Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

3 reviews

stevia333k's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

3.5

usually I consider Adrienne Rich references to be an immediate DNF & didn't do so this time because it was only cited as an inspiration at the very end. In fact, the blurb my library gave in retrospect is basically trying to spin the Andrienne Rich influence -- that being said, besides some squicks, it was decent.

So this is by an author who wanted to challenge expectations about works written by indigenous authors. (I didn't pick up on how besides various marketable narratives -- i mean this in the way that both karl marx & the austrian school of economics are considered "controversial".)

Anyways, I read the book on the basis of family building & decolonization. The part about forgiveness being done in ceremonies instead of the white idea of "letting go", especially since I've struggled with that colonial dynamic too, except as a white settler I didn't have established ceremonies for context.

Admittedly I was kind of indifferent to the poetics I guess. The intersections were interesting enough.

in the interview at the end, there's 2 notes about influences on this book that the author mentions that explained the squicks I had with this book: 
- the bible (which went over my head because I'm not a Christian), 
- and Adrienne Rich (I already returned my copy of this book to the library & it was an audiobook, but the way the word "man" was used felt heteronormative & that "patriarchal" could've worked better. Like I think I figured it out via like argument from analogy with like settler vs indigenous & the fact she's mainly talking about 1 man in particular, but the lack of precision felt suspicious to me, and it turned out I was right.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Colonisation

mikki_9's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Incest, Self harm, Terminal illness, and Pregnancy

Minor: Medical content, Abortion, and Sexual harassment

booksbutmakeitgay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Alcohol