Reviews tagging 'Racism'

I pesci non esistono by Lulu Miller

93 reviews

garfguy7's review against another edition

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 

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Alcohol

ehmannky's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

I truly did not know what to expect with this book, but on the whole I thought it was a fine memoir/biography with a little bit of science sprinkled in. I don't think it's particularly mindblowing and I think it's definitely overhyped, but overall it was fine. I didn't know anything about David Star Jordan, and now know he was an awful eugenicist (and honestly odd to sort of have that be a Big Reveal when it's in the intro paragraph to his wikipedia page) who probably had Jane Stanford murdered for rightfully trying to get him to face consequences. The best parts of the book are Miller's interviews with survivors of the sterilization program and the bit about taxonomy at the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Murder

imogenclendinning's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Forced institutionalization

grey_jayne's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

I think the hype got to me on this one. It's good but I found it too meandering from the central premise at times. I did enjoy listening to it read by the author tho...and how she shared her queerness. Worth checking out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Police brutality

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. 

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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

alexandryareads's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Racism, Medical content, and Medical trauma

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: Death, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Infidelity and Suicide attempt

readingpicnic's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

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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

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, Racism, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Suicide attempt

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

fridayreads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

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