Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

33 reviews

jazhandz's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.5

I picked up this book because the marketing and blurb makes it sound like science nonfiction. It is not. It is a collection of personal essays that use marine as a metaphor. They’re beautiful essays, they’re very striking, but I was just intensely frustrated the whole time because of the marketing failure. I wanted the sea creatures to be the point of the book, and it didn’t feel like they were. Maybe I would rate this higher if I’d gone in knowing that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Animal death, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Sexual content, and War

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Racial slurs

mobooks_mojoy's review

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Sexual assault

Moderate: Fatphobia, Violence, Grief, Homophobia, and Body shaming

crisscrossedshelves's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Rape

joannalouise's review

emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Sexual assault, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, and Body shaming

abbeyreads13's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

I adored this book, picked up after a user I follow recommended it on Booktok. In eleven stories, Sabrina Imbler draws beautiful connections between their life and those tragedies — and wonders — of the ocean and its sea creatures. I felt deeply moved by the queer experiences described in this book, heartbroken by the history illuminated of human’s overconsumption leading to the extinction and struggles of sea dwellers, and inspired to learn, read and do more in cultivating my own immersed connection with the ocean. Really loved this book. Do check content warnings though.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Body shaming, and Eating disorder

bookbrig's review

emotional informative fast-paced

I read this thinking it might be a good fit for teen readers, and I do think it could work for teens with some clear content warnings. It's creative and moving, and deals with lots of teen relevant topics - college drinking/hookups, body image, racism, family dynamics, gender, and sexuality, plus there's engaging science and animal stuff. But it doesn't elide details. It's... graphic is the wrong word, but maybe just blunt? Honest. And that makes it both excellent and definitely not something I was in a great place to read right now. Check the content warnings on this one before you go in, because I didn't, and I wish I had. I wasn't really in the right place to read it, though I will happily recommend it to the right readers. The audiobook, read by the author, was excellently done. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Racism, Body shaming, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Animal death

ariizolas's review

Not for me - I loved the early essays, but the metaphors got old for me very quickly. Might finish this one up when I don't have so much on my TBR. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Body shaming

phathaway's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Man, this book. It's a series of essays on the author's life, correlated with a different sea creature. Author is NB, but socially raised as a woman who definitely experienced comphet and I understand so much of their story as a late-in-life lesbian. Just such a beautiful read and I would definitely recommend it to any late-in-life or questioning queer. 

I also love how she really put her struggles about her body out there.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racial slurs, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Misogyny, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Grief, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Rape, Racism, Xenophobia, and Fatphobia

annemaries_shelves's review

emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced

4.5

4.5 stars

I really loved this collection - it's a blend of nature writing and memoir. The author relates the lives and science behind 10 different creatures to a particular aspect of their life and experiences. For example, their gender explorations, their grandparents' stories in WW2 China, and the eating disorder they experienced as a teen. I appreciated how Imbler made those connections and used metaphor to expand on both sides of the concept - it's not always easy to balance the nature with the personal in an engaging and accurate way.

The writing itself was straightforward and lacking that lyrical, more poetic writing a lot of nature and memoir writing can have and that I tend to prefer (less Braiding Sweetgrass style, if that's a helpful reference). However, the authorial voice and the occasional joke or sarcastic aside worked for me. It's also very much a collection of essay chapters, so there's less of a connecting thread (aside from the high-level concept) across chapters. 

In terms of the animals themselves, I either learned a lot about them or got a refresher on ones I’m more familiar with. The sand striker, octopus, cuttlefish, and whales were some of my favourites but honestly all 10 creatures were fascinating in their own way. And the chapter art was so good - it’s hand drawn line art (the artist is listed in the acknowledgments) and compensated for the lack of full colour photo inserts that I wish the book had had a budget for. 

Overall, if you like blends of nature and memoir - and especially if you're looking for more queer and/or BIPOC (specifically mixed race Chinese-white) representation in your science/memoir writing - I recommend checking this book out. (Which the author so aptly points out is a hyperfocus of people in the chapter about hybrid animals). 

CW: discussions of eating disorders and attempts to lose weight unhealthily as a teen, sexual assault and substance-induced blackout periods of sexual activity where consent cannot be given, brief discussions of war and the Japanese invasion of China in WW2

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Eating disorder, War, Body shaming, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racial slurs

deslarsen's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Transphobia, Sexual assault, and Racism