Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, by T Kira Madden

5 reviews

jackelz's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective

T Kira Madden was born to a single Chinese, Kānaka Maoli (Hawaiian) mother and a Jewish father who was married to someone else at the time. Even though her father divorced his first wife and married Madden's mother when the author was still quite young, he was absent from her life — hence the title, which also nods to the death of her father in early 2016. Both of Madden's parents were, in fact, absent in different ways throughout her youth, largely due to addiction. 

 

She stood out in her private school and was bullied for her appearance; she was the horse girl who had a back brace, headgear, braces; she was called "Kinky Chinky,” and she lived in extravagance with her designer shoe-brand name. 

 At times the stories seem random, and the book wasn’t formatted like a traditional memoir. There isn’t much of a lesson to learn from her experiences, but I understood her longing for connection. Her childhood was absolutely wild, and me being the same age as her, there was a lot that felt familiar. 

 

Madden holds nothing back in these pages. It's a story about trauma and forgiveness, reckoning with her queer and biracial identity, about families of blood and affinity. Part 3 was my favorite and I could read a book just about that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Rape, Sexual assault, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Xenophobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Death of parent, and Grief

shewantsthediction's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Racial slurs, and Racism

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy

dianna_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, and Grief

bookishcori's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was a really interesting memoir. Madden reflects on her identity, her childhood and the instability of her family life in such a raw and honest way. She tells her story through essays and fragments rather than a linear narrative. I sometimes wasn't completely sure where a chapter was going but the writing is fantastic and always kept me hooked. While I tend to prefer memoirs with a more traditionally cohesive narrative, the conclusion of this was really powerful and brought the rest of it together for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship