Reviews

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A New Journey Through Anxiety by Sarah Wilson

vickksx's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

iamannemarshall's review against another edition

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Couldn’t get into it

cliophate's review against another edition

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3.0

A decent read at first, but after a while, it just felt too long. Too much randomness and jumping through autobiographical parts for my liking. Good message, but I had to skip a few pages to get through.

kirkreads's review against another edition

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

batsyxgirl's review against another edition

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5.0

honestly one of the best books about anxiety that i’ve ever read. i highly recommend this to anyone struggling with anxiety or have a loved one who struggles with it.

hisopa's review against another edition

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

There were some good tips, mixed in with a lot of life experience.

purplelalaland's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

Everyone's anxiety manifests differently, so I expected mileage to vary. I didn't think this book would 100% match the experience of my loved one, but I read the book with the intention of getting a better understanding of what anxiety might look like for others and any strategies that might be helpful. For the parts that didn't 100% align, I found the book to be a bit slow. Upon finishing the book, I realized that majority of the strategies that were suggested to manage anxiety were the exact same strategies that are recommended for anyone feeling an overwhelming amount of negative emotions (i.e., frustration, worry, sadness). I also found it very validating to hear that the onus really is on the anxious person to figure out how loved ones can support. It is not our responsibility to help manage someone else's anxiety.

Overall, I felt this was a helpful book to read on my journey to understanding anxiety better.

leasummer's review against another edition

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3.0

2.5 stars - This book has good nuggets that I underlined and starred. There’s things I could relate to that made me think “yes!” Maybe about 50-75 pages of useful anxiety info.
There’s also a lot of junk. A LOT. Some of it seems irresponsibly given out. She tells you a lot to get off sugar - and check out her books and program to help you, which seems disingenuous at best, slimy at worst.
I also found her really unlikeable, making the book harder to get through. It’s hard to ignore the gross privilege she has (“oh the poor African kids again”).
It is more of a memoir than an anxiety self help book. It was in need of a good editor - which is interesting because she talks about her editor as a character in the book repeatedly, so maybe she just didn’t take her editor’s advise.
I would only recommend this to critical thinkers who have experienced anxiety for a bit and can suss out the crap advice and just grab on to the meaningful bits.
Listened to half, read half.

chiaralestino's review against another edition

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emotional reflective relaxing medium-paced

3.5

yearlylists's review against another edition

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1.0

DNF @ 59%, and possibly my first 1-star review?!

I just haven’t picked this book back up. I thought it would be more about how to face your anxiety, instead it’s basically a biography about the author.. bit disappointed