Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

8 reviews

david_slack110507's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

It feels weird to give this a rating considering that this is actually based off of Britney's life in the same way that it was weird to give a rating to I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, but I feel like while this memoir from one of pop's most influential figures did have the insight that was promised, it wasn't the best structured which is what brought it down for me. 

Before reading this, I had previously known very little about Britney's life other than being one of the most successful artists in the past few decades as well as being in an abusive conservatorship that was eventually exposed to the mass media through the #FreeBritney movement (which Britney acknowledges in this book as being one of the things that kept her going in the fight for full control over her life) so this memoir was very insightful into the tumultuous life of Spears and how it all started from a very young age. Ranging from her family life being unsafe and toxic to using music, dancing, and acting to escape that home life only for those escapes to be poisoned with issues too. 

The early and later years in Spears' music career and spotlight in the media really showed how cruel the media can be to those in the spotlight and how this can take various methods from asking deeply personal questions, to sexualising Britney, to harassing her when she was obviously not in the mental space and state to actually deal with everything and much more. Memoirs in particular are very good at exposing how much the media got away with (and continues to do so in some instances) in their treatment of celebrities, particularly women and other minorities, in the earlier years of modern media and I hope that like many other memoirs that spotlight and criticise these issues, Britney's story will help lessen the likelihood for more stories like hers for future stars. 

My main issue with this memoir is how it was structured, some parts felt fully explained and in detail while others were less detailed and so there was often a sporadic movement between years that threw me off slightly and made me a little confused as to when a certain event was happening or what family member Spears was referring to due to having only mentioned them at the beginning of the book or a brief description in the midst of a big and important event in her life. 

Overall, I'm so glad that Britney is free of her conservatorship and can actually live her life rather than having her life dictated for her like how it was for so long and I wish her all the best when it comes to rebuilding herself slowly from the insurmountable damage caused by her family's control over her. This was such an important story to tell and one that deserved to be told and so I'm glad that Britney finally felt ready to share her story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Abortion, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Confinement, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Bullying

Minor: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Drug use, Addiction, and Adult/minor relationship

dianaschmidty's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

5.0

#FreeBritney 
This poor girl. After reading this, I hate parts of our legal system even more than I already did!

Also, if you love pop culture, especially the music industry in the early 2000s, you’ll be as fascinated by the first half of the book as I was!

This book is just proof that most men suck. Especially rich ones.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Abortion, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Confinement, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, and Torture

Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Medical trauma, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Medical content

sakisreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

I was DESPERATE to read this and I am glad I did. Britney Spears has been in our lives forever and I knew this was going to be a challenging read, but I’m glad to have read it 🥲
Britney has gone through a lot, regardless of her conservatorship. There was the consistent sexualisation of her, alongside with the simultaneous ‘sin-free’ image she had to provide, which wasn’t easy by any means. Her also being the ‘villain’ during her and Justin’s breakup/during her divorce/during her very difficult mental health journey was highly unhelpful too. 

Despite all of this, Britney manages to convey her very happy, Britney self to the world. This book is a true testament to her and how hard she has worked ❤️
👏🏼 LEAVE 👏🏼 BRITNEY 👏🏼 ALONE 👏🏼 

4 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Adult/minor relationship

emiliamaria76's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Torture, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

leilapeach's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Abortion, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Bullying

Minor: Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Eating disorder, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Bullying, Grief, Infidelity, and Blood

amy1608's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Car accident, and Miscarriage

abiofpellinor's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

3.0

I had thought about picking this up in Non-Fiction November as an audiobook, but when I grabbed it and realised it was under 6 hours long I decided to just smash it out today while I was at work. This is a really interesting memoir, Spears definitely keeps some stuff to herself but I feel like after everything she's been through that's more than fair. I hope she finally finds some freedom in her life now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Addiction, Body shaming, Confinement, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Domestic abuse

v_neptune's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Body shaming, Car accident, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, and Toxic relationship