It Stops with Me: Memoir of a Canuck Girl [Paperback]

Charleen Touchette (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 29, 2004

Artist'ss captivating and sober memoir of survival, renewal and healing among French Canadian, Jewish and Indian families across America. Follows the Author from Woonsocket, RI to Wellesley College, New York'ss Lower East Side and Soho to Indian Country and Santa Fe, New Mexico where she is debilitated by a toxic illness and must remember her childhood to heal. ART016000; BIO000000; OCC000000

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

TouchArt Books debuts as an independent book publisher based in Santa Fe, New Mexico focusing on quality books of contemporary fine literature and art with its premier book, It Stops with Me: Memoir of a Canuck Girl by Author Artist Charleen Touchette. This unique book demonstrates TouchArt Books' commitment to publishing innovative books combining literature and art by original thinkers from diverse cultures in America.

From the Author

When I was growing up, I never knew any Canucks who were authors or artists. The libraries did not have books that told the stories of my memeres and ma tantes. It is important that women tell our stories that have been absent from the history of the world, especially for those of us who are mixed blood whose oral traditions have been obscured by oppression and genocide. We tell our stories and those of our grandmothers to honor them and inspire our children and future generations to celebrate all their cultural heritages.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: TouchArt Books (April 29, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974654507
• ISBN-13: 978-0974654508
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,366,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not all persons should be parents, March 17, 2005

By 

Annetta F. Van Landschoot "Upper Michigan Tra... (Munising, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: It Stops with Me: Memoir of a Canuck Girl (Paperback)

I had an opportunity to meet the author, Charleen, at a B & B on Amelia Island in February 2005. I purchased her book and was lead into her amazing childhood and adulthood. A book that was impossible to put down or forget about. This book will make you think about your own childhood. Unfortunately Charleen was brought up with poor parenting but lucky enough to be born with wonderful skills and talents. I finished her book all too soon but will re-read it another time.

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating and sober memoir of a difficult and varied life, September 12, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It Stops with Me: Memoir of a Canuck Girl (Paperback)

It Stops With Me: Memoir Of A Canuck Girl is the autobiography of artist, writer, curator, educator and activist Charleen Touchette. Narrating a life steeped in traditions of both French Canadian and Indian cultures, but also darkened by the legacies of anger, alcoholic rages, and violence, It Stops With Me tells of one woman's journey from girlhood to motherhood, to being debilitated by an illness that compels her to face the dark memories of her past. A captivating and sober memoir of a difficult and varied life.

11 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creative Franco-American Autobiography, May 14, 2005

By 

Juliana LHeureux "Maine Writer" (Topsham, Maine United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: It Stops with Me: Memoir of a Canuck Girl (Paperback)

An autobiography of a spunky Franco-American woman from Woonsocket, Rhode Island gives cultural storytelling multi-generational appeal. Too many Franco-Americans (with ancestral roots in French-Canada) are quickly amalgamating into the mainstream of American culture without writing their special family stories. Fortunately, Charleen Touchette, a Woonsocket, Rhode Island writer and artist now living in New Mexico, puts both of her pleasingly creative talents together in "It Stops With Me: Memoir of a Cannuck Girl".
Touchette writes about her Franco-American roots by relating simple, often bittersweet and even brutal experiences growing up as a typical French Catholic girl in Woonsocket and later as an accomplished artist.
Moreover, Touchette energizes her autobiography's prose with a series of original black, and white and color print blocks. In other words, "It Stops With Me" expresses Touchette's Franco-American creativity using prose accentuated by her surprisingly cutting edge original art describing absorbing coming of age experiences. Her journey from a parochial Franco-American into her adult life is fraught with opportunities, along with unexpected harsh challenges. Her life is ordinary in some ways but hardly a nostalgic cake walk.
"It Stops With Me" is at its best when Touchette looks back and elevates normal Franco-American experiences to familiarities we can identify with. For example, she describes cooking with her "Ma Tantes" or getting ready to receive First Holy Communion at Woonsocket's Eglise Précieux-Sang (Church of Precious Blood).
Discord arises at a young age. Growing up as a French Roman Catholic girl is an underlying theme. Touchette's typical childhood is without the benefit of feeling safe at home, as she depicts in one of her portraits of a "Not a Picture Perfect Family".
Rather, Touchette's absorbing life story endures familial stress, social and personal conflicts, even leading to physical ailments, which haunt her into adult years.
Touchette's hard hitting narrative is set apart from others of the modern autobiographic genre by the intimate and complicated relationships she shares with her family. Delving even deeper into her private spiral are the intense personal investigations Touchette undertakes with regard to her sad relationship with her father.
Nevertheless, in spite of the particular circumstances, it's typical of Franco-Americans to harbor deep attachments for their relatives and parents regardless of obvious flaws, shortcomings or even family violence. Female family role models are especially strong in Touchette's life. "Although my Maman was a devout Catholic, she was a strong supporter of my right to freedom of expression," writes Touchette. In fact, her female relatives were outraged when Touchette even considered not going to college after high school. In her Woonsocket Franco-Americans world, Touchette writes about how curious it was to be singled out for college when no other woman in her family ever went beyond a high school education.
Throughout the autobiography, her French heritage is front and center, even when she embraces the peace of Judaism.
Many of the book's chapters are charmingly led by simple French titles.
Touchette's talent as a creative writer moves the reader beyond the dark side of her autobiography. Using the power of words, she inspires us to learn more about her as an individual woman with a spellbinding story to tell. Touchette does a good job explaining the pros and cons of the personal contrasts she inherited from her religious and ethnic roots. This is a well written autobiography, nominated for book awards, with a progressive social focus.