Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

What My Mother and I Don't Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence by Michele Filgate

24 reviews

klor's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

Picked this back up ahain after I DNF-ed earlier in the year because I wasn't quite ready for it. The book has a rich variety of stories and authors and I find myself particularly drawn to the more reflective and longform ones. I enjoyed Thesmophoria, 16 Minetta Lane, and the last three stories (Her Body/My Body, All About My Mother, and I Met Fear on the Hill). I also had a soft spot for The Same Story About my Mother. It's insightful how I can relate my relationship with my own mother spanning through various moments in various stories. A lot of these are heavy and talk well into traumas but also in how complex love and relationships are. I probably still won't recommend it to my mother, but it did make me want to get to know her more, complications and all.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

dtierra's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

juliaaaaa's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Rape

sjanke2's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

2.25

 

This collection started strong and waned from there. The ones I enjoyed are the only ones I remember (Alexander Chee and Alexander Chee). I wonder if each contributor got to pick the narrator who would read their piece, as I didn't care for a couple of the voices.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

mmccombs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

An emotional and insightful read. So many complex thoughts around mothers, motherhood, and what we owe to our mothers in being alive. I liked some essays more than others (Carmen Maria Machado and Brandon Taylor are my standouts again!! They keep doing collections together and it should definitely stay that way). A strong collection and such an intriguing theme binding these all together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

dsinocruz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Alcohol

mrselaineskinner's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

There are 15 essays in this anthology and I found almost all of them relatable.  The essays are written with a humility, honesty, and self reflection that are staggering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

shoohoob's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

4.5

I really liked this. It made me reflect on my own relationship with my mom, and how to be okay with where it is. The last essay in particular really hit home for me. I would love to see another volume of this with a few younger authors (more millennial or gen-z) because I sometimes found it hard to relate to the older authors. Overall, great read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

meemawreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

4.0

I hesitated to start 2022 with a post about a downer, but that’s not really what this book is. It contains immense pain - warnings for many mentions of suicidal ideation, substance use, and many kinds of abuse - but it also contains immense healing. Each person who contributed to this collection did hard healing work in order to be able to write about these estrangements and catastrophes. There’s also immense love and forgiveness in them. 
We put mothers on this pedestal… we make motherhood nearly compulsory but then dehumanize mothers so that if they’re not perfectly nurturing and perfectly selfless and perfectly content in motherhood, they’re monsters. I love the care many of these writers took to show understanding that their moms are just people, too. 
I don’t recommend this book generally but specifically: read only if you’re experienced holding strangers’ pain without harm to yourself. Four taters 🥔🥔🥔🥔/🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Grief

catandherbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use