Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

14 reviews

garfguy7's review

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

this was wonderful. genuinely so INTERESTING - but yes, as a fan of radiolab i can say the pacing and tone was kind of an odd replica. there’s a bit of millennial humour but not enough to be noticeably annoying. i was captivated by the idea that fish don’t actually exist about a year ago, but didn’t delve into it. this book makes me want to pursue marine biology seriously. maybe i’ll have more to say about this later but i do wanna say: i think the author waited so long to reveal that jordan was a eugenicist to illustrate her point without giving us a bad preconceived notion about the guy. the point is that he engages in eugenics in a horrific attempt at controlling the “ladder” of supremacy as far as i can tell. it’s all about control and detrimental categorization, trying to make sense of things 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Infertility, Racism, Rape, and Classism

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Alcohol

rin_dawg's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

craftysnailtail's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

A challenging read, but also an important one. A story that ended up being about topics that I never would've expected based on the synopsis. Many of those topics were heavy and difficult, but I appreciated the way Miller wove them together. The novel felt raw and human in a way that really stuck with me, which was especially surprising with it being non fiction. Also loved how the audiobook ended. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

confuzzledsheep's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

2.0

If you are not a biologist, or even yet a Taxonomist, and want to reflect deeply on one's own sadness in the story of the author and David Starr Jordan, then this may be helpful for you. As a depressed biologist who's been long disillusioned with the myth of a Sole Genius Scientist and has already had many of the discussions within this book, I will rate it as passing. I found this book lacking in detail on David Starr Jordans life that I expected it to have- furter discussion of the problems with the Holotype model of taxonomy, the sheer brutality of scientific discovery during the time period. This book touches on those, but never gets as deep as it could. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Colonisation

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse

readingpicnic's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Sexual assault

Minor: Infidelity and Self harm

cornfusedsnow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Murder

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault

strawberrymoonceci's review against another edition

informative reflective

4.5

This was an incredibly interesting book. She paints such a vivid picture in all the scenes, even the ones she didn't witness. I was very curious about the name of the book, I was also curious about the importance of this taxonomist. It was a gripping read, fascinating really. The audiobook version is wonderful, and I found the little nugget included at the end so heartwarming. This definitely made me want to read more book about natural history.

I absolutely did not expect the plot twists to include murder and eugenics! I think it's very interesting how Robert Starr Jordan went from allegedly covering up a murder, feeling wracked with guilt about it, to making eugenics his new purpose in life. What an absolute monster. The book is a masterclass in how to write a villain. In the beginning you hear mostly praise for him, there are definitely criticisms but you can see the author choosing to focus in his great capacity for perseverance, only for it to take a dark change, and for him to end up being responsible for the death, torture and mutilation (amongs other things) of tens of thousands in the US alone. Also, the US was the first country to make eugenics into national law. Which is so interesting considering the national narrative about it role in WW2. Not the least surprising though. I am surprised at how engaging this book was, considering I didn't like the author at all. Her writing is great, but she did not pass the vibe check. Also, fish dont exist as a category, that's the answer to the title. And Robert Starr Jordan can suck on that!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Infertility, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Child death and Death

toffishay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I could not have guessed that I would be adding another 5-star reading at the tail end of the year. But each page of this book brought me new insight, new pain, new joy. And in another sense, it was nothing new. We are faced with our own lives and our natural world and we take what we can get. The writing is intense and thoughtful. It afforded me some additional perspective about the world around us and made me want to learn more about nature. And it made me cry!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Racism, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Infidelity, Grief, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and War

aspenpastore's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Incredible 5 star book! just gonna leave those here and filling my favorite quotes in a few. The book version of repeatedly getting the rug pulled out from under me. go read it... it's a quick one!

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical trauma

audieverde's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

Took awhile to get into and I never knew where it was going, which I realized was part of the chaos and the point of the book. Once I was in it, I could not stop , and it sent me down numerous research rabbit holes.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Rape, Suicide, and Religious bigotry