THE SUNDAY REVIEW | JONNY APPLESEED – JOSHUA WHITEHEAD

I’ve been meaning to read this book for ages, ever since it started making waves in the Canadian literary scene. I heard Joshua Whitehead talk a couple of times in online presentations, and loved his candor, humour and intelligence. But it wasn’t until this book was selected as September’s book for the Storykeepers podcast (you should check it out if you haven’t already) that I finally decided it was time to read it.

Whitehead is a two spirit Indigenous author and member of the Peguis First Nation. His novel explores the experiences of another young Native man who is also two spirit. The novel recounts his relationships with his female relatives (complex and conflicted, but also full of love and loyalty) and with his peers. It also explores the complex themes of identity, belonging and what home means.

One of the things that often comes up in discussion of this novel is its overt sexual content – Jonny works as a sex worker to support himself when he leaves the reservation. It was, but it also didn’t overtake the story or take away from it in any way. It’s a matter of fact part of his life, but not the most important part. It encompasses all the extremes and contradictions that make up every other area of his life, and it’s a rich representation.

I don’t think I realized it while I was reading, but this book made an immense impression on me. It is by turns brutal, tender, violent, explicit and humorous. But the character that exists on these pages is fully formed, and demands to be seen. He is a vital character not only because this experience is so rarely put on the page, but because for young people like him, he offers an example and an acknowledgment that people like him exist. That they’re here, they’re human, they’re flawed but also perfect just as they are. I can see why this book got so much acclaim, and I’m so grateful that it did and that it made its way into my life. It isn’t an easy read. But it’s such an important book, and a perspective that I am so glad to have experienced. It comes with a host of trigger warnings, of course, but also with my full endorsement. If you can handle it, it will repay your effort in full.

“You’re gonna need a rock and a whole lotta medicine” is a mantra that Jonny Appleseed, a young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer, repeats to himself in this vivid and utterly compelling novel. Off the reserve and trying to find ways to live and love in the big city, Jonny becomes a cybersex worker who fetishizes himself in order to make a living. Self-ordained as an NDN glitter princess, Jonny has one week before he must return to the “rez,” and his former life, to attend the funeral of his stepfather. The next seven days are like a fevered dream: stories of love, trauma, sex, kinship, ambition, and the heartbreaking recollection of his beloved kokum (grandmother). Jonny’s world is a series of breakages, appendages, and linkages–and as he goes through the motions of preparing to return home, he learns how to put together the pieces of his life. Jonny Appleseed is a unique, shattering vision of Indigenous life, full of grit, glitter, and dreams. – Goodreads

Book Title: Jonny Appleseed
Editor: Joshua Whitehead
Series: No
Edition: Paperback/Audiobook
Published By: Arsenal Pulp Press
Released: May 15, 2018
Genre: LGBTQIAP+, Indigenous, Autobiographical Novel
Pages: 224
Date Read: August 30 – September 4, 2021
Rating: 9/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.00/5 (8,416 ratings)