4.4 AVERAGE

emotional reflective sad slow-paced
lemonadegirl29's profile picture

lemonadegirl29's review

5.0
challenging emotional sad medium-paced

gabylewis5's review

5.0

One of the best books I’ve read in a long time.
emmaguthrie's profile picture

emmaguthrie's review

3.0
emotional reflective sad medium-paced
emotional reflective sad

What We Carry had a jumping timeline and super short, easy to read chapters about Maya's life as a wife, mother, & daughter. It was equal parts heartbreaking and healing, sad and hopeful. Maya's growth, especially as her mother was diagnosed with dementia, made me feel way to dang much. 

I felt a strong personal connection to this book, and because of that I have a love/hate relationship with it and I have no idea how to rate it. I took my time getting through it, but I think it would have been in my best interest to DNF (for now!). I wasn't quite ready for my feelings to be dug up, but it was somehow also a little therapeutic, so I couldn't stop reading it. (SEE?!? Love/Hate.)

As a former caretaker to my grandmother who suffers from dementia, I understood her writing on a level I wish I hadn't. As someone who suffers with mental health, I understood this on a level I wish I hadn't. (Reminder that mental health is health!!!) It was a difficult read for me, but ultimately I think I'm glad I read it? 

If you have read and enjoyed Crying in H Mart and/or A Living Remedy - I'd suggest you pick up What We Carry. All three books had strong themes of mother/daughter relationships and loss and grief. Like everything else I read though, I'd encourage you to check the content warnings first! 

laprofesora's review

4.5
emotional reflective medium-paced
nerdy_reader's profile picture

nerdy_reader's review

4.5
challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

ashdash's review

5.0
emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

This is a powerful beautiful honest memoir by a wonderful lady I wish I knew and she is Indian American with PhD married and she is a mother a sister a daughter. This is about mostly her relationship to herself to her daughter Zoe and her mother a retired psychiatrist. It is also has as its background a possibly invented mythical tale from India about a woman in a river who has to decide between saving herself or her daughter.
I dont want to tell anything I know having read this book except read it!

from Judy g
emotional hopeful informative lighthearted reflective fast-paced