Reviews tagging 'Fatphobia'

What Doesn't Kill You: A Life with Chronic Illness - Lessons from a Body in Revolt by Tessa Miller

4 reviews

atokuyama's review

emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Grief, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Mental illness, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Addiction, Death, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Misogyny, Ableism, and Gaslighting

the_vegan_bookworm's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

This was a compelling, honest look at life with chronic illness. I felt seen and heard as a person with a disability while I read Miller's recounts of her life. This book gave me a lot to reflect on in my own experiences and beliefs about (dis)ability and a meaningful life with a chronic condition, while also validating me for the fears and emotions I experience. 

If you are chronically ill or disabled, I especially recommend this book to you.

This being said, please note the trigger warnings as this book may be difficult to read for some people. Miller discusses the abuse she experienced from her alcoholic father and drug-addicted ex-boyfriend, the nitty gritty of Crohn's (including detailed references to excrement, blood and vomit), medical trauma and ableism of many kinds, and sexual assault. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

Minor: Fatphobia and Racism

imstephtacular's review

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical content, Classism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Excrement, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Sexism, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Fatphobia, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit, Terminal illness, Suicide, Sexual violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Self harm, Pregnancy, Police brutality, and Miscarriage

lisabreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

 What Doesn’t Kill You by Tessa Miller is a chronic illness memoir. The author has Crohn’s Disease, like I do, but like many chronic illnesses, our symptoms and treatment paths are completely different. I did find this one leaning heavily on her experience in US healthcare and her persistent infections with C. Diff, neither of which I have personally experienced. She also goes a lot into her own personal history with abuse and the affects that had on her mental health during this experience as well, which was very personal to her.
So if you are reading this as a primer on Crohn’s, you’ll get some great information, especially if you are a US patient. But you will also get a lot of personal chapters that you would expect from a memoir.

Having Crohn’s can feel isolating as most people don’t love much “bathroom” talk so I appreciate anyone willing to share their story so I can feel a little less alone. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia