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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
sad
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Gaslighting
Moderate: Alcoholism, Deadnaming, Death of parent
Minor: Forced institutionalization
this was an absolute SLOG to get through. i get the intention of the repetition to show how tedious everything was, but there is a way to do that without writing every single sentence that ever happened
Fascinating and very vulnerable story of a transgender woman who also had dissociative identity disorder, formerly called multiple personality disorder. How she was able to piece together stories from her past that only one of her three identities could remember at a time is pretty remarkable. Giant book, but the 900 pages flew by in just a few hours.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
fast-paced
Really interesting read about living with trauma and DID, while also trying to transition from male to female. The story is told mostly in therapy sessions, which I guess could feel monotonous to some, but I didn’t feel it suffered at all from that choice.
Spoiler
I was glad to see when she finally moved on from Toby to the new therapist. Toby was shockingly unprofessional.
I don’t feel comfortable giving this book a rating, as it was so personal to the author. It is successful and I appreciate the opportunity to read their story, and encourage others to not pass it by because of the page count.
I know that this is a memoir that was very personal to the author. It was a hard experience to witness since the first therapist was not at all qualified and decided to continue to help Emma/Edgar/Katrina. This is also a brick of a book. So I do recommend it but not for bed reading.
A fascinating work that, while difficult at times, was worth reading. There are times where the therapy process felt recursive or regressive, and it could be hard to get through (I say as a reader; I can't imagine the frustration and other feelings of the people involved), but I thought it was important for the storytelling. I enjoyed the artwork and especially the facial expressions. Reading this in parallel with [b:Our Little Secret|58056782|Our Little Secret|Emily Carrington|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1642989824l/58056782._SX50_.jpg|90988171] made me reflect on the systemic burdens that people face after abuse and trauma, on top of those experiences themselves.
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
I give this one a 4.5/5. The narrative is stripped down so bare, you really do feel for the protagonist. I liked that style, though, it truly made me feel like every single one of us was uncovering something magnanimous & meaningful together. A lot of the book enraged me, which is why I knocked the rating down from 5/5. However, I understand the author’s purpose in including that she did. It was a lot. The end justifies the means. I’d read it again in a heartbeat.