Scan barcode
Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'
Forager: Field Notes for Surviving a Family Cult by Michelle Dowd
22 reviews
friedfae's review against another edition
2.5
Graphic: Chronic illness
Moderate: Child abuse
map415's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
apairofducks's review
5.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death and Cancer
abijmieds's review against another edition
Graphic: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal death
rkanderton's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Torture
harperphillips96's review against another edition
2.75
Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Abandonment
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
momokomoon94's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Animal death
daniandsn's review
4.75
As I eat from the earth, I consecrate what I devour, because there is still some wild left in me, and even darkness can be a gift. We are made of recovery
Stunning in writing, Michelle tells the story of how she grew up and escaped from her family cult. This story is harrowing, challenging, but told in breathtaking detail. We follow the inner thoughts of her as an intelligent young girl trying to make sense of the world around her that tells her children and women alike are not meant to be heard, special, or have opinions of their own. Neglected by even her own mother, who refuses to get too attached to any of her children in case God asks her to sacrifice them, Michelle instead is cared for by the Mountain and its sustaining plants.
Forager is about the trials of abuse Michelle faced as a child, as well as a story of her coming to terms with what it means to be a woman, and the fear that is attached to it in a hyper-patriarical religious cult.
She tells me I am growing up, that I am becoming a woman. And then she tucks me into bed, like I am a little girl.
It is also the story of trying and failing to control and understand her own body, through diet, connection to the mountain, or having moments where she dissacociates to protect herself.
We don't bring water, not because Dad wants us to learn to find it within the plants, but because he wants us to suffer the pains of thirst and be humbled, to know only the Lord our God can save us.
I did wish the book went into more details about her escape and living off of the land. Parts of it felt rushed, a chapter sometimes jumping ahead years.
I would absolutely read more by this author. She has a beautiful writing voice and told a deeply vulnerable story about pain and resilience.
Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
erica_reads01's review against another edition
2.5
Unfortunately, this book didn’t deliver. I don’t want to take anything away from the author and her real life experiences because I’m sure it was difficult and traumatic. But I don’t feel that the experience comes across authentically or in a way that dives deeper into what happened and why and how it affected her in present day. She narrates the audiobook which felt unnatural to me. Her cadence and delivery felt upbeat and energetic and didn’t match the words she was speaking. I think it may have been more impactful if narrated by someone else or if I had read the book myself instead of listening.
I understand her desire to protect the privacy of her family, but I think some more context as to how and why this cult formed would have been helpful to the story. I found it difficult to follow the timeline since everything was told in present tense and she jumped around a bit so it wasn’t told chronologically. I wish there had been more emotional story telling rather than surface level information. The field notes read like a scientific journal. Her explanation of how her mother taught her skills that helped her to escape is an interesting way to look at it, but could’ve been further explained. She was being taught things that seem counterintuitive and contradictory to what she was being forced to endure. I enjoyed hearing her interpretations of the Bible and how being raised to know how to survive in any situation was how she realized she could survive outside of that life and be better off. Of course she’s an author now and said she has a family of her own, and she was able to communicate with her mother later in life as her mom was dying. I would have liked more of her thoughts now sprinkled in as she reflected on what happened to her as a child. Rather than just listing things that happened to her and not saying much more. She said in an interview that her life after she left and how she learned to acclimate to the wider world could be a whole book on its own. I think this book would’ve been more effective if she had brought some of that into it.
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape
alyssagb's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Religious bigotry
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Panic attacks/disorders