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gem_bo's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
zabeth1021's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
5.0
carsonelainee's review against another edition
5.0
i honestly don’t know what to say about this book. it has taken both my words and my breath. how can a book be so beautiful yet so heart crushing.
i am in awe of chanel miller and her eloquence. she chose her words so perfectly and the way she laid all the events out was so masterful. i hung to her every word.
i definitely feel angry after having read this book. angry at her situation, at the situations many women face, at the system that often does not provide justice, and at shitty people for thinking they can get away with their actions.
what’s crazy is i can remember this being in the news. i was 12 so a lot of the finer details went over my head, but i can remember what a lot of the people in my life were saying about the case. most things being along the lines of “how horrible this is for him” “why would she say these things?” “this could ruin his life” “he was such a good kid” and after reading the book and then reflecting on these statements, it’s so crazy to me that the attention is put on him and how his actions affect his life and not how he’s affected chanel’s.
anyways this obviously is a very difficult book to read, but if you’re able, i would consider this essential reading.
i am in awe of chanel miller and her eloquence. she chose her words so perfectly and the way she laid all the events out was so masterful. i hung to her every word.
i definitely feel angry after having read this book. angry at her situation, at the situations many women face, at the system that often does not provide justice, and at shitty people for thinking they can get away with their actions.
what’s crazy is i can remember this being in the news. i was 12 so a lot of the finer details went over my head, but i can remember what a lot of the people in my life were saying about the case. most things being along the lines of “how horrible this is for him” “why would she say these things?” “this could ruin his life” “he was such a good kid” and after reading the book and then reflecting on these statements, it’s so crazy to me that the attention is put on him and how his actions affect his life and not how he’s affected chanel’s.
anyways this obviously is a very difficult book to read, but if you’re able, i would consider this essential reading.
cgmeow's review against another edition
An important message that gets diluted in its never ending repetitiveness. Reads like a book without an editor. She does get the message across.
bbqxaxiu's review against another edition
3.0
I liked this book and I think everyone should read it.
The most powerful point she makes lies in one sentence regarding the sexism that affords men—and only men—the most basic privilege: “He is allowed to be a person.”
Throughout the trial, Brock was allowed to forget things, make “mistakes,” and was judged based on more than what he did that night. He’s a good swimmer this, he’s a great son that. For Chanel, this was not the case. She was expected to remember minute details about a night that happened over a year ago, provide an explanation on why someone else did what they did, and was simply the “intoxicated, promiscuous” girl.
His humanity is multidimensional and unquestionable, Hers is not. This is the reason the trial played out the way it did, and the most dangerous side effect of the sexism that is the soil—or rather the dirt—that our society grows in.
Of smaller note: she’s rich (grew up in Palo Alto), but downplayed it at times by mentioning how she shops at Walmart, goes thrifting, and has no savings. This annoyed me: she still has the safety net of her parents, who we know are well off enough to afford a house in Palo Alto. Despite her oppression as a non-white woman, she is still better off than other non-white women who experience the same thing but do not have the same resources to fight and heal. I believe that she knows this though, and I do not expect perfection from her. This tiny annoyance of mine does not take away from the important things she said in this memoir.
The most powerful point she makes lies in one sentence regarding the sexism that affords men—and only men—the most basic privilege: “He is allowed to be a person.”
Throughout the trial, Brock was allowed to forget things, make “mistakes,” and was judged based on more than what he did that night. He’s a good swimmer this, he’s a great son that. For Chanel, this was not the case. She was expected to remember minute details about a night that happened over a year ago, provide an explanation on why someone else did what they did, and was simply the “intoxicated, promiscuous” girl.
His humanity is multidimensional and unquestionable, Hers is not. This is the reason the trial played out the way it did, and the most dangerous side effect of the sexism that is the soil—or rather the dirt—that our society grows in.
Of smaller note: she’s rich (grew up in Palo Alto), but downplayed it at times by mentioning how she shops at Walmart, goes thrifting, and has no savings. This annoyed me: she still has the safety net of her parents, who we know are well off enough to afford a house in Palo Alto. Despite her oppression as a non-white woman, she is still better off than other non-white women who experience the same thing but do not have the same resources to fight and heal. I believe that she knows this though, and I do not expect perfection from her. This tiny annoyance of mine does not take away from the important things she said in this memoir.
nightfell's review against another edition
The heavy sa themes were just too much for me, unfortunately, but what I read of it, this book was well-written and heartbreakingly poignant.