully to ever come home” complicates his efforts to reclaim the pejorative. From his childhood to his life as a college student and writer, the book skims over a lifetime; feelings of intimacy and emotional intensity are variable even as the elliptical voice is unique. Black-and-white reproductions of Gansworth’s paintings and family photographs enhance and extend the text in a work originally conceived of as a visual arts project.
A rare and special read. (liner notes, section notes, note about the art) (Verse memoir. 12-18)
