kstookley's review against another edition
4.0
I have seen this book compared to Maggie Nelson, but for me, it brings more similarities to Carmen Maria Machado's In the Dream House. But in addition to exploring an emotionally abusive relationship, Febos dives into issues of addiction and discovering the truth of her family. Truly, she explores every facet of abandoning-- both as the person leaving and the one left. Her essays focusing on physicality were the strongest-- about hickeys and tattoos. Some parts felt a little on the nose (she brings up the word abandon *a lot*), but it is still a compelling read.
lexmcgnns's review against another edition
5.0
i can't remember who (sorry!), but I was reading a review of acts of desperation and they recommended this book as something similar – that perhaps in some ways superseded it – and I have to say I completely agree. Melissa Febos is something magical, and her perfect, personal grasp of relationships (longing, loneliness, want, jealousy, trust) is perfectly executed in this memoir without being too woe-is-me. Her language is lyrical and dancing and it's so easy to sit down to read a few pages and find yourself so absorbed that you lose all sense of reality.
MORE MORE MORE PLEASE.
MORE MORE MORE PLEASE.
cassmensah5's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.25
susmag's review against another edition
5.0
“Now I think of the maps. I think that I was learning how to keep track of my hidden things, so that I could find them when I was ready. Not a kitchen spoon or a doll’s leg or a brooch, but myself.”
“If this is what it means to be abandoned, then let me be left. Abandon me.”
“If this is what it means to be abandoned, then let me be left. Abandon me.”
rjproffer's review against another edition
4.0
This was the perfect time for me to read this memoir. If only I had read it a few months ago when I was going through a similarly withholding relationship. I hope others can find comfort Febos' emotional journey exploring a lack of connection with her father and an emotionally abusive relationship. Her understandable wavering and struggle to want more herself is all the poignant to me in this stage of my life.