Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Ask Me About My Uterus: A Quest to Make Doctors Believe in Women's Pain by Abby Norman

6 reviews

alyssatuininga's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

3.5

 

There were parts of this book that I loved but parts that seemed out of place for sure. The layout was odd, bumping around in time. I did like her humor and her writing style but I feel like this book needed a lot of editing.

I am not sure why she included the long story of her childhood and her mother's issues. I don't feel like it was relevant to the story, especially with the depth and detail it was told.

My biggest regret with this book is that it wasn't what I thought it was. It was marketed as a book about women's pain and the medical community. This book is an autobiography about one woman's journey through complex medical issues.

I really wish there had been more science and fewer long-drawn-out stories that didn't seem to have much to do with the topic. The ending was also very abrupt and felt unfinished.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

mccalab's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Vomit

smilagros's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

4.5✨

I listened to this on audio and then I decided to order the book on Pango. Reading this and highlighting made the entire experience really helpful. I do think that there were a lot of interesting facts about Endometriosis that I had no idea. What is really sad is that this book has so many similarities to my story. As I am getting ready to have my 4th surgery, this was a very interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, and Medical trauma

sammantha's review against another edition

emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This book is phenomenally written and so much more than I ever could have imagined. I’ve never dog-eared so many pages in my life. Highly recommend, especially to doctors and nurses. “I had never wanted to be right; I had only wanted to be well.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Miscarriage and Excrement

shewantsthediction's review

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

I didn't expect this book to go so deep into abuse, but I'm really glad it did. Emotional/physical neglect are so hard to put a finger on, but the way she described it made me feel so much less alone in my own childhood. I almost can't believe there's someone out there who had to "grow up" even faster than I did, with her being emancipated so young. Her audio narration reminded me quite a bit of the Youtuber bestdressed. The only thing I didn't really like about this book is she tended to ramble on too long, especially towards the end of the book, and referred to having sex for the first time as "losing her virginity." It was just a strange choice of words since she seemed so feminist in other respects. I was also quite curious about her autistic brother, but he was only briefly mentioned.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, and Medical trauma

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

 - Part memoir and part history of doctors dismissing "female problems," ASK ME ABOUT MY UTERUS is gripping and enraging. I'd wager that even if you don't have endometriosis in particular, you'll see your own experiences with the medical system reflected here (me. I did, it's me).
- Norman doesn't shy away from describing exactly what her pain - physical and emotional - feels like. This book is a tough read but I think many will find it cathartic to be seen on the page.
- Norman is careful to point out that not only women deal with uterine pain and illness, and also that not all women have uteruses, and the extra layer of fear and frustration this can add to trying to get diagnosis and treatment. She's also up front about how being straight, white, and cisgender framed her whole situation and afforded her more privilege throughout this process than others (and the flip side of that, of how being a traditionally feminine woman led to instances of dismissal).
- It's in the content warnings listed below, but I want to point it out here as well since it's not obvious from the summary - major content warnings for child neglect, eating disorders and suicide particularly in the chapters discussing Norman's childhood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Pregnancy