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4.4 AVERAGE
4.4 AVERAGE
other than a few essays being overly drawn-out, there are many honest, insightful feelings here. very glad to have learned about PEI Tenant League.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Pregnancy
Moderate: Cancer, Chronic illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Stalking
emotional
I absolutely loved this beautifully told collection of essays. I've always admired Sarah Polley as a creator and I was really interested to delve deeper into her life, career, and experience. This is a must-listen on audio with Polley herself narrating, which lends the book a tangible intimacy that made it hard to tear myself away from. Polley is so compelling as a writer and storyteller, and even though these pieces cover topics both broad and deeply personal, it always felt like conversation with a close friend. It's a very hard balance to strike, especially in memoir, but Polley's writing gifts really shine here in not just the stories she chooses to tell, but how she tells them. While a familiarity with Polley's work and career would definitely lend context to a lot of these stories, I think a reader could go in without knowing her and still take something away from this book.
Finished reading this book however skipped the second essay (of six), “The Woman Who Stayed Silent,” because it contains subject matter relating to SA which I am particularly sensitive to.
I most appreciated the essays “High Risk” about a particularly fraught pregnancy and birth experience, and most of all the final essay, “Run Towards the Danger,” in which Sarah describes in depth her experience of a very traumatic concussion and how it threw her every experience of life “off-kilter,” involving a brutal early recovery in which everything was painful and many of her family members didn’t fully believe her suffering. I saw my own struggles in this, as I understand the feeling of having physical and mental difficulties that are largely invisible to other people, and the emotional burden involved in your pain not being believed, especially by those whose support would go a long way. When that story reaches a turning point and after suffering for too long, Sarah finally gets the best treatment for her recovery, I celebrate her wins along with her as she at long last returns to her daily life, to participate in society, in her role as partner, mother, friend, and her career writing/directing tv/film. She concludes that essay and finishes the book with reflections that I found very hopeful and uplifting, with insights that helped her recover from her concussion and continue to guide her life thereafter, and can possibly be applied to the lives of many readers in navigating their own lives.
Much of the other stories included in this book outline her experiences with premature loss of a parent, difficult upbringing, and traumatic experiences she had as a child actor, as well as the complicated aftermath of those experiences.
Sarah describes with great detail her various experiences, so as the reader, I really felt like I understood her internal experiences. I would most recommend the last essay, whose insights I feel could help a lot of people.
I most appreciated the essays “High Risk” about a particularly fraught pregnancy and birth experience, and most of all the final essay, “Run Towards the Danger,” in which Sarah describes in depth her experience of a very traumatic concussion and how it threw her every experience of life “off-kilter,” involving a brutal early recovery in which everything was painful and many of her family members didn’t fully believe her suffering. I saw my own struggles in this, as I understand the feeling of having physical and mental difficulties that are largely invisible to other people, and the emotional burden involved in your pain not being believed, especially by those whose support would go a long way. When that story reaches a turning point and after suffering for too long, Sarah finally gets the best treatment for her recovery, I celebrate her wins along with her as she at long last returns to her daily life, to participate in society, in her role as partner, mother, friend, and her career writing/directing tv/film. She concludes that essay and finishes the book with reflections that I found very hopeful and uplifting, with insights that helped her recover from her concussion and continue to guide her life thereafter, and can possibly be applied to the lives of many readers in navigating their own lives.
Much of the other stories included in this book outline her experiences with premature loss of a parent, difficult upbringing, and traumatic experiences she had as a child actor, as well as the complicated aftermath of those experiences.
Sarah describes with great detail her various experiences, so as the reader, I really felt like I understood her internal experiences. I would most recommend the last essay, whose insights I feel could help a lot of people.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
I wasn’t familiar with Sarah Polley before reading this book. I learned that she’s Canadian and was a child actor. Polley has had unfortunate experiences with the industry, including a #metoo situation and trauma on film sets at a young age. She also lost her mom young, became a mother and suffered a concussion. Solid collection though triggering.
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced