Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

552 reviews

cmlalonde's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, and Car accident

pasupapare's review against another edition

challenging sad fast-paced

I can't give this a rating. So heartbreaking and especially sad knowing how little has changed in the world

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Stalking

Minor: Miscarriage

boba_nbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Spice Rating: 🫑 / 5 🌶️

What a gut-wrenching story told from a prominent celebrity voice. Britney was a staple in so many peoples' lives, and I'm so glad she's finally speaking up.

Britney Spears is a household name today, but in this memoir, Britney speaks on her humble beginnings and how she got to celebrity status. Though she has been through so much, Britney still has her faith, humor, and good heart.

The Woman in Me had me laughing and tearing up within the same chapter. It just goes to show that if we put our minds to it, we can truly be unbreakable. I have even more respect for Britney after reading her memoir and am so proud of her for what she has accomplished and where she's at today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Abortion

Moderate: Body shaming, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Minor: Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Pandemic/Epidemic

zesha's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

 C – I can’t really speak for the credibility of this book. It feels trustworthy to me, and that’s about all I can go off of. But because of that, this book leaves me deeply sad and angry for Britney. She was wronged in so many ways, most of all by her own family. 

A – I feel this book is authentic. It brings what Britney felt, and probably contradicts her mom’s and sister’s books that they put out. I may try to find and read those sometime, just to see what they say. But only if I can find them through the library or somewhere free—I refuse to give money to either of them. 

W – The writing felt really good to me, easy to read and it flowed well. It kind of reminded me of how I write, so perhaps that’s why I like it so much. 

P – There was… a lot in this book. It hit me hard. I had only known bits and pieces from the media, and we all know how the media loves to contort things. But this does show that sometimes, you have to fight for yourself. It might mean waiting until the right moment, but your own freedom is important to your mental health. 

I – I wanted to keep reading this book whenever I looked away from it, and often had to keep myself from going back to it because I knew I needed to sleep/do other things. 

L – I mean, the conservatorship didn’t make a bit of sense, but it happened anyway, didn’t it? Ridiculous. I’m just glad she managed to get out of it. Thirteen years though… 

E – Is “enjoy” the right word for this book? I learned a lot about Britney through it, but I’m not sure if I’d say I enjoyed learning those things. But I do feel like I understand her better now, so for that I’ll give her high marks. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Sexual assault

elisereadsbigbooks's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Gaslighting

Minor: Miscarriage and Suicide

This book contains curse words.

liezie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, and Abortion

mamasuereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

I listened to the audio for a  fable read along.  I really did not know much about Britney Spears life, other than what was in the news at the time.   Her story is like a nightmare and I can only hope she finds a very good psychologist/therapist and a mentor to help Britney love and respect herself, first and foremost.  It seems she has lived her life without being given any credit for her personal talent, strength, and kind heart.  She's spent a lifetime giving to a toxic family and other toxic relationships, now it's time for her to love self first and respect the beautiful woman she is, inside and out. I'd also change my last name. Just the name alone holds negativity.  I look forward to Britney creating an awesome new life with many milestones to come.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

weelasswithabook's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

5.0

CW: alcoholism, DV, suicide, mentiom of child loss, mention of car accident, CSA, mention of PPH, cheating, abortion, PPD, depression, anxiety, child removal by other parent, familial abuse, financial abuse, body shaming, diet control, mental health crisis, forced institutionalisation, gaslighting, manipulation, miscarriage 

🌟 Memoir 

God this was a difficult read. Right from the get-go it's just a heartbreaking perspective on Britney's life. Right from the beginning of her life she was exposed to suicide, death, and abuse. Just the content warning list above should give you an idea of just how sad this poor woman's life has been. 

Britney Spears was a staple of the majority of us elder Millennials childhoods and there's a sense of guilt there (at least how I feel) that we all just took her persona at face value and assumed her life was glitter and dreams. Obviously we weren't to know what was going on behind the curtain, but I don't think I'll ever hear certain songs of hers the same after reading this, now I see where some of the lyrics may have stemmed from. 

From a technical aspect, I've seen reviews complaining about the actual writing of the book, and I do agree it felt very juvenile, HOWEVER, this woman was basically trapped as a late teen for the majority of her life and had her voice stifled. It's only very recently that she's had her own life back and I don't think we should be too hard on her for the technicality of her writing. I think it's pretty unfair. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Abortion, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

alicelhonda's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, and Pregnancy

haleybre's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment