Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

82 reviews

readingpicnic's review

5.0

Stellar audiobook performance, and an incredible writing style unlike any I've encountered before. I love unabashedly honest memoirs, especially those that dip into the weird and messy. I think that I judged this book by its cover and expected it to be soft poetry, but it was shocking, flagrant, in-your-face storytelling with a poetic flare that I could not put down. I felt like a kitten being carried around by the scruff of my neck listening to this while my mother cat runs down a treacherous path, enjoying the ride but also being like ahhhhh!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

bear_ridge_tarot's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective

4.5

 The memoir of a powerful Indigenous woman’s coming of age in the Pacific Northwest. It is a weaving of grief, trauma, abuse, and the complexities of being Native told in such a way that makes the reader feel it all. I listened to this on audiobook narrated by Rainy Fields and could not have been more enthralled with the flow of the story. The struggles of mental health, combined with post-traumatic stress disorder, lends weight to the book which is already heavy with emotion. 

Rainy Fields narrates this with compassion and passion. The tone was perfection, invoking every emotion with perfection. It made the experience more heartfelt than if I’d only read the novel. The rawness of this stream-of-consciousness type story is a type of perfection that cannot come from something more polished. It tells the story of a miserable life, yes, but one that also includes survival and a unique understanding of the inner landscape that isn’t easy to earn. When you read a memoir, especially one penned by the subject, it tends to be neutral in judgment, or even overly flattering. That is not the case with Heart Berries. It is a cathartic, brutally honest telling of a life lived. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Self harm, and Alcohol

Minor: Incest and Abortion

blueyballoon's review against another edition

dark emotional informative medium-paced

i loved this even though it was hard to follow sometimes and there were things i didn’t fully understand. but i think that’s the point of this book. as a white woman who has not experienced the even remotely close to the same psychological trauma Mailhot did, i am simply meant to sit with her scattered writing from the mental health institution and take in bits and pieces of her native language. this memoir serves as a window into the mind of an Indian woman who has experienced horrific things and been treated like she was worth nothing. some chapters were just heartbreaking, but this book was incredible and i would absolutely recommend it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Eating disorder

lady_epoh's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

hannahbee_97's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

5.0

This was a powerful memoir, not an easy listen, but certainly a worthwhile one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

shewasreadergrl's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This book was heartbreaking and heart broken. Beautiful, honest prose.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

theboricuabookworm's review against another edition

Gripping and raw. The lyrical way Mailhot writes about pain and trauma and grief will leave you gasping.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

leweylibrary's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

I'm struggling to rate this one because I don't feel like I have adequate words to do so?

I struggled with the format--or lack thereof really--and the audiobook narrator. I actually got like 35% through and then had to restart it waaaaay slower because I was finding myself missing things and not paying attention. I definitely think I would've done better with it reading it physically, there are just way too many poetic moments and literary devices at work for me to track on audio. I'm grateful for the Q&A style afterwords because it did clear up some of what the author was attempting to do. Like I now have a greater appreciation for the work she put into making her writing seem simple and punchy when while reading it, it mostly just felt jarring and hard to follow or stay invested in. 

The topics covered are obviously intense. Big trigger warnings for a lot. Covering them is absolutely vital to her story, though, and her journey towards reconciliation and healing.

Overall, I can tell it was brilliant, it just wasn't totally for me in this format. And that's okay and doesn't detract from the skill it took to write it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

carnimdream's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Violence, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Chronic illness and Abortion

akgrantmatz's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

3.25

I don't know if this style is for me. The prose is incredible, and the story, anger, and honesty are important. But the brutal honesty and lack of a sense of Terese as a person almost reads to me as dehumanizing. The substance of the book is difficult, but the voice is uncomfortable.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Pregnancy