Jonny Appleseed
Whew.
Over two years ago, I put out a little request via my Instagram account seeking recommendations for fiction that might address the notion of “home” in one way or another. @ifthisisparadise recommended the novel Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead. At that point, I think I had all of my readings for what would become Book Covers: A MetroWest Read-Aloud Series, BUT I bought Jonny Appleseed. And I started it, and then I set it aside off and on for nearly two years. I tend to do this with books on my Kindle (Ducks, Newburyport anyone?!!) and for whatever reason I seem to be able to do it successfully. (As in, not forget what I’m reading…for the most part.) I finally finished it this week.
Jonny, a two-spirit NDN, i.e. a queer Indigenous individual, grapples with and relishes memories of his kokum (grandmother) while preparing to leave his newfound city life to return to his home — a reservation — for his stepfather’s funeral.
Sometimes this was a hard read for me. Jonny turns to sex work to both make money as well as, presumably, subconsciously figure out how to navigate life as someone suspended between different realities.
I made a note of a headline from the Boston Globe the other day: “When it’s better to be disturbed than distracted, there’s Discomfort TV.” The same sentiment holds for books, of course.
If you read solely to escape, this one’s not for you. Just the simple fact of North America’s relationship with the indigenous community is enough to prevent you from blissfully reading with your piña colada in hand. (That’s how it’s done, right?) But then I wonder if you might see any benefit at all to being “disturbed”? Because the last paragraphs of this book were as beautiful as any I’ve read. And that’s how life is: a tether between distraction and discomfort, with different sides of us favoring one or the other, zig zagging between the two looking for equilibrium.
originally published on instagram