Shaylyn Schwieg

TANYA TURTON, Jade is a Twisted Green.

Toronto: RARE MACHINES, DUNDURN PRESS, 2022. $22.99.

Tanya Turton’s Jade Is a Twisted Green imparts many truths. On one hand, it is a story of grief that follows Jade’s journey of forgiveness, closure, and opening up to the world again. On another hand, it is the story of how we are linked in so many ways–unexpectedly, wondrously, and deeply–and how these links impact and support us in different ways.
Despite focusing on Jade’s story, this book truly shows that everyone has a backstory. It builds up the community surrounding and supporting Jade as she slowly opens up again and reconnects with old friends, meets new people, and allows herself to live outside of her grief after losing her sister, all while starting on her dreams of traveling and writing. Many of the people important to Jade have their own stories, struggles, and reasons to grieve. Several chapters pause and meditate on key people in Jade’s life–Amethyst, Morgan, and Tayja (Tay) in particular. Amethyst lost her mother young, never had a father in the picture, and was raised by her grandmother, Patch. She struggles with her separation from Patch, having now moved out to lead her own life. Morgan’s mother passed away giving birth to him, and now with his father growing old on his own, there is a lot of pressure on him to be the perfect son–have a good job, and start a family–especially since he has no other family in Canada. Tay emigrated from Jamaica as a teenager, after surviving sexual assault, and is separated from her aunt and main mother figure to instead live with her birth mother who she’s never really known. They all love and support Jade while facing their own grief, trauma, and struggles. 
All of the characters are constructed with detail and thoughtfulness; the depth in which Tay, Amethyst, and Morgan’s stories are told is profound. There is also great fullness to how the other characters are introduced to the reader. Even characters that play relatively smaller roles in the story are described so intricately that it feels as if the reader has spent years with them. For example, the reader’s introduction to Imani not only uses beautiful language to evoke images through metaphor and comparison but also gives the reader a great sense of her character the very first time she appears in the book:

[Imani] had large bracelets piled onto her wrist as if building a structure on her arm […] Her skin was deep in tone, lined with stories. She looked like she had lived, seen much of life and what it had to offer. The stretch marks on her upper arms, slightly lighter in colour, were maps of a life well travelled […] Her face was one you would never forget.

She immediately feels like someone who is comfortable in her own skin, who is confident in her actions, and has lived and experienced so much as to make her a figure of wisdom as well as someone who is clear with her intentions, her actions, and her path in life. The detail of “building a structure on her arm” with bracelets evokes an image of security and strength. The description of her stretch marks as “maps of a life well travelled'' support the characterization of a person who has experienced much of what life has to offer, and seems to subtly suggest a theme of growth. Stretch marks should be honoured as a reminder of growth, the life that has led one to where they are. Here, the description is elegant and serves the character. Another example of fullness in the characterization can be seen in Amethyst’s chapter which starts with Patch’s story of her butterfly friend who:

Landed on a summer’s day just like this and neva lef’. It come home with [Patch]. Stayed on [her] shoulder as [she] walked home for hours. ‘Er name was Melody. She eventually died of grief […] she missed her mommy and daddy so much and while she loved [Patch], she had no way of getting back to them. [They] play all summa, in di fall she began to get sad, very sad and wanted her mommy and daddy.

 This story of Amethyst’s grandmother’s pet butterfly serves to mirror and help introduce Amethyst’s complicated relationship with her parents, her mother having passed away when she was younger, and her father being estranged from her. While her chapter doesn’t directly discuss her feelings about her parents, this opening suggests that Patch tells (and retells) this story as a way to comfort Amethyst–at least as a way to help Amethyst, as a young child, to identify the feelings she was going through. It can also be considered as a kind of parable which speaks to the grief that is found throughout the story–getting trapped in grief closes people up and can have serious consequences. Maybe this understanding, and the way Amethyst was raised, is why she is able to support Jade so well with her grief. 
As Jade’s world opens up she discovers the freedom of open love, which means allowing oneself to explore relationships outside of monogamy. It also entails not setting expectations based on the social constructs of gender roles or approaching attraction with the single-minded intent to date someone or not create a relationship at all. With this new understanding, Jade opens herself up to feeling differently in each relationship and seeing what new people bring out of her. The book has an emphasis on communication. How love is different with different partners. How intimacy is more than just a physical connection but a healing one. How these careful acts can strengthen bonds, free us–release pent-up emotion, and liberate us from static roles like masc versus femme and dominant versus submissive. A good example of this is the following passage:

[Jade] retrieved a bowl from the closet, filled it with warm water and a few drops of lavender, and washed Tay’s feet. The closer she felt to freedom, the more she knew with Tay she was dominant and submissive. She led often but did so by surrendering to her.

Jade is able to discover a lot about herself throughout the story. She is taught by the new people she meets during her trip to Atlanta about grief: how to feel it, how to work through it, and how to free herself from its trappings. Jade Is a Twisted Green is a liberating story about community and grief and discovering what freedom is to you, which challenges the ways Western society looks at self-care, recovery, and relationships today. The book has great representation of queer stories and a large cast of BIPOC characters.  Turton’s work shows how you can become trapped in yourself. Jade describes the experience as having “always felt twisted, alone in [her] experience. Feeling invisible made [her] the most twisted. [She] lost a lot [. . . she] also found a lot. [Toronto] took everything. Leaving it taught [her she] could take it all back.” It is hard to escape your own mind in grief–there’s a sense that you can’t be present, and you’re not free to just exist. Jade’s story is so poignant and meaningful for how it portrays grief and her progression of self-discovery and healing.

Shaylyn Schwieg

is a writer and reviewer from Brampton, Ontario. Currently, she works as the Events and Communications Intern at The Ampersand Review of Writing & Publishing, and studies at Sheridan College–attending its Creative Writing & Publishing Program. She enjoys exploring different genres and basking in the beauty of others’ writing. She is a proud member of the queer community, passionate about mental health awareness, and a strong advocate for environmentalism; all of which tend to be featured in her writing.