Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

I am Not Myself These Days by Josh Kilmer-Purcell

8 reviews

overlap's review against another edition

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medium-paced

4.5

This book is definitely one of its time and contains more ableism and racism than I really expected, but I think its writing shines through and the story is extremely compelling

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katreena's review against another edition

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emotional funny medium-paced

3.5

I really mixed feelings about this one.
The author is clearly racist and ableist and does little to hide. However a very big theme this memoir is that he is not a good person. It's a very raw retelling of his time moving to New York to perform as a drag queen. The story is heavily centered around an abusive relationship with an escort. The author does NOT sugarcoat the experiences or his own involvement with drug use, club culture, hookup culture, escort culture and the bad things be did in them. 

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l_kernberg's review

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3.0


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olivejuice04's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad medium-paced

3.0

I finished this and felt nothing. It was like going through a complicated point in your life and moving on without having any emotional connection to the memory. I felt as empty as the narrator’s reaction to everything around them. I’m not sure if that’s the author’s intention or if it’s just bad writing. Maybe we as readers were meant to feel as disconnected as Aqua felt. Other than that the racial jokes were uncomfortable and unnecessary. I don’t know how to feel about this book, maybe I’ll re-read it in the future and come back with a new perspective. 

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aoifemarie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0


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chacepaulson's review against another edition

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5.0


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karenaerts's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.5


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hela's review

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dark funny medium-paced

0.25

I don’t really like giving low ratings to memoirs because it’s someone’s life story, but this one had some real flaws I think should be noted for anyone thinking about picking it up. The story focused on the author, his addictions, his partner, and his addictions. It was quite dark and graphic despite the comedic way it was written (which felt somewhat forced and fell flat for me). The story felt really repetitive from even before the halfway point; the writing felt like an anecdote the author had used too many times. But where it really lost me was when he was preparing for a trip to Japan, and he (a caucasian author) started mocking the Japanese accent for like three pages of dialogue. If I wasn’t reading it for a bookclub, I would have stopped right there and not finished it.  

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