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smemmott's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault
erebus53's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
As a "travel memoir" written by a journalist this is an offering with a little more personal journey than most. Raised in the Orkney Islands in the north of Scotland, but with British parents, the author has always felt like she doesn't really belong in her home community. Dealing with a religiously zealous mother and a father who has an ongoing battle with mental illness she is dead keen to leg it to the South, and reinvent herself, but when she gets to London things are not exactly the escape she had planned.
Ultimately this is a story about one woman's struggle with alcoholism, rehab, trying to navigate the 12-Step as an Atheist, and finding a life beyond the drink. Having lost a string of jobs, relationships, places to live and then eventually running afoul of the law, she realises that she needs to move past that decade she's not getting back, and make positive lifelong changes.
Her stories of erratic party nights and vagrant meanderings felt real and resonant to me. Having spent my first year away from home in a city that was new to me, as a neurodivergent youth who had been barely surviving in high school, I finally had my first chance to be a teenager, to have friends, and to find out what I liked. Looking at how badly wrong it could have gone I am thankful that I never really got into drink or drugs in any serious way (not that I would have had the money for it). I was poor and I made my own fun. I was one of those goths that apparently the inebriated party girls thought looked mysterious and exotic.
In the British journalistic fashion, this is a story full of documentary asides, information and history of places, and wildlife. Here's me charging off to rabbit-hole videos of corn crakes, and looking up photographs of fulmars and geos...
This ties in nicely to the idea of "getting back to nature" which is almost cliché by now, but makes some good sense in getting real, in a world that is much bigger than you. It's humbling and well worth gratitude and awe. Working for Bird Protection, hill walking, shore foraging, sea swimming, having a mission, stopping to gape at clouds and atmospheric lights, seeking novelty and sensory stimulation, and listening to rousing music, all seem to help ground this woman who is in constant motion.
But even in this finding-her-roots downtime, it doesn't really stop her making impulsive decisions, or taking risk. She starts to come up with her own theories for where she went wrong, and I really hope they help her.. but if you're reading this and strongly relate, and would consider clinical assistance helpful, please consider getting an assessment for ADHD.. because she's a textbook case.
I'm going to own my biases here, because I know arm-chair diagnosis annoys people, but after having lived with SO many people with this sort of pattern of action and sensation-seeking (and parenting a couple while I'm at it) it's just so familiar that I think it's important to mention.
Ultimately this is a story about one woman's struggle with alcoholism, rehab, trying to navigate the 12-Step as an Atheist, and finding a life beyond the drink. Having lost a string of jobs, relationships, places to live and then eventually running afoul of the law, she realises that she needs to move past that decade she's not getting back, and make positive lifelong changes.
Her stories of erratic party nights and vagrant meanderings felt real and resonant to me. Having spent my first year away from home in a city that was new to me, as a neurodivergent youth who had been barely surviving in high school, I finally had my first chance to be a teenager, to have friends, and to find out what I liked. Looking at how badly wrong it could have gone I am thankful that I never really got into drink or drugs in any serious way (not that I would have had the money for it). I was poor and I made my own fun. I was one of those goths that apparently the inebriated party girls thought looked mysterious and exotic.
In the British journalistic fashion, this is a story full of documentary asides, information and history of places, and wildlife. Here's me charging off to rabbit-hole videos of corn crakes, and looking up photographs of fulmars and geos...
This ties in nicely to the idea of "getting back to nature" which is almost cliché by now, but makes some good sense in getting real, in a world that is much bigger than you. It's humbling and well worth gratitude and awe. Working for Bird Protection, hill walking, shore foraging, sea swimming, having a mission, stopping to gape at clouds and atmospheric lights, seeking novelty and sensory stimulation, and listening to rousing music, all seem to help ground this woman who is in constant motion.
But even in this finding-her-roots downtime, it doesn't really stop her making impulsive decisions, or taking risk. She starts to come up with her own theories for where she went wrong, and I really hope they help her.. but if you're reading this and strongly relate, and would consider clinical assistance helpful, please consider getting an assessment for ADHD.. because she's a textbook case.
