Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, by Roxane Gay

9 reviews

kay_e_poet's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Physical abuse

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Self harm, Physical abuse, and Fatphobia

Minor: Vomit

susysimmonds's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

thebankofbooks's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Racism, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Addiction, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, and Physical abuse

savannahtrice's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This was so real and as a person who's struggled with disordered eating this really hit home.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Racism and Misogyny

sleeson's review against another edition

dark informative tense slow-paced

1.25

This was a very confusing never-ending contraction of feelings and emotions. It feels like no matter what you do, it will be other’s fault and mistakes not the author’s.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

letmetakea_shelfie_'s review

emotional medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

jessy_03's review

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Racism, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, and Physical abuse

happyladyjadereads's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

Listened to an abridged audiobook via BBC Sounds as read by Roxane herself. A deeply moving but sad book following the impact of a trauma on her body dysmophia. Very powerful but sad, not one for faint hearted. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Body shaming

purplemind's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

Once again I'm tackling the difficult task - to me, at least - of rating a memoir. It's a good challenge, though, and I'm grateful for the opportunity the book club I'm now part of provided me with.

This is a difficult book to read. That is not so because it isn't well written enough, or engaging enough, but rather because, as the author herself explains in one of the first chapters "The story of [her] body is not a story of triumph". It's a raw, harsh, devastatingly honest story, though.
Roxane Gay leads us through the journey of her relationship with her body and the way it and her life story are entwined in a sort of feedback loop of cause-effect, whose consequences she has to deal with every single day. I found it deeply relatable in parts, as a woman who often feels her body is also "unruly", as the author puts it; the others I still found gripping, often heartbreaking and anger-inducing, but always interesting. Once started, it just draws you in, the only thing that prevented me from finishing it in one sitting was my own limited free time.

That said, I did find the formatting - with its very short chapters - a little distracting. In parts, the chapters themselves, in my opinion, seemed a little repetitive, circular in their points, and I think they could have been grouped together in larger ones with ease. This is definitely a matter of taste, and just by listening to the other peole in my book club I know it won't be universal. So, make of that what you will.

In conclusion, I'd recommend this book to someone looking for a challenging read, and a different point of view on the matter of weight and worth. Please be aware that this book discusses issues of rape, abuse, eating disorders and - obviously- fatphobia; if any of these topics is particularly upsetting for you, please proceed with caution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Rape

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Spoiler

The author describes her own gang-rape at the beginning of the book. Later, she describes her purging after eating.