Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke

35 reviews

ecombs's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

jspells's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

TRIGGER WARNING: This book does contain details of sexual assault and domestic violence.

Tarana Burke takes her life experiences and beautifully communicates them in a way that is not sugarcoated or timid. The bravery it takes for someone to recount not just one sexual assault experience but several is a bravery and burden that not many are equipped with or even have the desire for. Tarana’s experience is both exclusive and not. Unfortunately many young black girls and black women have had far too similar experiences to Tarana’s.

Tarana also speaks to the ground work she was doing in the black community prior to the #MeToo movement that blew up online. From the way she communicates it feels to me that she is a black activist first and for obvious reasons that could rub some people the wrong way.

Burke gives the reader a clear vision through her words of what shame and fear can be carried for survivors and all of the ways it could show up.

This book is hard and messy, but incredibly powerful. If you can handle the triggers or are able to skip over them I highly encourage you to read it. With her very New York attitude Burke reminded me as a mixed woman that I can’t give up fighting for young black girls and the goal should always be to empower them.

One of my favorite quotes in this book was: “If unkindness is indeed a serial killer, then my revelation is that I was my own murderer. I had taught myself to bend to my own unkindness first, so that I would be able to withstand the unkindness of others. I will not bend anymore.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Rape

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Racial slurs, Drug use, and Transphobia

danimcthomas's review

challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

Incredible memoir of a truly unsung hero.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Sexual assault

Heavy subject matter all throughout - if you are sensitive to the topic of sexual assault at all, I would avoid.

readandfindout's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.75

Style/writing: 4.5 stars
Themes: 5 stars
Perspective: 4.5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Grief, Sexual assault, Body shaming, Gaslighting, Rape, Misogyny, Child abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Gun violence and Emotional abuse

maryjames's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Grief, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, and Death

Moderate: Classism and Cursing

Minor: Miscarriage, Incest, and Pregnancy

jazcoal's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Domestic abuse

danielleeejames's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Rape, Gun violence, and Domestic abuse

amarachireadss's review against another edition

5.0

“There is no here without where I was: stuck and scared and ashamed, a place I remained until the need to care for someone else’s shame saved me too.”

This was such an emotional and important memoir and I’m so glad I read this. I loved reading about how Tarana’s influenced her starting the ‘me too’ movement and how much bigger it is than white Hollywood. I really struggled with how to rate this because it’s deep and it was sometimes hard to read and triggering for me because of the subject matter. This idea of personal shame, fear, rage, loneliness, survival and the author taking that and turning it into community outreach with other survivors was so important. This is a story of a survivor and her life and how we got to what is now know as the ‘me too’ movement.

“my rage showed up and the shame disappeared.”

Seeing the journey the author went through in this memoir,I’m so proud of her and I’m glad she’s able and chose to use her difficult and traumatic experiences to help organize and motivate others.

“I had found a new thing to become: radical.”

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

mklein319's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape

Moderate: Gun violence, Classism, Drug use, and Emotional abuse

maggie_green's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Reading this book was painful and frustrating and sad, but it was also liberatory in a very real way. Burke's engagement with sexual violence prevention and response underscores every retroactive introspection, and you can see her life and understanding unfolding over the course of decades. She examines how people failed her, how she sometimes failed others, and how social movements have failed the people they seek to help, all with an incisive and empathetic narration that drags you to a cathartic conclusion, even as the way there is oftentimes painful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault