Cover Image: Living Resistance

Living Resistance

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Member Reviews

A perfect book to have in your collection or read if you are interested in human rights and Indigenous resistance to colonialism. This book does an excellent job breaking down misconceptions and pushing us to think about resistance in a modern world.

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Kaitlin Curtice has a way of challenging all audiences regardless of religion to think about how we can lead purposeful lives that resist the standards of our culture. While this book wasn't as powerful for me as "Native", I still found her writing to have a unique voice that is very much needed in our society today. For me, I found the section on "the ancestral realm" the most powerful, especially her ideas about generosity and intergenerational healing. Throughout the book, she reminds the reader that "I am a human being. I am always arriving." which was a nice reminder amidst difficult content in which one may easily recognize their shortcomings. I hope to take these lessons with me into my family and workplace roles, and I know I'll revisit this book often!

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Living Resistance is about resistance and how you can use it in everyday life and not just at protests or boycotting things. Kaitlin B. Curtice looks at resistance in different realms: the personal, the communal, the ancestral, and the integral. She explains each realm at the beginning of each section to help the reader understand it more thoroughly.

I was kind of excited about this book. I’ve been trying to get into reading more nonfiction and I thought this would be one I would enjoy. Maybe it just wasn’t really for me.

I felt like it was a bit repetitive, which makes sense because it’s about life and life is messy and isn’t always straight forward, but when I’m reading a different story with the same message at the end, it gets a bit boring.

It was also a bit more religious than what I was looking for, not so much spiritual.

I feel like a lot of people will be able to take from this, but it just didn’t speak to me as I would hope it would.

I will say, it did make me think about how I want to look to my descendants as their ancestor and what I would want to leave behind for them.

*Thank you Brazos Press and NetGalley for a digital advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

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This is an excellent non-fiction text about life, the world, and what it means to resist. In addition to speaking from experience and telling captivating stories to make her points, the writer frequently mentions relevant books, TED Talks, poetry, and writing prompts. She also references diverse activists, artists, researchers, and leaders globally, and she concludes chapters with “resistance commitments” in the form of activities, questions, or other prompts. She is intentionally intersectional, inclusive, compassionate in her writing. I found this book fascinating and significant, and I’m looking forward to incorporating passages into future classes.

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For several years now, I have loved learning from Kaitlin Curtice, who writes on the intersection of spirituality and identity from her perspective as an Indigenous woman.

Living Resistance is a beautiful read that integrates many aspects of holistic healing with a focus on embodiment and healing our relationship with self, others, and the Earth. She organizes the book into a framework she calls “the realms of resistance,” which include the personal, communal, ancestral, and integral realms.

As always, her tone is gently challenging, invitational and thought-provoking. In a world filled with voices speaking on the topic of wellness, it’s refreshing to read about and consider what it means to decolonize our healing work and work together so that our communities can become places where all people are invited to individual and communal healing and wholeness. Curtice’s vision and approach fit well with the concept of contemplative activism—the idea that we must do our inner work in order to show up most authentically and whole in our outer work. This is a beautiful read for those who are deconstructing, decolonizing, and dreaming of what it would be like to be a part of ushering in a world where all people can flourish.

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I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher.
The author covers the four realms of resistance-the personal, the communal, the ancestral, and the integral and how they overlap. They discuss how to integrate this into everyday life.
While this was interesting, it didn't speak to me that much.

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I feel so honored and grounded having read this book. Living Resistance is full of stunning, dense invitations to consider a deeper way to live and resist external oppression. To become an embodied resistance who flourishes in every aspect and situation. Simply stunning. Thanks for NetGalley for this ARC.

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4.5 Stars

The ideas put forward in Living Resistance are deceptively simple. The majority of them come back on a basic level of radical love--for ourselves, for others, for those that came before, for those who have not made it here yet, and for the earth and all it holds-- and mindfulness in our day to day lives.

Simple in theory, but much more difficult to practice day in and day out. It's hard to extend grace to ourselves, harder still to do if for individuals and groups that have hurt us in some way. And yet, that is what Curtice is calling us to do each day, every day.

To fight against the status quo of hate, apathy, white Christian supremacy, and more, we have to examine our lives, the inner and the outer. Are we kind to ourselves? How can we be kinder? How can we help those who are different from us? What are the ways we can be more mindful and intentional about the media we engage?

Ultimately, Living Resistance isn't the toolbox of how to be better when faced directly with injustice. It isn't a guide for more successful fundraising or protesting. It is a much needed reminder that the small acts of resistance are important, too. We create little changes, practice them everyday, and we will change our world. From our own personal world, that change spreads to the wider community, and who's to say where it will stop.

Living Resistance is permission to sit with those smaller acts and add new ones. It is a gentle reminder to those of us who feel like we aren't doing enough, that the small acts are important, too.

I'm grateful that I read this book, and I know I will be reading it again in the future. It's full of gentle wisdom and bountiful with avenues for further learning and growth.

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Kaitlin Curtice's books are an auto-read for me, and this is no exception. Don't be tempted to rush through - take your time through each chapter and leave space for reflection. I always appreciate Curtice's words of wisdom! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

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In the new book, *Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Everyday* Kaitlin Curtice imagines a way to find grounding and resist the prevailing and harmful actions we often feel must be taken in our culture. Curtice provides practical exercises and encourages the reader to take time to complete actions, think about the chapter, and take part in practices that will help to resist. Curtice explains the idea fo resistance within the book;

"This book is titled Living Resistance for a number of reasons. First, resistance itself is a living, breathing being—when we enter into the flow of resistance, we enter into a sacred, embodied, connected way of being that brings freedom and wholeness. 

Second, living is an active, ongoing, cyclical embodiment. When we choose to live resistance, we are choosing to practice it with all that we are and all that we have. This is what it means to be human. This is how we understand stories and histories. This is how we hold space for one another and for Mother Earth."

The land and the resistance to a colonial mindset are important to understanding and engaging in *Living Resistance.* Curtice gently engages us in a story and way of thinking about living that is different. Is this for everyone? No, but everyone can have our eyes opened to other ways of thinking about living in our world. A way more connected to our planet, our land, and ourselves.

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That this book was written by an indigenous author who grew up Southern Baptist was meaningful. It provides her with a perspective that not many people have, about what it’s like to grow up in Christian circles, yes, but also to feel hurt by them and feel like an outsider in those spaces.

I loved the author’s perspective and hearing her ideas about what it means to exist in liminal spaces. She gave me a lot to contemplate and consider, especially with the prompts throughout. I felt seen and validated as I read this book and think the author and I would have some wonderful conversations.

If you’re looking for a book that walks with you on your journey and provides some tools for growth, this is definitely a great one to check out.

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Living Resistance is a fresh, nuanced, intersectional approach to the personal development space. Kaitlin B. Curtice’s writing style is approachable but doesn’t shy away from challenging the reader to think deeper and more critically.

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A perfect guide to seeing the world and resisting in a non-Westernized practice that heals and preserves the soul. I loved the exercises per each chapter, allowing through what you learn to actually practice and initiate in your own existence. As someone who briefly touched on decolonization in my anthropological research, this is such a captivating way to include these ideals and beliefs into your way of living. The author's inclusion of their own approaches and experiences I can see to be very validating for a lot of people and I think they do an excellent job creating not only a practical guideline, but also someone to relate to on a human level.

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What a gift of a book! Curtice has a knack for simultaneously encouraging and challenging her reader, while also leading them to ask questions and consider new perspectives. Living Resistance is the sort of book that you revisit repeatedly, returning again and again to the wisdom Curtice shares and the invitations she offers. I'll be recommending this one widely.

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Wow, what a powerful book, well-written and solid organization, I have a lot to ponder and learn! Thank you for the ARC

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A beautifully written book with so much knowledge and wisdom. This book inspires you, teaches you and will stay with you for a long time.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Thank you so much to Netgalley and Brazos Press for the opportunity to read and review an Advanced Reader Copy of Living Resistance by Kaitlin Curtice in exchange for an honest review.

Upon reading Living Resistance, I was immediately drawn in by Curtice's open and authentic voice, filled with compassion for her readers. It is so evident that the words of this book are Kaitlin's heartbeat for our planet and it's people to live a life of freedom and abundance and this book is the blueprint for how to do just that. The writing is practical and accessible. Curtice points to example after example of so many individuals from so many walks of life that are living lives of resistance in their own ways that honor their own cultures, yet model the principals she lays out in her book.

I consumed these pages and found myself highlighting nearly ever paragraph of the advanced reader ebook before deciding that I had to have the physical copy so I could mark it up and write in the margins like I would a Bible or other well-studied text ripe with wisdom. This book is a must for anyone who desires to walk their own path of resistance in a way that fully embraces love for their neighbors and our planet while honoring the indigenous pillars and principals of the Indigenous peoples who have gone before us.

