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Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
184 reviews
shugentobler's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
As a biologist I sometimes find it hard to want to read about biology, especially in a pop sci story of way. It's just hard to look forward to having someone explain things you know and it can often come across as gimmicky, which is maybe why I put off this book for so long.
I am not sure I would call this book "pop sci" and I instantly regretted not reading it sooner.
This book is a iridescent gem of a collection of essays exploring the sea and a queer narrative of self discovery. It was so beautiful at times I wanted to weep. I instantly thought of 3 or 4 people I wanted to gift it too.
It's so magnificent and so perfectly interconnected-I could not recommend this queer nature book more.
I am not sure I would call this book "pop sci" and I instantly regretted not reading it sooner.
This book is a iridescent gem of a collection of essays exploring the sea and a queer narrative of self discovery. It was so beautiful at times I wanted to weep. I instantly thought of 3 or 4 people I wanted to gift it too.
It's so magnificent and so perfectly interconnected-I could not recommend this queer nature book more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Dysphoria, and Rape
Moderate: Xenophobia and Transphobia
jnaiburg's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Drug use
bibliomich's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Okay, I generally don't add star reviews for memoirs, but since this book is only part-memoir (and deserves all the hype), I'm giving it five stars.
How Far the Light Reaches is not only a favorite of this year, but possibly one of my favorites *ever*. At the end of each chapter, I'd think to myself, "Oh, okay, that was the best one. That was my favorite chapter so far." And then I'd listen to the next and be blown away once again.
In each chapter, Sabrina Imbler (they/them) juxtaposes autobiographical anecdotes with scientific facts about different marine species. For example, in "Beware the Sand Striker," Imbler alternates between discussing their experiences with sexual autonomy and assault, and then draws parallels with the sand striker's predatory behaviors. They discuss a range of topics (some quite heavy), including race and racism, body image and disordered eating, mother-child relationships, identity, sexuality, and bigotry (to name a few), and they write with so much honesty and vulnerability. I also learned A LOT about marine life, and even though I often shy away from nonfiction, these were some of my favorite sections of the book.
Imbler also narrates the audiobook, and their narration is exceptional. While I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, I would also love to own a physical copy (and will likely purchase one) just to return to it over and over again.
How Far the Light Reaches is not only a favorite of this year, but possibly one of my favorites *ever*. At the end of each chapter, I'd think to myself, "Oh, okay, that was the best one. That was my favorite chapter so far." And then I'd listen to the next and be blown away once again.
In each chapter, Sabrina Imbler (they/them) juxtaposes autobiographical anecdotes with scientific facts about different marine species. For example, in "Beware the Sand Striker," Imbler alternates between discussing their experiences with sexual autonomy and assault, and then draws parallels with the sand striker's predatory behaviors. They discuss a range of topics (some quite heavy), including race and racism, body image and disordered eating, mother-child relationships, identity, sexuality, and bigotry (to name a few), and they write with so much honesty and vulnerability. I also learned A LOT about marine life, and even though I often shy away from nonfiction, these were some of my favorite sections of the book.
Imbler also narrates the audiobook, and their narration is exceptional. While I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, I would also love to own a physical copy (and will likely purchase one) just to return to it over and over again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault
Moderate: Transphobia, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Racism, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
yajairat's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Came in expecting to learn about sea creatures, but I left this reading experience in awe of just how vast this world is and how similar their lives are to ours.
The essays were a beautiful mix of informative and personal. I like the fact that Imbler switched between the story of the sea creature and their own story every paragraph. Think it kept it nicely separated, but still saw the connections between them. They had some really poignant reflections on their youth, identity, sexuality, and big life events. Teared up at times not gonna lie!! One of my favorite reads of the year.
"In the animal kingdom, there are two ways to be a mother. Some animals can reproduce multiple times in the span of a life, others just once.... creatures like octopuses have no such maternal privileges. Their single shot at reproduction produces hundreds or thousands of babies, stacking the odds that at least a few will make it out alive... the octopus mother cannot leave her post to hunt. She survives on the stored energy of her body. She will never again see another place; this is her last view." - from the story "My Mother and the Starving Octopus", where a female octopus will starve herself while tending to her eggs, and dies once they hatch.
"I realize now that my mother's wish for me to be thin was, in its way, an act of love. She wanted me to be skinny so things would be easier. White, so things would be easier. Straight, so things would be easy, easy, easy. So that, unlike her, no one would ever question my right to be here, in America. I just wish I could tell her I've been okay without those things, that I've actually been better without them. I wish she would stop wanting those things too." - from "My Mother and the Starving Octopus"
"I predict I will always be in negotiation with my body, what it wants, and what I want of it."
"These animals eked out an alternative way of life. I prefer to think of it not as a last resort but as a radical act of choosing what nourishes you. As queer people, we get to choose our families. Vent bacteria, tube works, and yeti crabs just take it one step further." - from "Pure Life"
"I felt confused about why she never left, surrounded by the ghosts of the abuse and the trial and the hounding by the press. But I also understand the security that comes when you know a place and its ghosts. When you have seen the worst of it and survived." - from "Beware of the Sand Striker", Lorena Bobbitt's story and the bobbit worm that was named after her trauma
"Though prey can be caught off guard, can be surprised, can even be ambushed, prey is never truly unsuspecting. It has evolved the blueprint of its body in response to, or in anticipation of, trauma."
