Reviews tagging 'Death'

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

32 reviews

bookbrig's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

I learned a lot from this relatively short audiobook, but it wasn't quite what I expected. Which is my own fault for not reading a summary first, but for other readers have a heads up that there's a lengthy dive into eugenics that is well reported and interesting, but heavier than I was anticipating from the cover. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Racism

Minor: Suicide attempt and Infidelity

readingjaunt's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Racism

Minor: Infidelity and Self harm

justkellyann's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Death, Child death, and Medical trauma

Minor: Xenophobia and Rape

inthemoonlight's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I genuinely have no words for much this impacted me. It is truly beautifully and completely done. 

My only warning would be to look at any trigger warnings if that's something that would impact you. I personally went in blind, not even knowing what it was about, and did not realize how dark things would be. Vital to talk about, but still potentially triggering nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Genocide, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Rape, Child death, and Physical abuse

fridayreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Misogyny, Alcohol, Death, Slavery, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Addiction

whatannikareads's review against another edition

informative reflective sad fast-paced

2.75

nooooooot y’all tricking me into reading about a eugenicist!!

i’m a mixed bag of emotions about this book. after about halfway through i think the first half of the book was completely unnecessary/a different book altogether. i fell asleep quite a few times during the first half. the second half was much more interesting, but i kept getting whiplash on the organization of it; we kept switching from history to memoir to social science. i don’t feel the memoir section was expanded enough to be super engaging. the connection between the writer and david star jordan, aside from her research of him, felt like a reach. i think if she has developed her story more, or just made it a completely separate book, it could’ve been more enjoyable. the whole book could’ve just been 3 different articles tbh. it felt like reading a really long op-ed and i don’t think ot should’ve been a book tbh.

also again, i don’t know if talking about how shitty his beliefs were in the second half made up for how nicely he was portrayed in the first half?? it was just very clearly not written by a person of color lol. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Ableism

librarymouse's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

About a third of the way through this book, having googled David Starr Jordan, I was ready to finish this, as a hate reader if need be. Jordan was, without question, a horrible man. The atrocities he inflicted upon the world with his promotion of eugenics outweigh any good he may have done as a scientist by multiple orders of magnitude. Seeing Lulu Miller's hero worship of the man was off-putting, the more I learned of him. However, I ended up really enjoying this book as I read on, as Miller explores her own life alongside Jordan's, she brings along the reader. We learn of the atrocities he's committedin the same order she did while conducting the research for this book. It's still hard to have the hero worship of the young Jordan, with his love of stars and rescy jokes, when faced with the knowledge of his role in the American Eugenics movement.

Jordan's hands-on malicious acts, like his touring endorsement of eugenics and the possible murder by poison of his benefactor are completely bonkers. I am constantly amazed that people Revere him, while simultaneously understanding, as I, too have been in awe of the young man he once was.

This book breaks down every facet of Jordan, from his political, religious, and social beliefs; to his family life, addressing each idiosyncrasy with data driven research.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Grief, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Racism, Child death, and Homophobia

erictb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Death and Racism

Minor: Rape

magpienicky's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Confinement, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Grief, Death, and Child death

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!

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Death and Child death