Crazy Brave: A Memoir (2012)

by Joy Harjo

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Biography & Autobiography. Multi-Cultural. Nonfiction. HTML: A "raw and honest" (Los Angeles Review of Books) memoir from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States. In this transcendent memoir, grounded in tribal myth and ancestry, music and poetry, Joy Harjo details her journey to becoming a poet. Born in Oklahoma, the end place of the Trail of Tears, Harjo grew up learning to dodge an abusive stepfather by finding shelter in her imagination, a deep spiritual life, and connection with the natural world. Narrating the complexities of betrayal and love, Crazy Brave is a haunting, visionary memoir about family and the breaking apart necessary in finding a voice. .… (more)

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FANTASTIC! (

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meghyreads | Dec 30, 2024 |

Prior to ‘Poet Warrior’

LesF. | Aug 16, 2024 |

Holy crepe, I was not ready for this book. It combines the raw emotion of Harjo's poems with a very difficult personal history, similar to the book Educated. I am impressed by Harjo's artistry and I would like to read more of her work, but for now I need some time to process everything I've read. (

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jd7h | Feb 18, 2024 |

This is the first book I've read by author Joy Harjo. Her writing and poetry are amazing. I connected easily with her and my heart and soul were troubled by her troubled and lifted up through her poetry shared in the book. I now want to read more of Joy Harjo's work. A must read in my view. (

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prudencegoodwife | Jun 4, 2023 |

tired of drinking, getting pregnant. husband gets drunk and beats you, then you come to and get a PHD. (

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mahallett | Mar 14, 2022 |

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"Joy Harjo possesses an unusual ability to describe stark, often disturbing, details with an understated dignity, but she captures awe and beauty just as skillfully."

added by WeeklyAlibi | editWeekly Alibi, Shawn Cory (Jul 18, 2013)

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Awards

American Book Award (2013)

PEN Center USA Literary Award (Winner – Creative Nonfiction – 2013)

Distinctions

San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Nonfiction – 2012)

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2012

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Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

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Epigraph

Once I traveled far above the earth. This beloved planet we call home was covered with an elastic web of light. I watched in awe as it shimmered, stretched,, dimmed, and shined, shaped by the collective effort of all life within it. Dissonance attracted more dissonance. Harmony attracted harmony. I was revolutions, droughts, famines, and the births of new nations. The most humble kindnesses made the brightest lights. Nothing was wasted.

Dedication

To the warrior of the heart
To my teachers in the East, North, West, and South, Above and Below

First words

Once I was so small I could barely see over the top of the back seat of the black Cadillac my father bought with his Indian oil money.

Quotations

...poetry did not have to be ...of an English that was always lonesome for its homeland in Europe. In his poems were his pueblo and his people, our love and the love for justice. (p. 141)

“A story matrix connects all of us.
There are rules, processes, and circles of responsibility in this world. And the story begins exactly where it is supposed to begin. We cannot skip any part.” (p.28)

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Joy Harjo

▾Book descriptions

Biography & Autobiography. Multi-Cultural. Nonfiction. HTML:

A "raw and honest" (Los Angeles Review of Books) memoir from the first Native American Poet Laureate of the United States.

In this transcendent memoir, grounded in tribal myth and ancestry, music and poetry, Joy Harjo details her journey to becoming a poet. Born in Oklahoma, the end place of the Trail of Tears, Harjo grew up learning to dodge an abusive stepfather by finding shelter in her imagination, a deep spiritual life, and connection with the natural world. Narrating the complexities of betrayal and love, Crazy Brave is a haunting, visionary memoir about family and the breaking apart necessary in finding a voice.

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