Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O'Farrell

12 reviews

annakh16's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was an interesting and certainly unique read - unique because of the nature of the story, and also because Maggie O’Farrell has such a distinctive voice that this book certainly helped me understand better. The writing was vivid and compelling. It’s definitely more snapshots of moments than one overarching „philosophical“ narrative - just an observation, not a critique. I thought some stories were executed better than others (generally the longer over the shorter ones), but overall, they were all good. An insightful and „enjoyable“ book (re the storytelling, not the events). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content

Moderate: Chronic illness, Infertility, Violence, Grief, and Miscarriage

Minor: Excrement, Murder, Sexual assault, and Pregnancy

annabunce's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Pregnancy, Medical content, and Injury/Injury detail

skillwithaquill's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Moving. Emotional. Resonant. As someone with several chronic illnesses, this book was especially poignant and salient for me. 

None of the usual trappings of inspiration porn, healing through Jesus, or spiritual woowoo that many memoirs about illness and near-death experiences fall into. It’s thoughtful, but not preachy. Meaningful, but not maudlin. I’ll definitely revisit it in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Confinement, Medical content, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, and Sexism

Moderate: Misogyny and Death

Minor: Abortion, Blood, Excrement, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, and Vomit

Other content warnings & specifics: medical sexism, graphic discussions of childbirth & c-section, attempted assault & kidnapping, child in peril, graphic depiction of a near drowning, claustrophobia, abortion (in the context of a missed miscarriage requiring surgical intervention).

hjcomic's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.0

This is very well written but I felt like I was lurching from trauma to trauma. I was quite triggered by some of the sections.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Child death, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Sexual assault, Murder, and Violence

edgaranjapoe's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Medical content, Death, Infertility, Child death, Blood, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Chronic illness

Minor: Abortion, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Violence, Physical abuse, Bullying, Car accident, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Rape, Sexual violence, Ableism, Murder, and Gaslighting

linnaea's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

rjohns5's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault

jamihoneycutt's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I promised myself that I would read more of Maggie O’Farrell after reading Hamnet and falling in love with her writing style. Unsurprisingly, I loved this and was so sad when it came to an end. The audiobook performance was phenomenal and I am baffled by the life this woman has lived. So many of the passages have been floating around in my mind since reading them. This might be the first book I buy a physical copy of for the purpose of highlighting and annotating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Child death, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Medical content, Death, Infertility, and Violence

kelly_e's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.25

Title: I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death
Author: Maggie O'Farrell
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: August 27 2017

T H R E E • W O R D S

Intimate • Unconventional • Articulate

📖 S Y N O P S I S

I Am, I Am, I Am is the deeply personal memoir from British novelist Maggie O'Farrell, exploring seventeen brushes with death sprinkled throughout her life. From a childhood illness to a a frightening encounter deep in the jungle to dealing with a child diagnosed with severe allergies, each essay explores the preciousness of life.

💭 T H O U G H T S

This book had been on my TBR since it's release, and I honestly thought I was going to love it. Not only did it come highly recommended to me, but the beautiful cover and synopsis were right up my alley. However, it failed to engage me completely the whole way through. It is a deeply personal and insightful account of the fragility of life, yet I wasn't overly moved. What didn't work for me was the structure. Personally, I think a chronological order of events would have benefitted the narration and made for a more enjoyable reading experience. With that said, her writing is stunningly beautiful and she explores the complexities of life in a delicate manner.

I anticipated loving this book, and honestly it didn't live up to my expectations. While this wasn't the powerful, moving memoir I was hoping for, it was still worth reading.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• readers who enjoyed The Year of Magical Thinking
• Maggie O'Farrell fans

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"The people who teach us something retain a particularly vivid place in our memoires. I'd been a parent for about ten minutes when I met the man, but he taught me, with a small gesture, one of the most important things about the job: kindness, intuition, touch, and that sometimes you don't even need words." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault

Minor: Pregnancy

spacecowpal's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Miscarriage, Murder, and Sexual assault