Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt by Tessa Miller

34 reviews

joannakwilliams's review

dark medium-paced

3.5

I was hoping for a chronic illness memoir. This is more of a memoir crossed with a self help book for people first dealing with having a chronic illness. I also didn’t quite vibe the style - it felt like it was written by a journalist in the 2010s. 

That said, there was a lot of vulnerability about sharing her the ups and downs of her experience. I thought the majority of the memoir parts of the book were quite engaging. But I think I would recommend Samantha Irby writing over this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

madeofmatter's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Beatifully written retelling of life with chronic illness. An incredibly useful resource filled with helpful information, tips on how to deal with various situations and tailored humour that hit home. I cannot recommend this book enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting

nhackley's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

atokuyama's review

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Ableism, Misogyny, and Gaslighting

madisongturner's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

3.5

Part memoir, part advice, this book does a great job of providing an introduction to the ups and downs of chronic illness. If you aren't chronically ill or have recently become sick, this is a great book. It felt a little redundant for me since I have been chronically ill for a while, but I appreciate the insight into a fellow chronically ill person's journey and experience. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

skillwithaquill's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

rowynoconnor's review

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Eating disorder

baysriddles's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

4.0

I finished this one a couple weeks ago and still haven’t written a review because I have so many thoughts about it. I found this book to be an excellent hybrid of memoir and advice. Tessa is articulate and clear about what chronic illness patients go through. It also contains a wealth of information that can be useful to someone newly diagnosed and even to some who have been ill for years (like myself). It's very graphic and very honest, and I think every Spoonie can relate in some way to this book, whether you suffer from IBD or other types of painful invisible illnesses. While I did love it and found it informative and relatable, I did find myself skimming through some of the repetitive and preachy parts. Overall, I definitely recommend :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

katrinarose's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Part memoir, part self-help, part political/sociological analysis, this was a wonderfully realistic yet hopeful book. As someone who has her same diagnosis (but has not gone through the level of severity she has) I empathized with her harrowing medical trauma. Her writing style kept me hooked. I imagine the self-help aspects to be invaluable for those with severe chronic illness and are written with such tenderness. She also rounds the book out with many statistics and research articles both to infuriate the reader about the state of healthcare in America but also act as a call to action. Since I am able to forget about my diagnosis 90% of the time, I don’t feel I am the exact target audience, however I loved it and would recommend to anyone chronically ill, anyone who has a chronically ill loved one, or anyone interested in the topic of healthcare in America.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, and Grief

elsea_readingelsea's review

emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, and Medical trauma