Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A History of My Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt

10 reviews

anaheeta's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Suicide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Violence, Racism, Murder, Transphobia, Sexual harassment, Hate crime, and Colonisation

mayamariemartin's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

lizard800's review against another edition

challenging medium-paced

3.5

This book is written by an academic for academics. Outside a university setting it doesn't make much sense. I will be picking up a physical copy of this book to re-read because I think you lose a lot in this one when it is audio. Also, I don't prefer BRB as a narrator.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence

maggiefae's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Homophobia, Mass/school shootings, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Transphobia, Colonisation, and Violence

jessie_h's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

This is one of those essay collections that I will stick be thinking about for a while. There is a lot in this collection to unpack and it was so beautifully written. Belcourt leans on his poetic background to tell parts of his story via essays and poems which results in an emotional sucker punch of a memoir. He touches on topics like queerness, indigeneity, sexuality, queer/NDN joy and hope, and colonialism and does so with a vulnerability and honesty. I want to read more from this author in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Homophobia, Suicide, Racism, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Grief, Sexual content, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Violence, Hate crime, Gun violence, Murder, and Genocide

readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Homophobia, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Death, Hate crime, Genocide, Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Blood, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Police brutality

Minor: Infidelity, Rape, and Transphobia

ecn's review against another edition

Beautifully written and extremely flowery with such emotion and depth. I would have loved to listen to an audiobook version bc of this. The writing made it hard to follow at time because it was so flowery/intense but overall really wonderful 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Grief, Genocide, and Violence

balfies's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

This lyrical, intricate memoir of queer Cree resistance made me weep. It also made me want to write poetry again.

Belcourt uses language to charter unnavigable oceans of queer and NDN experience within a capitalist white supremacist heteropatriarchy. 

Feel like I'm a bug on a forest floor with my mouth open in nutrient rich dirt, there's so much going on in this. If you're a fan of Ocean Vuong or Ellen van Neerven this is a must.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Colonisation, Violence, Sexual content, Suicide, Racism, Murder, Grief, and Homophobia

vigil's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.75

this is a very personal book, deeply entrenched in his own experience that makes it difficult to rate.

billy-ray belcourt has a very strong and specific command of language, (in a way that likely intentional, judging by a later entry) that is enticing but also difficult to comprehend due its strong roots in academia. he has a very immersive writing style that transports you directly into his brain, for better or for worse. 

for personal enjoyment, it’s a 3 star, but i respect the author and what he’s doing with this collection that i bumped it up to a 4.75.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Rape, Genocide, Medical content, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Racism, Violence, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia

hannaheiserman's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Homophobia, and Grief

Moderate: Genocide, Colonisation, and Addiction