Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Down the Drain by Julia Fox

111 reviews

mindforbooks's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous fast-paced

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What a wild ride. I mean she really is, so Julia! 

There really is an awful lot to unpack when it comes to Julia Fox. To be honest I didn't know who she was until the Kayne relationship, I'm not really a follower of most pop culture things but even I couldn't miss the impact this very short relationship had on the zeitgeist. 

So when her memoir came to my attention I though this would be an interesting look at how Julia Fox became Julia Fox a kind of icon. I had no idea the rollercoaster I was about to embark on. I'm not really sure you can prepare for something like Down the Drain. 

First up, with the chaotic way she was raised, I almost feel like she didn't have a chance at having any kind of stable life. Her parents marriage was so toxic and so insane that she must have been in survival mode as soon as she could cogitate. Her father seemed chaotic and ill equipped to look after a child, but at times it did seem like he really cared for her. Her mother on the other hand seemed to dislike her daughter and was totally unsupportive of almost everything Julia did, in fact at times it seemed like she enjoyed when things weren't working out for her. Now, we are only getting Julia's side of the story so can she be a reliable narrator? I still feel like there may be more truth in her memories of her relationship with her mother than not though. Everything about how she grew up feels traumatic and I think that trauma presents itself as a lot of self destructive behavior! 

I don't think all her behavior was self destructive, I think some was because of her ADHD and likely bipolar disorder, and some is just her personality and her personality is big, I mean people are clearly drawn to her, there is a reason she becomes THE Julia Fox! 

Her self destructive behavior seems to come out in the form of indiscriminate drug use and attraction to the absolute worst kind of men. From the grown ass man in Italy who took her virginity in a public place when she was 14, or getting involved with a drug dealer who declared his undying love to her the day they met and went on to control every aspect of her life, and is absolutely the reason she had her first big spiral and ended up running away and having missing posters posted of her everywhere. Missing posters with the wrong information on them, which really highlighted how checked out her parents were.  

The fact that her parents didn't know basic information about their daughter was particularly heartbreaking, and even though I really wish she left Ace sooner, I also totally understood her wanting to punish them by not returning home. I mean if they couldn't give enough of a shit about her to know her date of birth or eye colour, why would you voluntarily go back to that? 

Her relationship with Ace was a disaster though, as was her relationship with Shane, and her Sugar Daddy (who developed a friendship with her mother for some fucking reason), and her husband and goddess love her, she just couldn't catch a break when it came to the men she fell hard for! 

 

What she did have though was a lot of found family, some of those relationships might not of been the healthiest but they weren't as violent as the ones she had with the men in her life and the ones who stuck really stuck. 

It turns out, the month long relationship Julia Fox had with Kayne West is actually the least interesting thing about Julia Fox. She is unapologetically herself and sometimes that doesn't work out so well and she ends up in very unsafe situations, like drug overdoses, and sometimes it leads her to amazing opportunities, like being in blockbuster movies. 

 

I highly recommend reading this book if you want to read a memoir that is utterly chaotic and as a result difficult to put down. She has had a crazy life thus far, a few close calls, but hopefully things will be a bit more stable for her and her son in the future and she will continue to be a rising star! 

 

I will say one thing that is probably not a healthy trait in a person but I kind of loved about Julia is her panache for revenge! Oh boy, she would give people a chance to do right, like the Dominatrix in the Dungeon she worked in, and when they inevitably didn't take that chance Julia would go full scorched earth. A good idea? Probably not! It made me like her more though! :D 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

jamiebear's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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Wild ride from start to finish! I liked how creative she was with her writing in it, she’s a talented storyteller and writer! Dating Kanye is literally the least interesting thing about her and it was the only thing I knew before going in. I can understand why she swore off men. I lived when she talked about all her friendships with women. Her life is inspiring and heartbreaking 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship

juliebergmann's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark inspiring sad fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Grief, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Islamophobia, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Car accident, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment

Minor: Confinement, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Abortion, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic

readastorywithtory's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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This is absolutely coo coo bananas. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic

definitely_bs's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief

heirloomtomato's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense fast-paced

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julia fox is that gorwwwwl, i love her she’s been through the absolute ringer

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Stalking, Gaslighting, Abandonment

the_bookbabe's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark fast-paced

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Amazing, fast pace constantly surprised

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship

Moderate: Eating disorder

Very good but if sensitive to drugs/sex/suicidal tendencies, I would skip

thursdd4y's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Grief, Stalking, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse

Minor: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Vomit, Abortion, Death of parent, Deportation

_rileyroo_'s review against another edition

4.25

dark reflective fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol

roxanne_blythe's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

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Reading the vignettes of Julia Fox’s life was giving me emotional whiplash. I’m sure that’s how she intended it, because if I lived a life that she has lived, I don’t know how I would come out. I really truly hope that she is taking care of herself and has a community of supporters behind her because wow,  what a life.

The amount of trauma and abuse that this girl has been through from such a young age all the way through adulthood. Obviously the things that she has been through no person should go through, especially from such a young age.


My very first memoir and it was a masterpiece 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship

Moderate: Eating disorder, Suicide attempt

Minor: Abortion