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kirstym25's review against another edition
dark
emotional
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Sexual harassment
Minor: Racism and Islamophobia
miahhhxx's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Abortion
Moderate: Sexual assault and Rape
Minor: Islamophobia and Racism
frmeden's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Rape, Misogyny, Racism, Medical content, and Pregnancy
hamzajahanzeb's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
This book will save lives. It is so powerful, emotional but thought-provoking..
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion
Moderate: Grief
thecandidbookclub's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.5
outsmartyourshelf's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
January 2017, & the author arrives at an abortion clinic in Queens, New York with her boyfriend. He opts to wait in the waiting room but when the appointment is over, he is nowhere to be seen. Arriving home, all his possessions are gone, & then he sends a harsh text abruptly ending their relationship. In the aftermath of this cruel betrayal, the author discovers that she is not the first (or last) that this man has used & discarded - there's a trail of women left bewildered, angry, & down thousands of dollars. In these darkest times, it is friendships with fellow women that help the author to heal & move forward with her life.
Such a personal memoir is difficult to give a rating, as how do you review someone's experiences & feelings? It's obviously written from the heart & the author's pain is evident. It can become a little ranty & meandering at times but given her experiences I understand it. On a wider scale, the author looks at how society is set up to facilitate this kind of behaviour: from friends who are inclined to ignore or condone the behaviour of this type of man, to the double standard that women are socialised into keep giving badly behaved men another chance but when they are hurt & deceived, they are told they should have known better.
I think all women who date men should read this book. There are many (of course not all), far too many men who don't view women as people - the best comparison I've seen (can't remember where I read it unfortunately) is that they view us as NPCs (non-player characters) - there to just facilitate their lives without any inner life or needs of our own. Alongside narcissists & those being 'red-pilled', dating is no longer pleasant for many women. Not that women get away scot free, they can also be misogynistic (aka 'I'm not like other girls') & judgmental towards other women.
The author brings up some really interesting points that I've been thinking about since I finished reading this book yesterday. The main thing I personally took away from this book is that we need to stop viewing ourselves & other women through the male gaze. Such an important point that need reiterating. Overall, honest memoir about a difficult experience, but it can meander a little & become a little repetitive. 4 stars.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Orion Publishing Group/Weidenfeld & Nicolson, for the opportunity to read an ARC.
Such a personal memoir is difficult to give a rating, as how do you review someone's experiences & feelings? It's obviously written from the heart & the author's pain is evident. It can become a little ranty & meandering at times but given her experiences I understand it. On a wider scale, the author looks at how society is set up to facilitate this kind of behaviour: from friends who are inclined to ignore or condone the behaviour of this type of man, to the double standard that women are socialised into keep giving badly behaved men another chance but when they are hurt & deceived, they are told they should have known better.
I think all women who date men should read this book. There are many (of course not all), far too many men who don't view women as people - the best comparison I've seen (can't remember where I read it unfortunately) is that they view us as NPCs (non-player characters) - there to just facilitate their lives without any inner life or needs of our own. Alongside narcissists & those being 'red-pilled', dating is no longer pleasant for many women. Not that women get away scot free, they can also be misogynistic (aka 'I'm not like other girls') & judgmental towards other women.
The author brings up some really interesting points that I've been thinking about since I finished reading this book yesterday. The main thing I personally took away from this book is that we need to stop viewing ourselves & other women through the male gaze. Such an important point that need reiterating. Overall, honest memoir about a difficult experience, but it can meander a little & become a little repetitive. 4 stars.
My thanks to NetGalley & publishers, Orion Publishing Group/Weidenfeld & Nicolson, for the opportunity to read an ARC.