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Reviews tagging 'Abortion'
Liliana's Invincible Summer: A Sister's Search for Justice by Cristina Rivera Garza
7 reviews
cghegan's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Murder, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Abortion, Stalking, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
emzireads's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Hate crime, and Stalking
Minor: Abortion
bookreviewswithkb's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
4.0
it’s the feeling of being trapped, suffocated. not able to reach the surface. not being able to breathe under the weight of the pressure - the pressure placed upon women at the hands of men to surrender and conform and abandon our sense of self. of the loss that occurs when a man thinks a woman is only theirs and nothing more
this memoir is painful and beautiful and striking
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Abortion
lapuce1006's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Murder, Grief, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Rape, Pregnancy, Death, Violence, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Stalking, and Abortion
myprettypages's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
This was an emotive and heartbreaking account on a woman’s life cut short by her ex-boyfriend, a narrative that is all too familiar all across the world. This was written beautifully, non-fiction books can be hard to digest at times especially with such a difficult subject but the way Garza approached this was unique from anything that I had read before. Liliana’s life was told through the letters, poems and notes that she had written, deciphered by her sister. This approach as well as the interviews from her close friends and family brought her world to life, "Liliana, strong and fragile at the same time.” I was able to feel her emotions and visualise her life and the pain that carried on afterwards. From short extracts from those closest in her life, they gave a clear indication of her life and more specifically her relationship. The use of the interviews from different friends gave a really interesting insight into this man, giving little clues to what eventually happened. Through these letters we‘re transported into Liliana’s mind and her internal conflict with love as "Love hurts [her], and yet isn’t it that what makes us happy?"
Throughout, there was a parallel between what happened to Liliana and things happening in real life and to so many women which made it an impactful read. There was a constant mention of “selfish love” and that "Freedom, [Liliana] reminded [her] all the time, was the most important possession in life.” Even towards the end, there is a persistent and growing danger looming over as "Liliana who, as much as she turned the world upside down, could not find the words to name the violence that followed her closely." Cristiana explored and presented why so many victims struggle to escape domestic violence, again reflecting the systemic blame off of women. Accounts like this are so important, reminding people of the growing injustice and fear for many women and how ultimately the patriarchy does nothing to dissemble it because ultimately it is only men who can stop this. The author criticises the way love and toxic men are romanticised as someone that women can ‘fix’ which is a very dangerous mentality as “Self-destruction and disenchantment do not constitute an example of a true and fiery romanticism but of a romanticism that is murderous.”
I really enjoyed the letters that were woven into this novel, it’s very clear how detailed and expressive of her feelings in those letters, they were important for her and we learn a lot about her from them. The narrator slid between the present of Cristina reflecting on Liliana and the past through Liliana letters. I like the different perspectives and observations from other people who had knew Liliana’s and speaking about their time together. Whilst Liliana’s murderer is never brought to justice, we’re able to witness how Cristina is able to create her own justice by immortalising who she was as a person and her story as “time was eternal”. I appreciate how hard this must have been to write, to revisit her sisters life and death. "If the wound heals, I will swim once more. I want to meet her again in the water. I want to swim, as I always did, in my sisters company”.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Bloomsbury for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual assault and Abortion
carolinacortez's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Uy como empezar,
Al final si todo estaba bien, las amigas se juraban amor eterno.
En primer lugar este libro lo empeze a leer hace meses, y por varias razones no pude continuar hasta apenas ayer (y lo acabe en un día después de eso), la primera razón es por que tuve muchos conciertos en estos meses que me dejaron en depresión post concierto y por más que intentaba no podía continuar con la lectura, en segundo lugar por el libro en si.
¿Quién en un mundo donde no existía la palabra feminicidio, las palabras terrorismo de pareja, podía decir lo que ahora digo sin la menor duda: la única diferencia entre mi hermana y yo es que yo nunca me tope con un asesino? l única diferencia entre ella y tu.
El libro cuenta la vida de Liliana (hermana de la autora) que fue víctima de feminicidio por parte de su ex novio en 1990, es un libro fuerte y pesado, te deja con un hueco en el corazon, pero a la vez es muy bello, Cristina se encargo de contar la vida de su hermana con mucho amor, de contar como ella era más que la tragedia y el horror que gira entorno a su muerte, entrevistó a los amigos de Liliana, y básicamente se enfoco en Lili, y estoy muy agradecida por eso, raramente encontramos contenido sobre alguna tragedia entorno a la vctima, usualmente es para enaltecer al asesino, y en este caso no fue asi.
Me encantó la novela.
La libertad no es el problema. El problema son los hombres
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexism, and Misogyny
Moderate: Rape and Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual assault, Pregnancy, and Abortion
suspicious_salmon's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, and Murder
Moderate: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Stalking, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Abortion
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