Reviews tagging 'Death'

Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir by Natasha Trethewey

28 reviews

reviewsandreadathons's review against another edition

5.0

challenging reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Murder

invaderlinz's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder

momentsofmine's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Grief, Death of parent, Murder

jess_tholmer's review against another edition

5.0

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief

hanvnah's review against another edition

4.0

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief

beardedreading's review against another edition

5.0

dark hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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<i>Memorial Drive</i> tells the story of a young girl who experiences more pain than anyone should endure: the murder of her mother by her stepfather's hand. Trethewey's upbringing in Mississippi to that fateful day on Memorial Drive in Atlanta details the road that shaped her into the poet she is today. We see the trials of living Black in the segregated South through her mother's eyes, as well as being mixed race through Trethewey's. This memoir will destroy you, as you feel various hurts along with Trethewey. And yet, it feels like a necessary trip looking back into one's own memory in order to move forward. 

Brilliant, searing, aching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Violence, Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child abuse, Cursing, Racism, Suicidal thoughts

beetsnotbombs's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism

nordstina's review against another edition

4.75

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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Natasha Trethewey begins her memoir Memorial Drive with a question: Do you know what it means to have a wound that never heals?. A heartbreaker of a question that permeates throughout the book. The reader finds out early on that her mother was shot and killed by her ex-husband. Trethewey then slowly lays out the story, leading up to the crime. This story is heart wrenching and was so difficult to read. The situation was untenable- the man was threatening her, and the police did not do enough. Reading the transcripts of phone calls between her mother, a social worker, trying to rationalize with this man is gut punch. The ongoing trauma that both her mother experiences and the author feels in the aftermath of the murder is horrible. I read this with a pit in my stomach the whole time. Even so, it is so well-written and engaging. Trethewey is a US Poet Laureate and I can see why- she has such a way with words. Wow. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence