Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Strong Female Character by Fern Brady

24 reviews

kell_xavi's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny informative medium-paced

4.0

Memoir by multilingual Scottish comedian, working class autistic woman, fashion icon, and former stripper Fern Brady. Brady’s experience of autism, depression, and anxiety is very unlike my own—different class, culture, field, and gender context, as well as 2 decades and celebrity status separate us—yet a lot of it is familiar, and the added stories (descriptions, frustrations, examples) are appreciated. I hope all of us women and trans autistics can find ways to be comfortable and safe with ourselves. I hope books like these can help us to be seen.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

tetrootz's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

siebensommer's review

Go to review page

challenging funny reflective medium-paced

4.0

my rage felt too dangerous to be aired outside of my bedroom 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jillyclaire23's review

Go to review page

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Woah. I feel very raw after reading this book. I am so glad it exists, and I am grateful for Fern’s full honesty about her life as a late-diagnosed autistic woman who grew up poor and struggles with meltdowns. Her openness helps other autistic women feel less alone. Even though I’ve done my fair share of research about neurodivergence (duh), I managed to learn new facts, like how medicine affects autistic people differently than allistics because our nervous systems are so sensitive. That’s really important information to know!! There is simply not enough research out there on neurodivergence so we have to rely on each other.

I was wishing for a slightly more hopeful ending to help me recover from reading how many traumatic things happened to Fern. I guess I appreciate that she didn’t try to tie it up into a pretty bow. In the conclusion, though, it almost felt like she was conceding to the “autism parents” out there who are raising autistic kids instead of addressing actual autistic adult readers and giving them hope. This felt uncharacteristic of her since she discussed the problem of autism research being geared toward parents of autistic children and disregarding the fact that those kids grow up to be adults. So the ending was slightly disappointing, but it still moved me. My other issue is her fat-shaming and negative descriptions of people’s appearances. Also, I would’ve appreciated if her descriptions of other women and her relationship to them were more problematized—a lot of them came off as internalized misogyny. 

Despite this, I am grateful for any chance to hear from another autistic woman and her experience. Like she says in the book, learning about your neurotype is like a REALLY accurate Meyers-Briggs test. The sense of community I get in hearing her talk about experiences that resemble my own is pretty lifechanging. I also appreciated reading about her unusual career path in life. It’s hard to be surrounded by unrealistic neurotypical narratives all the time! 

After reading, I promptly watched her interviews and comedy specials. She’s awesome. Her understanding and sense of justice when it comes to the experiences and treatment of neurodivergent people are refreshing.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

hanne_chummy's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

mads_jpg's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Really interesting memoir about life as an autistic woman, I'm a big fan of Fern Brady's comedy and knew about her diagnosis, but was surprised to see this was the main focus of the book. Really well written and very funny, tempted to listen to the audiobook too since I spent most of this book trying to read it in her voice.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

smillas_tales's review

Go to review page

dark funny reflective fast-paced
As an afab autistic person diagnosed in their twenties, this was an incredible book! I don’t share many traits with Brady, but I still related to some of her views of the world, and it was so reaffirming.

My only issue with this novel is Brady’s fatphobia. I’m sure no ill harm is meant, but the frequent comments regarding size and looks, and how these are used to emphasize the negative character of individual stood out to me and took away from my reading experience.

I’ll have a full review up at some point, when I get the time and energy.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bb8isbbgr8t's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

sabbcm's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny informative fast-paced

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bearystarry's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective fast-paced

4.75

I feel incredibly seen by this memoir. I’m… probably going to reread and annotate this almost immediately.

Just wish there was less fatphobia. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings