Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Ten Steps to Nanette: A Memoir Situation by Hannah Gadsby

140 reviews

megsymitch's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Hannah Gadsby is a wonderful storyteller and no one is better than her at dipping into grief and trauma in a way that is emotionally impactful but also safe, as she crafts humour into everything. I have not read another autobiography like it, and it’s a great, honest depiction of depression, autism, body image, small town Australia. If you can listen to the audio book you also get to listen to her impression of her mum which is a highlight. Loved this book.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body shaming, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Lesbophobia

pannamarchewka's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

mads_jpg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective slow-paced

3.75

Bloody funny and emotional but also bloody long. I genuinely really enjoyed it but I do wish some parts were edited down just a liiiittle bit more, but I can see with a story this personal it must've been hard to cut it down. If you liked Nanette then you'll obviously like this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

gumptionreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

I need to buy a physical copy and annotate so much, I’ve never felt so seen and represented, especially when Hannah discusses her neurodiversity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Sexual harassment

kaitlinlovesbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Emotional abuse and Panic attacks/disorders

sabsey's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective

5.0

"If pushed, I usually say that a friend entered me into the Raw Comedy competition because I was making him laugh and he thought I needed to broaden my audience. Sometimes I will elaborate and say that at the time I was recovering from surgery and unable to work, was looking for something to do. On rare occasions I'll go as far as to explain that I'd be injured while working on a farm and had undergone a partial wrist fusion. None of this is untrue, but it is a gross simplification. It does nothing to accommodate the reality of my situation, the drifting, the isolation, the houselessness....what can I say? There is just never a straight line to be found through a life punctuated by trauma."


I don't have a lot to say that isn't just: go read this for yourself.

There is one particularly moving (and frightening aspect) of this memoir is in the opening third as Gadsby recounts her childhood growing up in a particularly conservative region of Tasmania - and that is the rhetoric and slander she recounts surrounding the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Tassie in the 90's is the exact same rhetoric and slander that is now being used to pull lgbtq+ books off shelves in america, the same phrases that are turning story time's in public libraries from safe spaces to dangerous ones, the same propaganda that is killing trans people all across the world - and it's a bit shocking to read how the same attitudes and logic from the 90's are still being spread today.

"The reasons they [George Brookes, Chris Miles, and Say No To Sodomy Group] and other speakers, gave as reasons for 'saying no to sodomy' at the rally were similar to those outlined in the pamphlet - the real gay agenda being the complete removal of the legal age of consent, which is the classic tactic you should now be very familiar with: equating homosexuality with pedophilia."

That's not a big - or any part of the story really, however - but what is the focus is how these institutional structures, how shame and ignorance has a deep, meaningful and lasting impact on young lgbtq+ people for their ENTIRE lives. This is an amazing read, and Gadsby (for all her claims of being a coward) does not hold back in a lot of places where it matters most. 

Dont' get me wrong - there is a lot of great humour in here as well, but it's also a pretty confronting biography. It contextualises not just her comedy special, but serves as a pretty important perspective on how our attitudes towards mental illness, neurodivergence and lgbtq+ youth has not come nearly as far as we think it has.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

raisinreads's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring

3.75

Took me a bit to get into, but i did enjoy it; i love Hannah and hope she's doing well :)

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

thewoodlandbookshelf's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

erebus53's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

This is a book I find it really hard to review. For starters If you don't know who Hannah Gadsby is, you probably ought to see the Netflix version of Nanette first. It provides a lot of context that you would probably gain insight from. I'm really grateful that this version of the book is narrated by the author. I think it would lose a lot of its oomph if someone else was narrating it for her.. it just wouldn't fit.

Nanette and the story of the creation thereof, is an exercise (exorcise) in trauma, in violence and exclusion meted out upon a Neurodivergent (in her case Autistic ADHD) lesbian woman from Tasmania (in Australia). There is profanity and no holds barred descriptions of medicalised womanhood, sexual assault, rape, bad dad jokes, and physical violence. The whole thing is designed to be in your face, because too may people just don't engage with the things that happen to you if you are underprivileged. 

As a result this book is full of jabs at cis-het-white-men.. but that is because it's less problematic to "punch up" than down. Gadsby is deliberately seeking to subvert the form of comedy, to parody the man-and-the-mic standup look, and to kick the audience in the gut with a bit of a wakeup call.

Yes of course I am biased. I'm also a vagina wielding Autistic f*** up. I know how it is.  Life doesn't ever really stop breaking you, but you do tend to learn survival skills along the way. I own my privilege.. there are plenty of things that I have going for me that mean that people take me seriously. I'm not brown, I spell conventionally.. I can define conventionally.. my parents were both together in their own home before my mother died and I inherited enough to buy my own mortgage (lucky me!) So yes, I am biased in my opinion of this book, but I like to think that it's because I am the target audience. I see my like, in Hannah Gadsby. She's about my age, also brought up in the Antipodes, and she wrote this book for the brethren and sistren who have also dealt with being othered for their sex, gender, presentation, sexual orientation, neurotype, sensitivities, and benign differences.

Bloody good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug use, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Dysphoria

anomiques's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, and Lesbophobia