Reviews tagging 'Violence'

I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell

25 reviews

emilylikesbread's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

3.75

This is a very unique way to share a life story. The first story in particular was quite chilling. Out of all of them, that will stay with me the longest. It’s insane how many times this woman almost died. Equally unlucky and lucky. I definitely found myself getting a little anxious at times. If you’re sensitive I would suggest reading tw before reading. Great read if you’re up for it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Ableism, Chronic illness, Infertility, and Pregnancy

Minor: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, and Murder

massivepizzacrust's review against another edition

emotional fast-paced

4.0

I read this book over two days and I just couldn't put it down. It's a really fascinating idea, trying to tell the story of a life through close encounters with death. I found the writing really engrossing and approachable and I enjoyed how we got to understand the author's decisions in the initial anecdotes as the book progressed.

I'm not sure I really understand why the chapters were arranged the way they were. By the end of the book I didn't really have a sense that there was an overall arch to the book (past the connection between her childhood death experiences and her daughter's). I thought some of the stories brought more to the table than others - the stories centering on her pregnancies and her childhood were mostly beautiful, but the story with the mysterious man and the dog was confusing and weirdly half-confessional.

Reading about someone else's preoccupation with death was a relief to me. It's something that's been hard for me to deal with sometimes and this was a really different view on it. I don't think I'll be making any unprepared trips to remote countries any time soon though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Chronic illness, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Pedophilia and Rape

samcsmith's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective tense fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Minor: Ableism, Infertility, Pedophilia, and Violence

cmbohn's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content and Medical trauma

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

glorifiedloveletters's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

After reading Hamnet (and absolutely loving it), I decided to check out Maggie O'Farrell's memoir from the library, and wow, what a book! She tells the stories of her life where she narrowly avoided death, and how those experiences shaped her. It isn't told chronologically, but in a way that definitely unfolds and flashes back in a really compelling way. Her writing is flush with description that never feels overwrought or superfluous.

Some of her brushes with death involve medical treatment, and my jaw quite literally dropped at what people, especially medical professionals, said to her during those times. From her childhood hospitalization from encephalitis to her many miscarriages after a difficult first birth, you'll be ready to fight a couple nurses and doctors ON SIGHT. That said, there is also the very moving moment where one mysterious medical person, about whom she never found out any information, really supported her when she needed it most. If you're a person who has medical trauma of any sort, you may want to check in with yourself before reading.

Between this book and Hamnet being among my favorites this year, I'm ready to delve further into her back catalog. I've had an ARC of Instructions for a Heatwave sitting around an embarrassingly long time, and I will definitely, finally read it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

bethnash's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Infidelity, Violence, and Murder

localcat's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

nadia's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

What a life Maggie O'Farrell has lived! This memoir was at times an edge-of-the-seat page-turner and at others a more meditative, reflective piece. It's definitely one that gets you thinking about mortality, risk, and living life to the fullest. And Maggie's writing is so great — I'm looking forward to trying some of her fiction now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Miscarriage

Moderate: Death and Violence

sglance9's review against another edition

This was so bad on my anxiety. Descriptions were so powerful it was scary. And honestly too much talk about childbirth/miscarriages/etc had me terrified to ever get pregnant

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

Minor: Murder and Sexual harassment

jamihoneycutt's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I promised myself that I would read more of Maggie O’Farrell after reading Hamnet and falling in love with her writing style. Unsurprisingly, I loved this and was so sad when it came to an end. The audiobook performance was phenomenal and I am baffled by the life this woman has lived. So many of the passages have been floating around in my mind since reading them. This might be the first book I buy a physical copy of for the purpose of highlighting and annotating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy