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maggies's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
2.0
An important story, to be sure, but written in much too conversational a tone for my liking. The content was at least high school level, given the wide array of traumas explored, but the style was more like second grade, and it was a turn off for me. Also, perhaps because the book was initially published in 2016, the ideas/solutions presented in the call to action in the last two-ish chapters were less than revolutionary. I definitely felt for Diane and her family and families like hers, just couldn't get on board with the delivery.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment
ellornaslibrary's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This book has heavy, emotionally challenging content which might be a given considering the subject matter though I still wanted to put it out there. If you're not in a great place? I'd recommend holding off a little. I'd been putting this book off for awhile cause I knew it'd be a difficult listen. Yet I'm glad I finally got to it. While I cried a lot while reading this book? I also smiled and laughed and blushed and raged and a thousand other things. There's obviously stuff in here that I could not relate to — experiences that I can't even imagine going through let alone surviving — yet there's other parts that are relatable as well. It's a great book that's enhanced by the lovely job Diane Guerrero does telling her story. It feels more like sitting with an old friend who's having a chat than listening to a story from someone you've never met before. What she goes through is something that nobody should ever have to especially as a child. The injustices dealt to her parents were awful and cruel, and again something that nobody should ever have to go through. This story like so many others is proof of the change that needs to happen in the United States so that people get the help they should instead of being treated in such an unjust and unethical manner.
Graphic: Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Toxic relationship
There is parental loss in this book. It's not death, but it's loss nonetheless so I did content warn it for grief. There wasn't an option for parental loss or loss of a parent though.
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