I will definitely be getting my hands on the physical book once it comes out Tuesday, March 7th and you should too!!

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Kaitlin Curtice paints poetic words that mobilize and inspire. If you’re looking for a justice read that will call out unjust systems while keeping your hope intact and giving you practical ways to resist, you should definitely read Living Resistance. It’s a simply stunning, wildly inclusive, and desperately needed book.

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Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day by Kaitlin B. Curtis is a firm but gentle guide to seek out internalized -isms and deal with them in an honest, shameless manner. Curtis guides the reader through their personal spaces, communal identities, the history of their peoples, and their spiritual being to find and holistically address the cancer that has rooted in our lives and spread to every area.

This isn’t the only book one should ever read in the pursuit of building an equitable and loving world, but it is an excellent starting place and a devotional that can be revisited regularly with great impact.

So thankful to Curtis for sharing this work with the world. So thankful I was able to receive this gift.

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This review is based on an ARC provided by NetGalley and Brazos Press.

In late 2021, I immediately fell in love with Kaitlin B. Curtice’s poetry and prose after subscribing to her Substack newsletter, The Liminality Journal. This is the first reason I preordered her new book, Living Resistance. The second reason is the book's subtitle, which spoke directly to my heart: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day . I respect and value Indigenous wisdom and sacred teachings, and want to learn and grow. And the third reason I could not wait to hold a copy of this book in my hands: the gorgeous cover art that depicts the overlapping realms of resistance.

If you tend to skip a book’s preface or introduction, I recommend you don’t gloss over this one, which orients, guides and grounds the reader. Kaitlin begins the Introduction in a personal way, writing to the “Dear Reader, Feeler, Explorer, Un-learner, and Friend”. Then, in the next few pages she articulates her vision of living resistance and its four overlapping realms: The Personal, The Communal, The Ancestral, and The Integral. She explains how to actively engage with the book so it becomes a become a “space for us to examine the journey together.” Kaitlin also gives the reader a “kind of medicine” to repeat when the reading becomes heavy or overwhelming: “I am a human being. I am always arriving.” This supportive, inclusive tone continues throughout the book.

While reading Living Resistance, I filled many pages of my journal with quotes from the different sections within each realm.
Here is a sampling:

The Personal Realm
“[M]any of us on the path of healing are realizing that we must reclaim our curiosity toward ourselves and the land around us; we must start asking questions we didn’t ask before. As we do so, things begin shifting, and naturally, resistance follows. For many of us, this is also where we begin the journey of deconstruction. ”

The Communal Realm
“[S]olidarity work really is about the work of being human. In our humanity, we are meant to love ourselves well, to love one another well, and to love earth and the creatures around us well.”
“Solidarity means choosing not to look away from one another but instead leaning into each other’s stories because they matter…we care for one another because we are kin. This is resistance.”

The Ancestral Realm
“[Resisting] hate in the world requires that we draw from a deep, sacred well as humans. We recognize that resisting hate means living generously in any way that we can.”
“When our souls align with our power, and when we push fear of scarcity aside, generosity happens, and the world changes.”

The Integral Realm
“We have been given a certain kind of world, we have helped create a certain kind of world, and we get to dream of what kind of world we want to exist in our future years and after we are gone. This is where the realms overlap, where the space between becomes the center of everything. Who we are becoming today, the ways we choose healing for ourselves and our communities, and the lines of people who came before and will come after — it all matters.”

In each realm Kaitlin emphasizes that healing ourselves and relationships with others cannot be separated from healing our relationship with Mother Earth.

This is a book that requires us to ask questions we are holding deep inside ourselves, some that we might be reluctant to bring to the surface. It is a book is for seekers of wholeness, meaning and healing. Kaitlinn B. Curtice shows us how we can — and why we must — resist the status quo of intolerance and injustice, and the impacts of colonialism. Even the smallest and commonest of acts — such as writing a book review instead of doom-scrolling — is resistance.

In Kaitlinn’s own words, “In an era in which ‘activism’ and ‘resistance’ are tokenized hot topics, I want to restore these ideas as a basic human calling, one that each of us lives into every day we fight for love….No matter who you are or what you ‘do’ in the world, you have a role to play in finding, understanding, and sharing sacredness, and your acts of extraordinary resistance are the truths that hold us all together.”

With her beautiful, brilliant, visionary book, Kaitlinn has activated this calling within me.

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