Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up by Selma Blair

33 reviews

cecialex's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Rape, Addiction, and Alcoholism

anjasshelf's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Addiction, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Rape, Terminal illness, Pregnancy, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Fatphobia, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

kilonshele's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Chronic illness

Minor: Suicide attempt and Death of parent

paigicus's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Rape, and Medical content

Moderate: Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Death, Animal death, and Death of parent

Minor: Toxic relationship, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Adult/minor relationship

cinderrunner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

A beautiful and insightful read. I wouldn't consider myself a Selma Blair fan and have always been indifferent to her as a performer. This book is a worthwhile read for anyone who enjoys powerfully human memoirs. It completely stands on its own merits regardless of Blair's stardom. This book was so painful yet beautiful. There is a rather lyrical quality to Blair's writing that I adore. I loved her honesty, self reflection, and openness with the intense hurt of her life. This is very much a book about the struggles of addiction, illness (both phsyical and mental), and finding a sense of belonging/home in a world that can be really painful. Please do check trigger warnings for this one cause the author has been through some rough stuff. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual violence, Self harm, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Sexual assault, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

melissa_h's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

I have been wanting to pick up this book for a while now. Selma was not an actress I watched but I certainly knew of her and her career. 

I really appreciate her oppenness. I want to watch her documentary 😭 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Chronic illness

mjscooke's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

3.75

A solid decades spanning memoir that explores grief, health, assault, and addiction amongst other things. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Death of parent, Drug use, Rape, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

katieconklin's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

I knew almost nothing about Selma Blair before reading this book-- I just thought she was a cool and chic it-girl of the early 2000s. But man, she is pretty weird. Her honesty in this book is incredible, major content warnings in this one. Listening to the audiobook was a bit jarring due to the sheer amount of times she cried while reading it (it felt like at least once a chapter, typically more). I did find the book very interesting, but since I'm not a huge fan of hers it didn't have a lasting impact on me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Chronic illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Drug use, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, and Sexual violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Body shaming

kelly_e's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

Title: Mean Baby: A Memoir of Growing Up
Author: Selma Blair
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.50
Pub Date: May 17, 2022

T H R E E • W O R D S

Vulnerable • Straightforward • Fitful

📖 S Y N O P S I S

The first story Selma Blair Beitner ever heard about herself is that she was a mean, mean baby. With her mouth pulled in a perpetual snarl and a head so furry it had to be rubbed to make way for her forehead, Selma spent years living up to her terrible reputation: biting her sisters, lying spontaneously, getting drunk from Passover wine at the age of seven, and behaving dramatically so that she would be the center of attention.

Although Selma went on to become a celebrated Hollywood actress and model, she could never quite shake the periods of darkness that overtook her, the certainty that there was a great mystery at the heart of her life. She often felt like her arms might be on fire, a sensation not unlike electric shocks, and she secretly drank to escape.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I've been on a celebrity memoir kick lately, and Selma Blair's was up next on the docket. Going in, I knew very little about the author aside from having seen her in a few movies (most notably Legally Blond - a favourite of mine). And I must say Mean Baby didn't wow me like some celebrity memoirs have.

Selma narrates her story in a non-linear manner, touching on her childhood - particularly her strained relationship with her parents, - her alcoholism and depression, her MS diagnosis, and life with her son. The first half has a fair amount of name dropping and superficial meandering, when in fact there could have been a lot more reflection and emotion. The strength of this memoir lies in her opening up about her MS diagnosis and living with a chronic illness. Yet even here there could have been a lot more depth.

I can't pinpoint exactly what this memoir was missing, but I know it was lacking something. It didn't pack the emotional punch I'd been anticipating, despite some extremely difficult and heartbreaking circumstances. It's Selma's right to remain very surface level in telling her story - but as a reader I wanted so much more depth.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• celebrity memoir fanatics
• readers wishing to learn a bit about MS

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Someone once told me that grief is love you can no longer express."

"I learned how it feels when someone else’s thoughts touch a part of you that you haven’t felt before."

"Books also taught me how to notice things, how a moment can be a whole story." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Eating disorder, Drug use, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Rape, and Body shaming

Minor: Cursing, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Cancer, Animal death, Medical content, and Vomit

millywebster's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Medical trauma, Sexual assault, Medical content, Antisemitism, Sexual violence, Eating disorder, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Addiction, and Rape

Minor: Pregnancy