Heart Berries

Author: Terese Marie Mailhot
Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Catapult, 2019
Pages: 160
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Having survived a profoundly dysfunctional upbringing only to find herself hospitalized and facing a dual diagnosis of post traumative stress disorder and bipolar II disorder, Terese Marie Mailhot is given a notebook and begins to write her way out of trauma. The triumphant result is Heart Berries, a memorial for Mailhot's mother, a social worker and activist who had a thing for prisoners; a story of reconciliation with her father - an abusive drunk and a brilliant artist - who was murdered under mysterious circumstances; and an elegy on how difficult it is to love someone while dragging the long shadows of shame.

Review: I did not care for the author's stream-of-consciousness writing style. I believe she has a story to tell, but this jumped around a lot and at times I didn't know who she was talking about, or what time of her life she was recounting. Disappointing, but it's a check mark on my read for Native American Heritage month.