Reviews tagging 'Grief'

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing

6 reviews

effievee's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Gun violence, Violence, Drug use, Terminal illness, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Grief, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Rape, Racial slurs, Self harm, Alcoholism, Racism, and Classism

owenwilsonbaby's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

“God I was sick of carrying around a woman’s body, or rather everything that attaches to it.”

Wow! My copy is dog-eared from the countless quotes I wanted to remember and include here. What a beautiful and articulate piece of writing about analysing and challenging loneliness and what a delicate and finely-wrought talent for storytelling. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Drug abuse, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Abandonment, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Blood, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Violence

ohlhauc's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

A clear and emotional look at loneliness from different angles, with a focus on its expression through the telling of four artists working in New York through the mid- and late- twentieth century - Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, David Wojnarowicz, and Henry Darger. There is also a bit of memoir as the author discusses her own relationship with loneliness while living in New York, but the memoir element definitely takes a back seat to the social commentary, art criticism, and author profiles.

One of the strongest parts is that the art criticism is accessible so you don't need to know a lot about art, especially art and photography, to understand the commentary. The author guides the reader by not only explaining the works but also their context and impact. Another strong part is how the author continued to define loneliness with deeper levels of meaning rather than relying on one definition, and doing so by looking at other forces like privilege, oppression, class structures, stigma, and more. You won't see much discussion on mental health, which was an element that I felt was missing, but the other social forces were compelling, especially during the sections on forced institutionalization and the AIDS epidemic.

If you're interested in art criticism, in books about the AIDS epidemic, in loneliness in general, or how society can fail people who are different - this book is for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Homophobia, Medical trauma, and Terminal illness

grtwrrn's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Rape, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, and Homophobia

aidrielle's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

olivia laing really dragged out some of my deepest, most shameful thoughts and displayed them all out here in her book, huh? reading this was unexpectedly comforting at times because, idk, misery loves company i guess. there's really something about having someone put your thoughts and emotions into such eloquent words. at the same time though, i'd caution everyone to really evaluate your current state of mind first before you dive into this book. it's extremely visceral, and there were times when i had to stop reading because it was just too much. reading this book about loneliness during one of the loneliest periods of human existence in the past few years isn't something to be taken lightly. this book was incredible but, idk, just really think about whether you can handle it or not before you start reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Violence

julied's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual content

Minor: Addiction