Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

README.Txt: A Memoir by Chelsea Manning

8 reviews

jtredd05's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Grief, Outing, and Colonisation

spike1478's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This book was a very interesting read about a amazing women. It was sad at times but it was written in such a way that it made you feel like you were there with her.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Dysphoria, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape

mlovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

Wow. An amazing listen.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Outing, Gaslighting, and War

rat_girly's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

Harrowing, impactful, inspiring. Gave me a lot to think about, especially considering the US funded atrocities happening in Palestine at the moment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Transphobia, Police brutality, Dysphoria, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Hate crime, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Outing, and Sexual harassment

annoyedhumanoid's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

intensely readable but i would have liked more. fuck the DOD for the redactions. the craziest part is that they PUT HER BACK IN JAIL for another year, not mentioned in the book. the injustice she faced/faces is so flagrant you almost forget the US has a constitution meant to protect against it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Dysphoria, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Deadnaming, Drug use, Sexual content, Xenophobia, and Blood

martinza's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

She is so cool!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Torture, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and War

foxo_cube's review against another edition

challenging dark informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

This is a fascinating memoir that makes a situation so obscured by political and technological complexities on the face of it very much human. Manning is someone who did what she did because she felt it was right, and I, for one, am inclined to agree with her.

She recounts her early life and interest in technology (encouraged by her dad to masculinise her, funnily enough) and the solace she found in the internet when she was in her adolescence. She makes it sound like great fun to mess about with hacking, honestly - hell, even when she describes her work in the army as an analyst, it's clear she really loved it, and I can't really blame her. It's probably really interesting, drawing conclusions and making decisions based on patterns of behaviour that you've observed over time - I think I'd love doing that! But, of course, being in Iraq and having the consequences of her work being much more real understandably took a toll on her. There's a sense of detachment that I guess you've got to have if you do basically any sort of military job, and she describes how the morality of it all affected her deeply.

It's also interesting to read how she worked out her gender and sexual identity over time. Her talking about how, when she was little, she would ask <i>why</i> she couldn't be a girl was so sweet and so sad. I'm so glad it turned out she absolutely could be one! I really do think it's good to have such a well-known figure be open about her journey. It's so important for people growing up trans to know that they aren't weird and they aren't alone and they can be the person they know they are.

The treatment that Manning describes in her confinement before her trial was absolutely abhorrent, but I can't say I'm terribly surprised. That she didn't get her spirit totally broken by it all is miraculous - but it sounds like that took a lot of work on her part, honestly. 

I have a lot of respect for her. Even at points where it went against any sense of self-preservation, she did what she believed was right, and that's incredible.

Technically speaking, the memoir is nicely-written and doesn't delve into any jargon that I can imagine she could have scattered through the text like nothing else. She writes clearly and with heart, and even with how angry I was for her at some points, it was an enjoyable book to read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, and War

cimmalex's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

2.25

I’m not sure what was going on with the narration, but you could tell where a passage started and stopped. Whoever did the editing did a really poor job. It kind of ruined the listening experience

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, and War