Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

Η Τριλογία της Κοπεγχάγης: Παιδική ηλικία, Νιάτα, Εξάρτηση by Tove Ditlevsen

41 reviews

m_sotos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

3.5

It is strange that in reading a memoir, I was left at the end with a very vague/incomplete sense of who the author and subject actually was. I read a review of the memoir that speaks about how Ditlevsen splits one person into two selves in the text: the self who writes and the one who exists in reality, and yet she’s unable to ever quite integrate those two selves. I think that’s a perfect summary of how reading this book feels. Despite being led through Ditlevsen’s reality from childhood to adulthood, I never really felt that I understood her own role in that reality. The brisk narration of big life events makes it seem as though she herself isn’t ever really experiencing anything to the fullest. Her life trajectory jumps from marriage to marriage quickly, just as it jumps around between various jobs, living situations, and friendships seemingly undifferentiatingly. Despite this, she’s clearly not a fully passive participant in her life (as we see also through the myriad of ways she takes charge of obtaining different drugs to uphold her opioid addiction). It’s a strange balance between Ditlevsen as the narrator controlling the presentation of her life retrospectively and seeming to pass through these same life events relatively unfeelingly as they happen. While I think the clipped, straightforward narration produces an interesting effect and (likely intentionally) speaks to the dulling impact of a perpetually unsatisfied existence, I ultimately prefer a bit more feeling for my own reading enjoyment!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and War

lghrndn's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Drug abuse, Drug use, Toxic relationship, and Addiction

Moderate: Infidelity, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, and Medical content

Minor: Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, and Cancer

creepycapybara's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

lmshearer's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

A sad, dark collection of memoirs by the Danish poet Tove Ditlevsen. Check the CW below as the story has a lot of possible triggering elements.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Abortion, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

samarakroeger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Mental illness, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

klimts15thchild's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

It’s honest, it’s tragic, it’s straightforward, and now I have to ready everything by Ditlevsen translated into English.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Infidelity, Abortion, and Mental illness

millakk's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Antisemitism and Alcoholism

chezler24's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

I was not previously familiar with this author's works prior to reading this series of memoirs by her so it was interesting to see this person's life from youth going into adulthood. At moments, it was hard for me to fully connect with Ditlevsen and her choices; however, this could easily be explained by generational and cultural (and honestly just personal) differences. It was interesting to see the development of a woman writer and a poet as she had to deal with a poor upbringing, difficulties being taken seriously, and the expectations of a woman/mother. The turn at the end with the addiction and rehab kind of caught me off guard. Up until then Tove had been able to handle and work through any difficulties, but this particular thing (exacerbated by her husband's psychosis) really hampered her writing and overall quality of life until she was able to find a more stable sense of recovery. Collectively, this is a raw, intimate look into the life of an individual.   

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Medical content, Abortion, Death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Terminal illness, and War

lhulmes19's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Drug abuse, Addiction, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship

edytaworyna's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Blood, and Addiction