Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden

26 reviews

megwilli's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Racial slurs, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Rape

elliott_the_clementine's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring fast-paced

5.0

Update on 05.09.2024: I did not reread this book for a long time in fear that it would not be as powerful the second time around. It was an unfounded concern. Beautiful once again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Moderate: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

Minor: Ableism and Body shaming

mallorypen's review

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

3.0

This was a tough book to read. The sexual abuse, the way the author’s parents made choices that had horrible impacts on their family, and the overarching ache of loss … yeah, this was really tough to read.

However, I did like the stylistic choices of how the story was told. Each chapter/section felt like a mini-essay; the book as a whole was a collection of memories, told much in the way I remember things from my own life, as their own beats that don’t need to be connected to the memories around them to make one cohesive story.

Overall, I didn’t enjoy this book - it was too painful for that. But I connected with the author and her story in a real way, and all I want is to give her a big hug and hope she feels included and loved exactly where she is now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

 - Am I the last queer person on earth to read LONG LIVE THE TRIBE OF FATHERLESS GIRLS? Maybe. Am I glad I finally did it? My goodness, yes.
- This book is incredible. Madden is detailing some horrific events, and yet this book is so tender, both toward her younger self and her family.
- At first I wasn't sure about the vignette style of storytelling, with all the jumping around in time. I'm glad I stuck with it, though, because the way Madden's story unwinds at the end of the book is spectacular. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

betsygrace's review

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Infertility, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

moongirlfriend's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Sexual assault

Moderate: Bullying, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Lesbophobia

jackelz's review

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

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

shewantsthediction's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Infidelity

Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy

aleesquer's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Medical content, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Biphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

jourdanicus's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

Wow wow wow. I don't usually give star ratings to memoirs because it feels unfair but this book deserves all the stars, plus I need a way to mark it to stand out from others I've read this year. Because it did, does, and will stand out. I was so emotionally moved and cried so hard through some parts of this book. The parts about finding long lost family members really touched me because I've had similar experiences.

The quality, tone, vocabulary of the writing here... It's just so good. I heard someone else (on a podcast probably) describe T Kira Madden's writing as lyrical and I can't disagree. This was such a powerful read for me and I'm sure I'll come back to thinking about it for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment