Bones of belonging
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (3.5, rounded up to 4 on Goodreads)

Published 5/16/23
📱🎧Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC e-book in exchange for an honest review.

What I loved about this collection of mini essays and reflections:
- It was very helpful as an American to read about the racism immigrants have experienced living in Canada, very paralleled to the U.S.
- The MENA representation was so helpful for me to see the similarities both black and brown people experience in mostly white communities.
- Annahid is a mixed race Persian from Iran. Her mother is British and her father is Iranian and so she talks about how it’s difficult to belong when you a have multiple identities and cultural backgrounds.
- Her struggles with bulimia, migraines, and self-worth were authentic and raw. It makes me want to read her memoir, which was published a few years ago.
- The writing is highly prosy and metaphorical as each essay attempts to target a body part as a metaphor for what it looks like to heal emotionally and wrestle with belonging in a world that sees you as different.
- At the end she mentions getting diagnosed with ADHD in her 40’s. The neurodivergent representation and discussion of how that maybe made her even more sensitive to the cultural and racist rejection in Canada was fascinating.
- This was the first collection of essays on race I’ve read by a Persian author. It makes me realize how much more I have to learn and how valuable all perspectives are. I had no idea the extent of racism Persians experience and how similar it is to all minority populations. It makes me want to diversify my books to include all ethnic and racial representation.

The only thing I didn’t love was how the book was organized. It was incredibly slow getting through this book because each essay felt similar to each other and yet not connected in a cohesive flow. It read kind of like a memoir with little anecdotes and stories in each section, but it didn’t move forward in an engaging way. I’m so glad to have read it and learned so much, but the organization just wasn’t conducive to my brain’s logical thought patterns so it was hard for me to follow and stay focused. 🤷🏻‍♀️

To look at yourself is hard and to look at someone else and know they will never own up to their own being is such another thing. We are different, we are also the same in many ways and what we are not of each other is understanding of the difference. This book is raw at times and makes you question things and if the status quo we have been living with is something we should accept. I found it hard to stop reading this book and so will you.

I'm impressed by this author's grasp of the complex issues of equity, diversity and inclusion, her devotion to the cause of educating on all that in a workplace setting through the consulting firm she runs with her husband Shakil. I felt that Bones of Belonging read very memoir-ish and so was surprised to learn she had published one already, Breaking the Ocean: A Memoir of Race, Rebellion, and Reconciliation, at the age of only 45, in 2019.

I like the readability of these short essay-like chapters, but I didn't get the not-quite-chronological order of them, if there was an explanation given for that it was lost on me. She includes a lot of frank and honest stories about her own insecurities and struggles, about parenting her little Brown kids Arion and Koda through the pandemic lockdown, and evidence that even stereotypically nice Canadians struggle with racist behavior.

I wish she had given examples of the kind of questions she asked white people that made them call her strange. I too have divorced parents of different races, and wanted very much to know more about why the author referenced her Iranian father so much more than her British mother, was it because he's of color and she's not? I find it so interesting that just like her parents the author also married someone from a different foreign country, wonder if she and her parents notice the parallels as well.

This collection was hopeful, heartbreaking, poignant, and motivating. Annelid Dashtgard's voice comes through so clearly in her writing that I felt immediately at ease while I read this. It was intimate, yet informative. I raged with her and my heart felt hope with her too. We need more voices like hers to be amplified!

This collection of short stories from Annahid Dashtgard was a beautiful and touching account of her journey through life, lessons learned and general musings along the way. The stories were compelling and exposed nerve ending that I thought were long numbed in my own experiences as a child of immigrants growing up in a very white part of the Midwest during the 80s. Annahid also managed to weave a soothing blanket of acceptance and belonging with her words- she was able to put words to many of the things that I had felt growing up and had merely accepted. I didn’t realize WHY certain things bothered me or left me feeling “less than” and had chalked it up to being too emotional and making things into a bigger “deal” in my mind. It was comforting to hear her words in my head as validation for those experiences. A beautiful book of stories that will live with me going forward. Thank you to #netgalley and Dundurn Press for allowing me to preview this magic! #BonesOfBelonging

I wouldn’t normally pick up a nonfiction book because they scare me; I prefer reading diverse opinions and experiences cloaked in fantasy. But this series of essays of Annahid’s life experiences being an immigrant, being a brown person, being a mother and fighting for racial equality we’re eye opening, they provoked thoughts and feelings I don’t often get from fantasy.

I better understand the importance of reading the direct experiences of authors from different minority groups.
This is a short and easy place to start listening to different voices.

I was drawn to the stunning cover. In a series of musings and personal essays, Annahid shares what it is like being visibly 'Other' in North America. Born in Iran and having to flee to Canada, it shaped her and her family.
The book spans in different periods and looks at her personal life and how she wove her personal and work life together speaking to groups about diversity.
If this book doesn't make you mad, it should. The amount of nonsense she had to deal with is saddening.
I think this is a great book for people trying to understand a refugee experience. Annahid is very open with the challenges she faces. I'm glad I read this book.

This book is so insightful and so personal - thank you to the author for opening up her life to us readers as we embark on this deeply personal story with her. This should be essential reading for everybody.