Reviews tagging 'Death'

Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair

19 reviews

candeegirl's review

emotional funny inspiring medium-paced

5.0

when I picked up Mean Baby, it was after seeing Selma Blair dance on TV, I had no idea the impact that would follow. I didn't know much about Selma Blair Beitner but I'm so happy she chose to write this book. Selmas outlook on life and how she moves through spaces and thought is incredible, inspiring and very raw. She doesn't spare many details (only necessary ones) and takes us on a journey through her life. I felt a kinship with her and her mean baby antics, I think she is one of the good ones. I feel hope cemented in reality after reading this. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide attempt, Rape, Death, and Death of parent

internationalreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Blood, Cursing, Medical content, Alcoholism, Death, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, and Rape

thenovelbookshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

A beautiful, heart-breaking, heart-wrenching, emotionally compelling memoir of Selma Blair's life from the early years to now.
  
We all like to think that stardom and celebrity is easy, beautiful, graceful, healthy. This proves that you never know what people have gone through in their lives.
  
From the first drink at age 3, to daily drinking to numb the pain from unbeknownst MS, Selma Blair tells a frank & honest recollection of her memories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Chronic illness, and Addiction

Moderate: Child abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Medical content, Animal death, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Rape

Minor: Dementia, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, and Toxic relationship

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.25

 - I didn't know much about Selma Blair before starting this book, other than having seen her in a few movies and knowing about her MS diagnosis. Her memoir takes readers inside what has so far been a fairly private life, and I'll remember it forever.
- This book is a hard read. Blair has been through a lot in her life. I also read the audiobook, read by Blair herself, and she breaks into tears at many points in the story.
- However, MEAN BABY also delivers on the celebrity front. Blair name drops with abandon, and takes us with her to fancy award show parties, photo shoots, and to hang out with the likes of Carrie Fisher and Karl Lagerfeld. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicide attempt

leighannebfd3b's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Grief, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

emilycm's review

dark emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

5.0

oh, wow. this memoir is deeply riddled with authenticity in selma's experience, and it gets you hooked if you let it. i knew very little about her outside of her acting, but she certainly has a grip on the writing. i read a lot of reviews saying that "the tissue of this isn't connected," and that parts jump to other parts, which whole heartedly i did not find issue with. i think since there is a lot of trauma explicated within, it feels as if pieces are jagged and don't fit, but selma's beauty as a writer is that she can thread all these lessons and moments of her life together to create a really solid memoir. this is especially gripping, i think, not because of the trauma that some might find excessive or hard to hear about as selma presents it, but the way in which she reflects on it all. the way you can feel her presence in the moment right now, still thinking through things as she puts them down on the page, and that feels to me, entirely human and what i gravitate towards reading and connect with.

this is one of the few, but best, celebrity memoirs i've read. and in reading it, i know it's going to stick with me. it's someone else's life story, just as every memoir may be, but there was something so innate in this one that i can't help but feel the heaviness and realness of the words as the book now sits on a shelf across from me. i think i'll be recommending this to lots of people in the years to come, and referring to some particular sections at points in my life i do not yet know how they will come.

selma's continuous, authentic threading of her experience with MS was also a very integral, moving part of this memoir. i felt moved by her voice in every sentence and moment of the journey, how she talked about her body, it was a very vivid and powerful account.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Rape, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

megang519's review

dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

The memoir I didn't know I needed until I cracked it open! Beautifully written, vulnerable, and enlightening.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Medical content, Sexual violence, Drug use, Self harm, Body shaming, Rape, Pregnancy, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

tiredtori's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape, Vomit, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Animal death, Blood, Body shaming, Cancer, Death of parent, Death, Dementia, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy

andrealac's review

dark hopeful sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Drug use, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Death of parent