Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

23 reviews

leahgustafson's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

5.0

Maggie O’Farrell is one of my favorite authors, and I’m slowly but surely making my way through her backlist.
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I knew going in that this one would be different from her others, just for the fact of being a memoir. I was curious if it would reveal how her personal experiences led to Maggie O’Farrell’s ability to eloquently articulate so many different kinds of stories and life experiences. 
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This book, like all her others, so beautifully captures the human experience. O’Farrell has such a gift for being able to express emotions through words and language. 
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This memoir is organized into short stories (which I loved!), and it makes for a very quick pacing. I am impressed by how O’Farrell captures her own story without telling the stories of others in this process. I think this is very powerful and important. I do wonder about the order of her stories, and I couldn’t seem to figure out a pattern or rationale. This didn’t take anything away from the book for me; it’s just a wondering I have.
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⚠️ There are some BIG trigger warnings with this book. Make sure you look at those ahead of time so you’re aware going in if this book is going to be a good fit for you. 
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Check out what I'm reading next on Instagram @LeahsLitReview!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Infertility, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Violence and Medical trauma

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

karinacheah17's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Violence

frankieclc's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Miscarriage, Blood, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Violence

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

samarakroeger's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

phenomenal.  had a feeling this one would be (for sure a mashed potato book).

Maggie O'Farrell reminds me why I love memoirs written by writers.  now I need to finally read her fiction.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Violence, and Gaslighting

gabilaras's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Abortion, Medical content, and Bullying

Moderate: Rape and Infertility

Minor: Pedophilia

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

emilylikesbread's review

emotional reflective fast-paced

3.75

This is a very unique way to share a life story. The first story in particular was quite chilling. Out of all of them, that will stay with me the longest. It’s insane how many times this woman almost died. Equally unlucky and lucky. I definitely found myself getting a little anxious at times. If you’re sensitive I would suggest reading tw before reading. Great read if you’re up for it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical trauma, and Medical content

Moderate: Chronic illness, Pregnancy, Ableism, and Infertility

Minor: Murder, Violence, Miscarriage, Rape, and Pedophilia

massivepizzacrust's review

emotional fast-paced

4.0

I read this book over two days and I just couldn't put it down. It's a really fascinating idea, trying to tell the story of a life through close encounters with death. I found the writing really engrossing and approachable and I enjoyed how we got to understand the author's decisions in the initial anecdotes as the book progressed.

I'm not sure I really understand why the chapters were arranged the way they were. By the end of the book I didn't really have a sense that there was an overall arch to the book (past the connection between her childhood death experiences and her daughter's). I thought some of the stories brought more to the table than others - the stories centering on her pregnancies and her childhood were mostly beautiful, but the story with the mysterious man and the dog was confusing and weirdly half-confessional.

Reading about someone else's preoccupation with death was a relief to me. It's something that's been hard for me to deal with sometimes and this was a really different view on it. I don't think I'll be making any unprepared trips to remote countries any time soon though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Ableism, Blood, Miscarriage, Violence, Bullying, Chronic illness, Medical content, and Infertility

Minor: Rape and Pedophilia