I'm going to own my biases here, because I know arm-chair diagnosis annoys people, but after having lived with SO many people with this sort of pattern of action and sensation-seeking (and parenting a couple while I'm at it) it's just so familiar that I think it's important to mention.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Drug use, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Alcoholism, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Vomit, Animal death, and Rape
Minor: Colonisation
lauraportalupi's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Animal death and Forced institutionalization
fluffy1st's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism
Moderate: Drug abuse and Sexual assault
greenwillow77's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Addiction, and Mental illness
Moderate: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual assault
Thi book includes descriptions of the circumstances of those attending a drug & alcohol recovery program, & there are brief references to abusive relationships, prostitution, mental illnesses, as well as addictive behaviours.leabharlann_de_la_witch's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Animal death
jessieh's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual assault, Addiction, and Alcoholism
abbie_'s review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I really enjoyed this memoir detailing Amy Liptrot’s battle against alcoholism, helped along by her return to her childhood home of Orkney. The details of life on the islands were breathtaking, enough to make you want to pack up everything and go live on a farm on an island with 70 other people. And I’m glad she acknowledged the privilege she holds to be able to do that (oblivious memoirs can be a bit annoying), as other people battling addiction aren’t so lucky.
Super engaging writing style, and just a great down-to-earth memoir!
Super engaging writing style, and just a great down-to-earth memoir!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts
kalirossi's review against another edition
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism
Minor: Sexual assault
writtenontheflyleaves's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.5
Back from my reading slump 💤
-
I’ve had a terrible time of reading over the last few weeks tbh - less of a reading slump than a general life slump. You know how it is. BUT I am feeling much better now - and I got to 200 followers while I was away too!! Thanks guys!!
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While I was aboard the struggle bus this is what I was reading: The Outrun by Amy Liptrot.
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🗺The premise: The Outrun is a memoir about the beauty of the Orkney islands and the darkness of alcoholism. Liptrot returns to the Scottish islands where she grew up having recently embarked on the journey of sobriety after years of drinking, and she finds a feeling of unexpected expansion in the wild landscapes she felt so trapped in as a teenager.
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Had I been in a better mindset I think I would have gotten through this one much quicker than I did. When I did sit down and read it, it was easy to get lost in Liptrot’s lucid prose and I found myself thinking a lot about it between readings. She writes about the contrasting worlds of East London and Orkney with careful detail, and the twin removes of sobriety and distance from London make for a very moving contemplation of what it was that she was looking for when she drank, and where or if she can find it in her sober life.
-
🌊Read it if you love to read about nature and local histories - I loved learning about the folklore around the islands! - and if you like your memoirists to reflect honestly and sometimes even harshly on their own actions. Especially read it if you’re interested in reading reflective writing about alcohol.
-
🚫Avoid it if alcoholism is perhaps a difficult topic for you, or if you’re just not a fan of memoir.
-
Overall I gave this 🌟🌟🌟✨ on @the.storygraph but I think if I reread it in future it would be higher - just a mindset thing for me I think!
-
💭This has definitely made me want to read more about nature and people who go into landscapes (preferably very different to those I have experience with!) to reflect.
-
I’ve had a terrible time of reading over the last few weeks tbh - less of a reading slump than a general life slump. You know how it is. BUT I am feeling much better now - and I got to 200 followers while I was away too!! Thanks guys!!
-
While I was aboard the struggle bus this is what I was reading: The Outrun by Amy Liptrot.
-
🗺The premise: The Outrun is a memoir about the beauty of the Orkney islands and the darkness of alcoholism. Liptrot returns to the Scottish islands where she grew up having recently embarked on the journey of sobriety after years of drinking, and she finds a feeling of unexpected expansion in the wild landscapes she felt so trapped in as a teenager.
-
Had I been in a better mindset I think I would have gotten through this one much quicker than I did. When I did sit down and read it, it was easy to get lost in Liptrot’s lucid prose and I found myself thinking a lot about it between readings. She writes about the contrasting worlds of East London and Orkney with careful detail, and the twin removes of sobriety and distance from London make for a very moving contemplation of what it was that she was looking for when she drank, and where or if she can find it in her sober life.
-
🌊Read it if you love to read about nature and local histories - I loved learning about the folklore around the islands! - and if you like your memoirists to reflect honestly and sometimes even harshly on their own actions. Especially read it if you’re interested in reading reflective writing about alcohol.
-
🚫Avoid it if alcoholism is perhaps a difficult topic for you, or if you’re just not a fan of memoir.
-
Overall I gave this 🌟🌟🌟✨ on @the.storygraph but I think if I reread it in future it would be higher - just a mindset thing for me I think!
-
💭This has definitely made me want to read more about nature and people who go into landscapes (preferably very different to those I have experience with!) to reflect.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Addiction
Minor: Violence, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Sexual assault
More...