Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Love Is an Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar

11 reviews

emoryscott's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.75

I really wanted to like this book. I love memoirs and the jacket summary was intriguing. However, this author’s style is not for me. If you enjoy quippy, erratic narration, you’ll love this. I felt like the journey across the country could have been more clearly defined. I felt like I never knew which era of her life she was speaking about. I know this is some people’s favorite type of writing, but it just wasn’t for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Child abuse, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Excrement, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Colonisation, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Genocide, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Also, at times, it really seemed like the author was glorifying trauma and abuse. It was definitely a bit difficult to read as a survivor, but I can see how someone else may find this empowering.

rahthesungod's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Violence, Xenophobia, Toxic relationship, and Child abuse

amisk23's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Islamophobia, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Child abuse, and Fatphobia

imrereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

3.0

I was gifted a copy of this book by Catapult. Thank you so much! 

I have conflicting thoughts. While there are some really wonderfully written and capturing sections, I felt over all that it didn't deliver what it advertised. It certainly isn't cross-country roadtrip the blurb promised. 

My biggest issue is that it felt very fragmentes and not flowing together the way I would have wanted. It jumps very quickly from topic to topic, from childhood to adulthood, from serious to lighthearted. This made it hard for me to feel engaged in the narrarive. It's certainly a provocative memoir for better and for worse. At least personally I found several sections to be quite triggering to read, and I wish it didn't jump so quickly from topic to topic. 

Still, I want to repeat that there are some really good and thought provoking sections. For example the chapter where she's at the airport in Isreal had me at the edge of my seat. I won't forget it easily! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, and Sexual assault

riolson3's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia

Minor: Islamophobia

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

challenging emotional fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Racism

alylentz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.0

I really enjoyed this and would definitely pick up another book by this author. I soared through the first half, but then the second half faltered a little for me: not sure if that was the pacing or if I just felt less compelled by the subjects of those sections. My favorite chapter was the one that discussed being detained by customs--I feel like that is definitely a must-read for so many. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, and Xenophobia

maisierosereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I was given access to an eARC of this book through NetGallety in exchange for an honest review.

Love is an Ex-Country is a poignant memoir about Randa Jarrar's life and experiences as a fat, queer, Muslim Arab-American woman. She discusses childhood, marriage, sex, motherhood, her Muslim identity, kink, her white-passing privilege, and much more on a personal level; she also weaves in facts about, for instance, the occupation of Palestine and how that affects her as a Palestinian. This memoir is not always easy or comfortable to read, with explicit depictions of e.g. domestic abuse and sexual assault, but if you are able to read about these topics it is worth it.

There is a strong theme of travel throughout the book - with journeys around the USA with her dog as well as to multiple other countries - but I would not call it a travelogue, which seems to have caused some confusion for other viewers. I personally prefer memoirs-with-travel rather than travel-with-memories, so this did not bother me. 

If you would like a taste of the style of this memoir, many of the chapters have previously been published as essays in various magazines. Randa has also written fiction, which I will definitely be looking into and reading in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Toxic relationship

clarabooksit's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Body shaming

Moderate: Drug use and Police brutality

fatimak's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

3.0

This was a book I was looking forward to reading as it is the memoir of a queer, Muslim, Arab-American woman. The author tells her story of growing up in an abusive household, recounts her experiences of being in abusive and toxic relationships, reflects on her identity as a Palestinian as well as being white passing, and more. Heavy topics including racism, Islamophobia, fatphobia, and domestic abuse are discussed throughout, and it's astounding just how much the author has gone through throughout her life and truly inspiring how she's found her way through it. I particularly admired how she talked so openly and unapologetically about her sexuality, as well as her critiques of fatphobia and her championing of fat acceptance. 

However, something about this book just didn't quite click with me (which feels weird to say as it's a memoir). I think perhaps the author's writing style just isn't for me. The way the book is structured and how we learn about different events and aspects of the author's life felt quite fragmented and all over the place. There were parts where I was confused about when in her life she was talking about and sometimes the use of letters in place of people's names got confusing (in particular, how she uses the letter L a lot to refer to different people). 

Overall, I admire the author's courage to write such a personal memoir as well as her strength in making it through such awful experiences and, from what it sounds like, finding a form of peace and acceptance at the end, but I didn't quite connect to the story. I think there'll be many people who find this memoir interesting and get something out of it, so I'd encourage you to give it a chance if you're thinking of reading it (particularly if you're of American-Egyptian and/or Palestinian heritage, as books with that kind of representation aren't very common, though not being of either background I can't speak to the quality of the representation).

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Islamophobia, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship