Voices Carry: A Story of Teaching, Transitions, & Truths

In this memoir, author Raven Oak shares her journey through an abusive childhood and adolescence to find themselves as an adult being able to properly identify through their gender, sexuality and other identities.  Their past helped to shape their career as a teacher in Texas, doing their best to serve youth in the Bible Belt.  A health diagnosis led Raven and their partner to a safer space in Seattle where they battled long COVID and a series of disabilities.   Raven Oak is one of my favorite science fiction/fantasy authors, so I jumped on the chance to read their memoir.  Raven presents an honest look at a life with many bumps in the road as well as triumph through adversity.  Raven's writing pulled me in similarly to a show more fictional story and I was invested in their journey.  Raven writes about not only where they succeeded in life, but where they believe they failed, especially in the school system and with certain students.  I found myself identifying with Raven's story more often than not, even though we have had very different paths in life thus far. I identified most with Raven's time in schools, trying to help students to be their best while actively fighting administration and some parents every step of the way.  I also love to see the power of good documentation.   Raven's memoir is all about finding their voice and using it for the greater good.  Through Raven's life they share multiple instances of finding and redefining themselves and using their experiences to advocate for themselves and others. I took much of Raven's learned  wisdom in these experiences to be a better advocate.  I enjoyed seeing how Raven's experiences shaped some characters in their books.  Voices Carry is a story of  triumph as a person who has fought against evil, stereotypes, and outdated systems just to exist.  I'll wrap up with one of my favorite quotes that I'll be incorporating into everyday life, "If questioning others means I'm a threat, consider me armed and dangerous." This book was received for free in return for an honest review.  show less

I loved this book. Raven Oak's voice is as clear and conversational as if you are listening to a friend tell their story in your living room. It's sort of a memoir, sort of a manifesto. It follows Raven's life fairly chronologically, beginning with their childhood, spending a big chunk of time on their years as a teacher in Texas, and ending with poignant and painful stories about their health struggles with various autoimmune disorders and disabilities, as well as long COVID. My one criticism isn't really a criticism at all, actually - it's just that I would like to hug them and say that they are being too hard on themself for the things they think they should have handled better in the past. (Of course, Raven, I know you are still show more locked-down and would not actually want me to hug you, but here's a virtual hug.)

Raven is a brave and bold advocate for the poor, the abused, the queer community, the disabled community, and female-presenting writers. I am interested to read more of their writing and wish them the best in their continued recovery from illness. show less

A very readable memoir, covering many of the intersectional identities that make up Raven's life and experiences. "Writing a memoir is part storytelling and part reflection, and what you see isn't always what you expected."

Many of those marginalised identities are ones I also hold, and it was enlightening (and at times painful) reading about Raven experiences. I appreciated that when there was a particularly difficult topic coming up, there was a content note and an opportunity to skip past.

I was quite enamoured with the writing style (and many footnotes!) but suspect that it won't land for some readers - and that's okay!

This was my first introduction to Raven's writing, and I'm now intending to track down and read their SFF books. show more Which from me is definitely a recommendation. 🙂 show less

NOTE: I received a free eBook copy of this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers (June 2024).

Raven Oak, author of several sci-fi novels, enters the realm of nonfiction with their memoir "Voices Carry," retelling the trials and tribulations they experienced as a former public school teacher in Texas. I applaud Oak for their honesty: Their early life was full of trauma and finding the courage to talk about it took guts. As a former educator and Texan myself, I can vouch for their experiences teaching in the public schools in that deep-red state. It was a bit like therapy to read about the crazy (I'm not exaggerating) scenarios involving students, parents, and admin (mostly parents and admin) during their teaching career.

OK, now for the show more critique. I know someone who is a lot like Raven in that they are also nonbinary, grew up in a red state, and have AuADHD, and is extremely awkward. Reading Raven's memoir felt like this person was in the room narrating it for me. It was uncanny and unsettling. Frankly, it dragged me down a bit. I would have loved to read some positive experiences that Raven had at various conventions, since they only reported on the negative experiences. Finally, Raven is great about putting trigger warnings in the text, with one exception. The anecdote in which they recount their experiences with getting stitches removed is incredibly graphic, but lacked a trigger warning. I am in pain even just writing about it.

In spite of these flaws, I still found this a page-turning and earnest memoir from a skilled author. show less

In this book we follow the author's experiences from an abusive childhood to their life with their wife (and farty cat). The writing is vey conversational with many footnotes. Despite its friendly tone this book covers some difficult topics but the author does provide in text content warnings for some of them which I really appreciated.

I think I enjoyed the chapters about their teaching years the most. Despite the sometimes absurd policies it sounds like they made a massive impact in some kids' lives. Although I don't know the specifics of how she ran the classroom, they remind me a bit of my gran who would also focus on and try to connect with her students. I was also excited when they revealed they were agender since I don't really show more know of any agender writers! show less

A moving, and sometimes shocking look at the authors experiences with teaching. I had a lot of empathy for her, teaching young adults is a difficult job with way more politics and danger thrown in these days. Great read, and one that all parents should have a copy of, no matter their orientation! One line really stood out to me, “Doing the right thing isn’t easy. If it were easy, everyone would do it, right?” It is how I feel often and I try to do the right thing for the greater good- sometimes I miss the mark, and not beat myself up about it. Each day gives us a chance to do better.

Raven Oak is a nonbinary disabled writer and former teacher. Their memoir of childhood, their teaching career, and writing includes disturbing experiences of abuse, from their own childhood as well as from parents of their students. The subject matter is enlightening and scary and a much needed read in today's world.