Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

You All Grow Up and Leave Me: A Memoir of Teenage Obsession by Piper Weiss

8 reviews

quantumponies's review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Pedophilia, and Suicide

snowiceblackfruit77's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Body horror, Death, and Alcohol

livruther's review against another edition

sad tense slow-paced

2.25

i really wanted to like this because the title is intriguing, the story seems incredible, and i like the cover. but alas, i did not enjoy it. the story is interesting and important, but i did not like the writing style or the narrator’s voice. it just makes me angry bc it had SO MUCH POTENTIAL!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Suicide, and Adult/minor relationship

ariam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, and Pedophilia

tdhaswell's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-paced

Okay. Wow. A lot to unpack here.
First, this memoir was written really well.
Piper Weiss writes about her teenage-self, attending tennis lessons with her coach Gary Wilensky. Wilensky is later found to be a child-stalker and pedophile after his failed kidnapping of one of his students. Weiss explores the psychology behind how exactly Wilensky was able to befriend and gain the trust of so many children (his students)- and that alone is extremely interesting. She then revisits her connection to Wilensky in order to find out why, 30 years later, she is still so fixated on how the coach she trusted so much could be this dangerous person.
Piper makes it known that although she is shaken by this traumatic discovery and is grateful that she was never a victim of his, she still has this unshakable attachment to him and she wonders why it was not her that he chose to kidnap. For this reason, many people disliked it, but I was fascinated by it for the exact same reason.
It's brutally honest and unpacks her trauma of being an 'almost victim' and how the manipulation by Wilensky affected her ability to see him for what he really was.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Suicide, and Suicidal thoughts

niamhbarton's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide and Child abuse

moosycakes's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

This book was an insightful look into the impact of stalking and grooming, even outside of the direct effects those crimes have on the victims. I think there are a lot of people who have come into contact with dangerous people, and while they may not be the victims focused on by media and who bare the full brunt of trauma, the lifelong psychological impact of these crimes can be more widespread than is instantly recognisable. It's rare to see the feelings and psychological processes outlined in this book being talked about, partly because it's a little taboo- if nothing "happened" to you, then why does it still effect you? What right do you have to those feelings? There is no blueprint that tells you how to feel, how to process your emotions in these dangerous, yet nuanced power balance situations. I personally found this book extremely valuable, although I found it very disturbing and uncomfortable at some points and spent a long time reading it because I had to take breaks in between some of the chapters. I also found a lot of the writing was very beautiful, easy to read and understand. 

Piper gets very difficult, complex and little talked about emotions across very well in this book. I also like how she included some stories regarding the difficulty of growing up Jewish in an area where that was seen as different/other, and about privilege and the difficulty in being able to see/recognise your own privilege- while not the main point of this memoir, it helped add to the picture of Piper's teenage life and brought up some important concepts.

I think a lot of people are disappointed in this book because they go into it expecting true crime. This is not really a true crime book, this is a book where someone is processing and explaining complex feelings regarding a crime, and the impact of how grooming behaviour and having a close relationship with a person who turns out to be a child stalker can have on a person, even if "nothing really happened" to them. This can be extremely complex mentally and for some people, this book could be extremely enlightening to their own mental state, complex histories, and difficult relationships with confusing trauma.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Self harm, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Stalking, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Kidnapping, Death, Adult/minor relationship, and Blood

Moderate: Eating disorder, Antisemitism, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gore, Drug use, Bullying, and Body shaming

Minor: Infidelity

blueowl2ivy's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Self harm

Moderate: Pedophilia, Mental illness, and Kidnapping