"Almost every system we exist in is cruel, and it is our job to hold ourselves accountable to a moral center separate from the arbitrary ganglion of laws that, so often, get things wrong. This is the work we inherit as creatures with a complex brain, which comes with inexplicable joys, like love and sex and making out in cars, but also the duty of empathy, of understanding what it means when someone is stumbling"
"Trauma is not just a catalyst to regeneration; it is the only catalyst"
"Maybe these moments teach me that this joy does not come from being around people who look like you but from people who are irritated in the same ways. Maybe home is the people who hear your rants and nod, because they know. Maybe complaining to someone who gets it is one of the purest comforts on Earth. Maybe it is less about our shared backgrounds than it is about our shared irritations, obsessions, grievances, fears, resentments. - from "Hybrids"
The essays were a beautiful mix of informative and personal. I like the fact that Imbler switched between the story of the sea creature and their own story every paragraph. Think it kept it nicely separated, but still saw the connections between them. They had some really poignant reflections on their youth, identity, sexuality, and big life events. Teared up at times not gonna lie!! One of my favorite reads of the year.
"In the animal kingdom, there are two ways to be a mother. Some animals can reproduce multiple times in the span of a life, others just once.... creatures like octopuses have no such maternal privileges. Their single shot at reproduction produces hundreds or thousands of babies, stacking the odds that at least a few will make it out alive... the octopus mother cannot leave her post to hunt. She survives on the stored energy of her body. She will never again see another place; this is her last view." - from the story "My Mother and the Starving Octopus", where a female octopus will starve herself while tending to her eggs, and dies once they hatch.
"I realize now that my mother's wish for me to be thin was, in its way, an act of love. She wanted me to be skinny so things would be easier. White, so things would be easier. Straight, so things would be easy, easy, easy. So that, unlike her, no one would ever question my right to be here, in America. I just wish I could tell her I've been okay without those things, that I've actually been better without them. I wish she would stop wanting those things too." - from "My Mother and the Starving Octopus"
"I predict I will always be in negotiation with my body, what it wants, and what I want of it."
"These animals eked out an alternative way of life. I prefer to think of it not as a last resort but as a radical act of choosing what nourishes you. As queer people, we get to choose our families. Vent bacteria, tube works, and yeti crabs just take it one step further." - from "Pure Life"
"I felt confused about why she never left, surrounded by the ghosts of the abuse and the trial and the hounding by the press. But I also understand the security that comes when you know a place and its ghosts. When you have seen the worst of it and survived." - from "Beware of the Sand Striker", Lorena Bobbitt's story and the bobbit worm that was named after her trauma
"Though prey can be caught off guard, can be surprised, can even be ambushed, prey is never truly unsuspecting. It has evolved the blueprint of its body in response to, or in anticipation of, trauma."
"Almost every system we exist in is cruel, and it is our job to hold ourselves accountable to a moral center separate from the arbitrary ganglion of laws that, so often, get things wrong. This is the work we inherit as creatures with a complex brain, which comes with inexplicable joys, like love and sex and making out in cars, but also the duty of empathy, of understanding what it means when someone is stumbling"
"Trauma is not just a catalyst to regeneration; it is the only catalyst"
"Maybe these moments teach me that this joy does not come from being around people who look like you but from people who are irritated in the same ways. Maybe home is the people who hear your rants and nod, because they know. Maybe complaining to someone who gets it is one of the purest comforts on Earth. Maybe it is less about our shared backgrounds than it is about our shared irritations, obsessions, grievances, fears, resentments. - from "Hybrids"
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder and Sexual assault
Minor: Racial slurs
threepigeons's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.75
A series of ten essays about sea creatures but also about the author's experiences as a chinese american, a queer person, a mixed race person, a person learning to be and become themself, all written in beautiful prose that makes the whole thing such a gorgeous experience. It's a book that filled me with awe and appreciation for not only the animals covered but also the lives of those around me and the many circles we all move in. This was awesome and you should read it! (I devoured this in two days during the middle of my work week pulling back to back 12hr shifts - it's Worth It)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder and Sexual assault
elsakern's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Favourite essays: My Mother and the Starving Octopus, My Grandmother and the Sturgeon, We Swarm, Morphing Like a Cuttlefish, and Us Everlasting
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Alcoholism, and Eating disorder
jazhandz's review
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I picked up this book because the marketing and blurb makes it sound like science nonfiction. It is not. It is a collection of personal essays that use marine as a metaphor. They’re beautiful essays, they’re very striking, but I was just intensely frustrated the whole time because of the marketing failure. I wanted the sea creatures to be the point of the book, and it didn’t feel like they were. Maybe I would rate this higher if I’d gone in knowing that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Animal death, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Sexual content, and War
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Racial slurs
crackhead_bex's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault and Eating disorder
jasperchandler01's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault
awildpreciouslife's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
4.5 ✨
"I want to imagine how I am continuing to live."
Beautiful, aching, so gentle in its tone. I'm so glad I picked this up. It made me miss being around queer community. And reminded me the joy of just being, and the joy of words.
"I want to imagine how I am continuing to live."
Beautiful, aching, so gentle in its tone. I'm so glad I picked this up. It made me miss being around queer community. And reminded me the joy of just being, and the joy of words.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault