Memoir Rundown: From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle
The first quarterly read for The Memoir Method Podcast is From the Ashes by Jesse Thistle. This memoir is about a First Nations young man whose first three decades are defined by abandonment, addiction, crime, homelessness, and hopelessness. We’ll spend time over the next three months diving deep into this memoir and identifying what elements make this memoir shine. Most of these podcast conversations will be happening with my friend and fellow reader and writer Ginny Walters.
The format of From the Ashes
From the Ashes is a memoir that packs a punch and emits emotion on every page. The audio of this memoir is read by the author and results in a visceral reading experience. The physical copy of From the Ashes includes photos from Jesse’s childhood, which brought another layer of immediacy to the story.
Jesse writes in a vignette style, weaving in poetry throughout.
Stranger than fiction
When I was reading this book, I reached a point when I thought that if this were a novel there is no way Jesse as a character would be believable. There is no way that all of this hurt could happen to one person—except that it did. That’s one of the elements that makes memoir so singular; everything you read is true, even if it’s unbelievable.
At one point Ginny thought, Well, he’s going to die. But then she had to remember that Jesse doesn’t die, because he wrote this book. This was a disconnect that not only made for compelling memoir but also made Jesse an underdog you’re rooting for from page one.
Indigenous identity
As a First Nations man, Jesse spent his youth denying his heritage. Living in a country and continent that has historically gone to great measures to eradicate indigenous identities, we can understand why Jesse would want to reject that part of himself that has been the source of so much generational trauma. And to later see him accept and embrace his heritage as he recovers was profound and one of my favorite parts the book.
We do want to note that both Ginny and I are white women living in the United States, and therefore our observations of this element of the memoir are inherently limited. Reading narratives from indigenous people are immeasurably valuable to understanding how we all fit together as humanity and how we can all choose to contribute to healing.
The people who matter
Jesse’s life was marked by different people in his life, by both their presence and their absence. We’ll dive deeper into this in later conversations, but we can’t always know the impact a person will make in our lives. The people we thought would be side characters sometimes played pivotal roles in Jesse’s life, and all of those connections we see created a vibrant tapestry of both heartache and redemption.
What we can ask of an author
Memoir begs for a unique reading experience, because the author invites us into what they’re willing and able to share. If we are left wanting more or less, we’d do well to ourselves why that is, rather than critique the writer. As a memoir reader, we have the choice to connect and accept a writer’s offering, and that place of trust is perhaps one of the most sacred in literature.
Have you read From the Ashes yet? Head here to see our list of conversations about this book, and I’d love it if you would give the podcast a listen and review.
