Reviews tagging Addiction

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, by Alicia Elliott

20 reviews

eve81's review against another edition

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challenging funny informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


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remimicha's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75


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ltulisiak's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This was a fascinating and heartbreaking essay about discrimination, abuse, mental health, racism, and family dynamics. There were several sections of this essay that were incredibly educational for me, a cis, hetero, white woman who grew up in a very safe, wealthy, and supported environment. Other sections of this book- especially those tackling mental health- resonated with me and helped me to look introspectively about my relationship with myself and with others and how it impacts my mental health. I would highly recommend this essay! 

Additionally, the author is originally from Buffalo, NY, and was partially raised in the greater Cleveland, OH, area, so I felt a geographical connection with her, as well. 

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gnosila's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

In this series of essays, Elliot fluidly blends memoir with data to discuss her experiences with mental health, abuse, and poverty in the context of the systemic abuse and genocide perpetrated against indigenous people in the US and Canada. The essays are both  thought-provoking and informative.

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raelin's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

What a great book. 

This book covers so many categories, since each chapter is written almost as a stand alone essay then grouped together to make one book that does tie every chapter together into a cohesive work. It is masterfully done. 

All people represented in this work are dimensional humans, with several different facets. Her mother isn’t just a bipolar religious fanatic. Her father isn’t just an alcoholic abuser. They are also caring, loving, supportive parents. This is how real people are, but not often how people are captured in the written word. The beautiful contradictions that fill our relationships with people are so accurately described. 

This book is so much more than memoir. It is also history, inspires self reflection (by directly asking the reader to answer hard questions about their perspective), insight into the writing process, commentary on social media, self persecution, and so much more. 

A definite must read for everyone that can handle the content warnings. 

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nicolejlevy's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5


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sofiareadings's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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remib's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5


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mscalls's review against another edition

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challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0


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biancafrancisco's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Through a very personal narrative - using herself, her family and her nation as examples - the author touches upon more themes than I can mention, connecting bridges between a myriad of crucial societal issues, always leading back to the macro vision of the effect of capitalism, colonialism and the action of the state on people, while simultaneously making us keep checking our prejudices.

The book teaches you a lot about the issues indigenous communities and individuals struggle with (most that were imposed on them by colonizers), and how not only they are still dealing with and trying to heal from the very real and tangibly present damage this legacy of colonialism and genocide has transfered through generations, but are simultaneously dealing with modern versions of the same violence nowadays. 

I was surprised to see, that through the connections she makes between several systemic structures, there was much for me to relate to as well. I'm an immensely priviledged white european, but I'm still a woman, I'm still a daughter, I'm still bound by the constraints of capitalism and the patriarchy as well as witness to intergenerational trauma, to mention a few, and, in the end, you can't accurately assess any structural issue without it intertwining with the others.

All in all, I recommend it to literally everyone, as I think there's learning opportunities in this book for all of us. I'm extremely glad I picked it up. 

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