Reviews tagging 'Death'

Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair

20 reviews

sierrabowers's review

emotional informative reflective relaxing medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

itsgnat's review

informative sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

kris7878's review against another edition

hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Death, Toxic relationship, Dementia, and Death of parent

paigicus's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, and Death of parent

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

cinderrunner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

A beautiful and insightful read. I wouldn't consider myself a Selma Blair fan and have always been indifferent to her as a performer. This book is a worthwhile read for anyone who enjoys powerfully human memoirs. It completely stands on its own merits regardless of Blair's stardom. This book was so painful yet beautiful. There is a rather lyrical quality to Blair's writing that I adore. I loved her honesty, self reflection, and openness with the intense hurt of her life. This is very much a book about the struggles of addiction, illness (both phsyical and mental), and finding a sense of belonging/home in a world that can be really painful. Please do check trigger warnings for this one cause the author has been through some rough stuff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

melissa_h's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

I have been wanting to pick up this book for a while now. Selma was not an actress I watched but I certainly knew of her and her career. 

I really appreciate her oppenness. I want to watch her documentary 😭 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Death, and Eating disorder

lexa's review

5.0

Emotional and raw and heartbreaking and beautiful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

thebookishtriangle's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

3.75

A solid decades spanning memoir that explores grief, health, assault, and addiction amongst other things. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kelly_e's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

Title: Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up
Author: Selma Blair
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: May 17, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Vulnerable • Straightforward • Fitful

📖 S Y N O P S I S

The first story Selma Blair Beitner ever heard about herself is that she was a mean, mean baby. With her mouth pulled in a perpetual snarl and a head so furry it had to be rubbed to make way for her forehead, Selma spent years living up to her terrible reputation: biting her sisters, lying spontaneously, getting drunk from Passover wine at the age of seven, and behaving dramatically so that she would be the center of attention.

Although Selma went on to become a celebrated Hollywood actress and model, she could never quite shake the periods of darkness that overtook her, the certainty that there was a great mystery at the heart of her life. She often felt like her arms might be on fire, a sensation not unlike electric shocks, and she secretly drank to escape.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I've been on a celebrity memoir kick lately, and Selma Blair's was up next on the docket. Going in, I knew very little about the author aside from having seen her in a few movies (most notably Legally Blond - a favourite of mine). And I must say Mean Baby didn't wow me like some celebrity memoirs have.

Selma narrates her story in a non-linear manner, touching on her childhood - particularly her strained relationship with her parents, - her alcoholism and depression, her MS diagnosis, and life with her son. The first half has a fair amount of name dropping and superficial meandering, when in fact there could have been a lot more reflection and emotion. The strength of this memoir lies in her opening up about her MS diagnosis and living with a chronic illness. Yet even here there could have been a lot more depth.

I can't pinpoint exactly what this memoir was missing, but I know it was lacking something. It didn't pack the emotional punch I'd been anticipating, despite some extremely difficult and heartbreaking circumstances. It's Selma's right to remain very surface level in telling her story - but as a reader I wanted so much more depth.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• celebrity memoir fanatics
• readers wishing to learn a bit about MS

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Someone once told me that grief is love you can no longer express."

"I learned how it feels when someone else’s thoughts touch a part of you that you haven’t felt before."

"Books also taught me how to notice things, how a moment can be a whole story." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Cancer, Cursing, Vomit, Medical content, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

millywebster's review

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Pregnancy