Reviews tagging 'Death'

Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair

20 reviews

itschelseaw's review

emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

Selma Blair is an actress I grew up loving for her roles in Legally Blonde and Cruel Intentions. I had no idea her life was so difficult and rife with personal tragedies until this book. Hearing her read it made it that much more emotional; you could hear the times when she worked to compose herself, when she was protecting herself from her story, and when she was delighted by what she was talking about.
Overall a good celebrity memoir!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Sexual assault, Medical content, and Alcohol

candeegirl's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

5.0

when I picked up Mean Baby, it was after seeing Selma Blair dance on TV, I had no idea the impact that would follow. I didn't know much about Selma Blair Beitner but I'm so happy she chose to write this book. Selmas outlook on life and how she moves through spaces and thought is incredible, inspiring and very raw. She doesn't spare many details (only necessary ones) and takes us on a journey through her life. I felt a kinship with her and her mean baby antics, I think she is one of the good ones. I feel hope cemented in reality after reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Rape, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

internationalreads's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

A beautiful, heart-breaking, heart-wrenching, emotionally compelling memoir of Selma Blair's life from the early years to now.
  
We all like to think that stardom and celebrity is easy, beautiful, graceful, healthy. This proves that you never know what people have gone through in their lives.
  
From the first drink at age 3, to daily drinking to numb the pain from unbeknownst MS, Selma Blair tells a frank & honest recollection of her memories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Rape, Medical content, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Drug use, Toxic relationship, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail

caseythereader's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.25

 - I didn't know much about Selma Blair before starting this book, other than having seen her in a few movies and knowing about her MS diagnosis. Her memoir takes readers inside what has so far been a fairly private life, and I'll remember it forever.
- This book is a hard read. Blair has been through a lot in her life. I also read the audiobook, read by Blair herself, and she breaks into tears at many points in the story.
- However, MEAN BABY also delivers on the celebrity front. Blair name drops with abandon, and takes us with her to fancy award show parties, photo shoots, and to hang out with the likes of Carrie Fisher and Karl Lagerfeld. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

leighannezinsmeister's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

emilycm's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

oh, wow. this memoir is deeply riddled with authenticity in selma's experience, and it gets you hooked if you let it. i knew very little about her outside of her acting, but she certainly has a grip on the writing. i read a lot of reviews saying that "the tissue of this isn't connected," and that parts jump to other parts, which whole heartedly i did not find issue with. i think since there is a lot of trauma explicated within, it feels as if pieces are jagged and don't fit, but selma's beauty as a writer is that she can thread all these lessons and moments of her life together to create a really solid memoir. this is especially gripping, i think, not because of the trauma that some might find excessive or hard to hear about as selma presents it, but the way in which she reflects on it all. the way you can feel her presence in the moment right now, still thinking through things as she puts them down on the page, and that feels to me, entirely human and what i gravitate towards reading and connect with.

this is one of the few, but best, celebrity memoirs i've read. and in reading it, i know it's going to stick with me. it's someone else's life story, just as every memoir may be, but there was something so innate in this one that i can't help but feel the heaviness and realness of the words as the book now sits on a shelf across from me. i think i'll be recommending this to lots of people in the years to come, and referring to some particular sections at points in my life i do not yet know how they will come.

selma's continuous, authentic threading of her experience with MS was also a very integral, moving part of this memoir. i felt moved by her voice in every sentence and moment of the journey, how she talked about her body, it was a very vivid and powerful account.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, and Rape

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Grief, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

megang519's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

The memoir I didn't know I needed until I cracked it open! Beautifully written, vulnerable, and enlightening.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

tiredtori's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

andrealac's review against another edition

dark hopeful sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Death of parent