Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Secrets for the Mad by Dodie Clark

16 reviews

sammymiller21's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.0


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calamityin's review

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emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective relaxing slow-paced

1.5


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joshuaedwardcrowe's review

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad fast-paced

3.0

I've had a lot of struggle throughout my life. I'd grown up in such a repressed state to protect my heart from all the pain, suffering, and fear of the world. Back when COVID-19 hit and the world was plunged into a pandemic, the UK began lockdowns, and I had even more of those things integrating with my life. 

Dodie makes an interesting metaphor here, equating this experience to a cup of water that barely needs touching to spill. This was quite an adept assessment really, and in that time, my cup emptied. I became incredibly depressed, leading to my first video of hers: 'Depression init', and such was the start of an  obsession. I'd watched so many of her videos, so much of her music, and began to fall in love with everything she created. Here was a person, so quirky, and excited, and fun, and happy, and content, but equally one so human, that also dealt with such horrible traumatic experiences. This was the first time I felt that i was never truly alone.

At the time of writing this review, I've loved her for so long that her work has gone from obsession to deeply rooted appreciation. I've seen her perform now, too, so I thought it was about time I finally read her book.

Secrets For The Mad is a completely authentic model of how I would expect Dodie would write. It's compromised of narratives without any linear structure, or progression, but as explorations like you might find in a journal. It covers every subject that means the most to her, and goes to show the foundations of her identity in a genuinely authentic way. There is so much more to Dodie I'm sure many of us will never find, but this book is captivatingly spiritual. The broken family, the heartbreak, the mental illness, the weird sexual experiences and awkward first dates. For any late millenial or early zoomer, Dodie's artwork transcends our childhood journeys, and packs some beautifully heartfelt insight into a few hundred pages. 

I never expected a book to bring me to tears quite so many times.

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ephisto's review

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4.0


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rosalind's review

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hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.75


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graciebaker's review

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emotional reflective fast-paced

3.0

Overall, I think the writing is great, there are good lessons to be learned, and the mixed media nature of the book is fun. However, I think it’s much more mature than I would expect based on who Dodie’s audience was at the time of the book’s release. I also thought that some of her mental health discussions were more harmful than beneficial - too much darkness shared with susceptible readers and too little solutions/resources shared.

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lucyselim's review

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4.0

I picked this book back up again recently as I was going through some things, and it was really comforting. I listened to her songs as they came up in the book, and it was a lovely opportunity to listen to some songs I hadn't in a while and to watch some of the old videos I had almost forgotten about. My overall feelings from reading this book was a sense of calmness and also the sense that someone was reaching out to hold my hand.

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tiegan's review

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4.0


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whatevertheysay's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

2.25


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emmaoliviaparrott's review

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0


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