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mariabacterium's review
4.25
Graphic: Addiction, Eating disorder, and Infidelity
Moderate: Racism, Drug use, Homophobia, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Sexism
Minor: Death and Grief
trainreader's review against another edition
5.0
Minor: Bullying, Grief, Homophobia, Medical content, Cursing, Eating disorder, Lesbophobia, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Abortion, Body shaming, Death, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy
marisa_n's review
3.0
To be fair, it wasn't all bad. The author has clearly lived many different lives as she's worked to find herself. She's turned her story into a series of easily digestible anecdotes and life lessons. There were a few powerful reminders about self-love, romantic love, and parenting. There were some empowering messages about trusting your intuition, defining happiness for yourself, and challenging oppressive systems.
That said, the actual book itself was a mess. It was simultaneously overly formulaic and completely unorganized. Each chapter starts with a simple anecdote, has an a-ha!/ light bulb moment, and then ends with a life lesson to tie it all together. That said, the chapters were in no coherent order--neither chronologically or by theme. I'm convinced you could randomize the order of the chapters had have a fairly similar reading experience. It was incredibly frustrating to guess where you were chronologically. Moreover, the author was constantly learning a lesson, just to jump back in the timeline and re-learning the same lesson. It made the a-ha moment feel forced and insincere. Lastly, the strange order made the book feel incredibly repetitive, as no topic was given enough space within a single chapter to reach any depth.
The author should have put all the stories in chronological order. This would have helped clearly describe who she used to be, provide us a chance to root for her in her non-linear journey, and then display a character arc. Alternatively, she could have given a brief overview of her story in the introduction, then organized all the chapters (in chronological order!!) into sections organized by large themes, such as inner self, love, parenting, god/ religious institutions, community/activism. I think the messages could have been so much more powerful if she started describing her internal journey, and then how it changed her relationships with those of various proximity to her.
Overall, I think the book was fine. Perhaps I'm just not the target audience... This book might be written for women who are white, christian, politically moderate, mothers (who she used to be). To be fair, if she can reach those kinds of women and engage them on issues related to race, gender, sexual misogyny, etc., then that's a win in my book. That said, I have the feeling she's mostly preaching to the choir.
Graphic: Homophobia, Biphobia, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Racism, Pregnancy, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Abortion, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Rape, Infidelity, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Classism, Death, Fatphobia, Grief, and Gun violence
davinemelodies's review against another edition
3.75
Take my rating with a grain of salt though, because this is literally the only non-fiction book I’ve ever finished, so you may rate it higher.
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Infidelity, and Mental illness
Minor: Death and Grief
cateemma's review against another edition
2.75
on the other hand, every time the author used the term 'your Knowing' i wanted to stop reading. and she used it a LOT.
i do really appreciate that this book has resonated with so many people, women in particular. and i also want to acknowledge that as a 19 year old i'm really not the target audience.
but also this book takes a long time to essentially say, "live your life unapologetically and do what makes you truly happy".
i personally didn't find it particularly empowering, but i don't regret reading it.
some good things:
- talks about eating disorders as coping skills and means of control rather than simply about weight-loss
- engaging writing style
- beautiful queer relationship
- very honest
- weird analogies and metaphors
- religious (christian), especially in the middle section (this is a con for me but possibly a pro for lots of people)
- the author doesn't really acknowledge her privilege within the text. the book is about being yourself and unlearning the things society teaches us but it doesn't acknowledge that not everyone is safe or able to do that. it kind of just preaches that we should do that because it's what's best for us and will lead to a fulfilling life
- very girl-bossy
- says that people aren't born gay and that she chose her partner (of the same sex) because she's smart??
- says people without mental illness aren't interesting
- never uses the word lesbian or bi but uses gay a lot
- talks about womanhood in a way that suggests having children and a family is important for every woman. does not acknowledge trans women or non binary people
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Death, Vomit, and Infidelity
mackenzienoelle's review against another edition
4.0
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Eating disorder, and Mental illness
Minor: Homophobia, Addiction, and Alcoholism
caitlyn_baldwin's review
4.5
Moderate: Eating disorder
Minor: Alcoholism, Death, Mental illness, and Religious bigotry
nmfcarney's review
4.25
Moderate: Mental illness
Minor: Death and Homophobia
ashleycmms's review
3.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Misogyny, and Infidelity
Minor: Death, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Racism, Murder, Mass/school shootings, and Homophobia
whylal's review
2.0
Graphic: Eating disorder, Addiction, and Mental illness
Moderate: Racism, Sexual content, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Death, and Homophobia
Minor: Miscarriage