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| Leanne Betasamosake Simpson |
Renowned writer and activist Leanne Betasamosake Simpson offers an absolute gift of awakening through “Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies.” Featuring seven points of views, wisdom of old ones, sage advice from birds; connection to every living thing. Beyond the seven voices more perspectives emerge out of stories of resilience, survival and breaking through.
“Noopiming” is an important literary work that transcends form and breaks molds of storytelling in contemporary Western consciousness. Every word counts: it is a rare page in “Noopiming” that is filled from top to bottom. Meaning starts at the beginning of every page, every sentence a revelation. Because Simpson delivers substantial lessons; the rest of the page must be blank to leave room for pause and meditation. Simplicity and straightforwardness are metaphors to the act of surviving colonialism, racism and capitalism in a world of refuse, unwanted things, and unwanted people. For those of us who emerge unscathed, we rise to imagine a future where the indigenous are reclaiming their right to craft their own houseboat, to define their journeys on their own terms.
“Noopiming” is a book to be experienced more than once. The act of reading — intellectually connecting meaning to words on a page — is not enough to describe the visceral experience of inhaling and absorbing Simpson’s words. Prose and poetry meld into a form that mainstream critics and gatekeepers of the literary canon may describe as “experimental.” The English language is not sufficient to embrace and capture the depth of meaning in Simpson’s exquisitely tragic and brilliant prose.
Simpson carries forth layered meanings to bring forth lessons in decolonization, emphasizing that all beauty derives from memory, heritage and ceremony, reaching back and remembering though endless time. This book bears lessons in indigeneity: a community’s legacy for the rest of us who are still making sense of the chaos, waste and commodification of everything that can be sold and bought. As societies around the world adapt to a “new normal” after a prolonged global pandemic, readers may welcome Simpson’s invitation to look at the world with different eyes, and find empathy and kindness for ourselves and others.
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| $24.95 cloth/jacket ISBN 978-1-5179-1125-6 368 pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 February 2021 University of Minnesota Press |