Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

27 reviews

mereileen's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol

stevie's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

spinesinaline's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

4.0

A book I’ve heard great things about. This is a very personal memoir, told by the author after a hospitalization and diagnosis of PTSD and bipolar disorder. Mailhot writes beautifully and painfully, but I do wonder about how personal some memoirs get — I’m assuming her husband would’ve consented to this writing but everything is on display in a very uncomfortable way. I’m certainly not a fan of his after this.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, and Alcohol

ejhints's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

melaniekarin's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

A memoir about love and loss inextricably tied to the author’s Indigenous identity.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Sexism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

rebeccaloosli's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

Stunning and powerful voice. Her story made my heart ache. I loved her brutal and raw honesty with herself and audience. The way she told her story was provocative and the language was beautifully spare - every sentence was purposeful and powerful. The trauma in this book is hard to read but handled so well by Mailhot’s masterful writing and insight. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity and Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and Abandonment

wellreadjill_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

jayisreading's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

It’s always hard to review a memoir, considering how personal it is. For me, at least, it is never the content of what the author chooses to share that is under review. It generally tends to drift towards execution of whatever story it is that they want to share. In the case of Heart Berries, I can tell how much care Mailhot put into sharing such vulnerable aspects of her life, having dealt with so much pain. Considering this, it was such a delight reading her acknowledgments and seeing the absolute joy and support she has for and from her loved ones.

Mailhot thoughtfully writes about various events that occurred during her lifetime, musings of being an Indigenous woman, and white society; all of which were told in a nonlinear fashion. On the note of white society, I found her description of self-esteem being a white invention really profound, especially with her conclusion that it seemed like “identity capitalism.” Mailhot’s comments on what forgiveness meant in her culture and white culture also left an impression on me; how the latter sees it as “letting go,” while the former rejects the idea of framing pain like a problem with a solution.

When it comes to structure, admittedly, I wasn’t a fan of the nonlinear approach at first, but I realized how well it worked in this situation, considering the ways memory and trauma work. These rarely unfold in chronological order and, at least to me, it started to make sense to have the book structured the way it was. The lyricism of Mailhot’s writing ebbed and flowed. The times lyricism didn’t come through, it felt very rough around the edges, but it almost felt intentional. After all, thoughts are never that clean. The narrative wasn’t always easy to follow (and the overall structure being nonlinear doesn’t help), but in a way, I think that challenge is needed and thoughtfully questions what a memoir should be and how they are structured.

Overall, I found this to be a powerful memoir with raw emotions, leaving much for the reader to contemplate in such a short span of pages.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Forced institutionalization

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

probably one of the most well-executed books i've ever read. such a particular, poignant writing style that's unflinching, blunt, but emotional. can definitely understand why people would give it a 5/5. this is more of a me problem if anything--the book has many unspoken pockets of underlying meanings that require big brain and time to really dive into and process, and my pea brain and lack of free time prevented me from really sitting with the pieces, so i don't think i absorbed as much information as intended. but there are really powerful sentences in here that stand alone in their quality.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Abandonment

planreadrepeat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, and Pregnancy