Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Memorial Drive: A Daughter's Memoir by Natasha Trethewey

17 reviews

zipbagofbones2025's review against another edition

4.5

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder

bashsbooks's review against another edition

4.5

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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In Memorial Drive, Tretheway lays bare the loss of her mother, not just on the day she was murdered, but in the years and struggles that plagued them before that fateful June day. She is extacting and relentless in her telling, leaving no detail unturned or undigested, reminding readers that however difficult it is for them to read, it was harder for her to write. Listening to the audiobook version of this text, I was especially struck by the strong and even way Tretheway relayed her mother's last phonecalls with her stepfather, a feat I don't think many of us could do, even in the sacred act of bearing witness to our mother's end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Racism, Suicide

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis

noel_b's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

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A beautiful, thoughtful and reflective memoir about the nature of memory itself: what it means to remember and forger, how creating narratives helps us survive, and how someone's absence can shape our life.

It deals with difficult topics: the author's mother was murdered by her ex-stepfather when she was only 19. This memoir is her trying to make sense of the event and her life before and after. She was also a biracial girl born when interracial marriage was still illegal in Mississippi, which also shapes her childhood in sometimes violent ways. 

Trethewey does not flinch from the ugliest parts of humanity, but she treats them with compassion and nuance. She's a poet and it shows in the beauty of her language, the rhythm of the narrative and the sensitivity of her perspective.

This was a hard book to read but so worth it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder

waytoomanybooks's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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It’s so hard reading memoirs where someone is going through something so challenging and so painful because all I want to do is step in and do something. Or I say, “Don’t do that! Do this!” As if “this” is easy. As if “this” is obvious. As if “this” is even something I would or could do myself. It’s a painful reminder that we don’t always or often see the big picture when we’re in the middle of it. That we could go through this exact same painful experience and get the exact same painful result. That maybe we’re not as smart, as brave, as strong as we’d like to think. What makes a memoir memorable are the ones ones that plumb the depths of human emotion and endurance, that wring you out, that make you have to get up and walk around before going back to the material. I think people write memoirs to remind the authors themselves and the readers of their shared humanity. The author is exposing their soul, and they’re asking their readers to help them take care of it. This is just such a memoir.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

randisworld's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail

moniipeters's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail

clarabooksit's review against another edition

4.25

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide

andreahewitt's review against another edition

5.0

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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This book gutted me! So beautifully-written. And also the subject matter was so difficult to write about. But she does it anyway. I will remember this book for a long time. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Stalking

pjwanders's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder

mamaofperfectpayton's review against another edition

5.0

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting