Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott

14 reviews

ivi_reads_books's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

This book is a good mix of memoir and history and stats on indigenous people in Canada and the US. The author describes growing up with a bipolar mother in precarious environments and how their suroundings influenced their behavior.
The author doesn't tell the reader what to do or think. She rather observes what happens and what doesn't happen. What gets said and what doesn't and thus encourages readers to self-reflect on their own behavior

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Abandonment, Addiction, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Violence, Death, Deportation, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Vomit, Alcoholism, Cultural appropriation, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Police brutality

kchin's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Her voice is strong, writing is clear and brilliant. Everyone needs to read this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Police brutality, Murder, Genocide, Sexism, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Racism, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, and Colonisation

remimicha's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Alcoholism, Classism, Police brutality, Body shaming, Child abuse, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Transphobia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Suicide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Hate crime, Cancer, and Death

ltulisiak's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This was a fascinating and heartbreaking essay about discrimination, abuse, mental health, racism, and family dynamics. There were several sections of this essay that were incredibly educational for me, a cis, hetero, white woman who grew up in a very safe, wealthy, and supported environment. Other sections of this book- especially those tackling mental health- resonated with me and helped me to look introspectively about my relationship with myself and with others and how it impacts my mental health. I would highly recommend this essay! 

Additionally, the author is originally from Buffalo, NY, and was partially raised in the greater Cleveland, OH, area, so I felt a geographical connection with her, as well. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Classism, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Cultural appropriation, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Sexual violence

Minor: Suicide attempt

nicolejlevy's review

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Addiction, Suicide attempt, Gaslighting, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Genocide, and Mental illness

Moderate: Grief, Fatphobia, and Hate crime

sofiareadings's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation

Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Police brutality, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

shewantsthediction's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.0

Somewhere between 2 and 3 stars for me. I expected to like this a lot more from the way everyone gushes about it, but the writing style was extremely random. She'd bring up a topic, go on a tangent about something else, then randomly return to said topic, over and over again for the whole book. Sometimes she'd drop topics completely, which made for a jarring listening experience. I also didn't realize this was supposed to be a book of essays until the first one ended and I found out it wasn't memoir. She said several things I disagree with when it comes to trauma, but all of the indigenous stuff was obviously spot on.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Racism, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, and Hate crime

biancafrancisco's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Through a very personal narrative - using herself, her family and her nation as examples - the author touches upon more themes than I can mention, connecting bridges between a myriad of crucial societal issues, always leading back to the macro vision of the effect of capitalism, colonialism and the action of the state on people, while simultaneously making us keep checking our prejudices.

The book teaches you a lot about the issues indigenous communities and individuals struggle with (most that were imposed on them by colonizers), and how not only they are still dealing with and trying to heal from the very real and tangibly present damage this legacy of colonialism and genocide has transfered through generations, but are simultaneously dealing with modern versions of the same violence nowadays. 

I was surprised to see, that through the connections she makes between several systemic structures, there was much for me to relate to as well. I'm an immensely priviledged white european, but I'm still a woman, I'm still a daughter, I'm still bound by the constraints of capitalism and the patriarchy as well as witness to intergenerational trauma, to mention a few, and, in the end, you can't accurately assess any structural issue without it intertwining with the others.

All in all, I recommend it to literally everyone, as I think there's learning opportunities in this book for all of us. I'm extremely glad I picked it up. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racism, Sexism, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, and Xenophobia

benevolentelfking's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Murder, Racism, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Pregnancy

littlecat's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

Its not a style I read a lot of books in (personal essays) which was interesting, it has a distinct own style and I like the humor in it despite the heavy topics. I felt like I read at least part of the essays before but that may just because I read other things about the topics before, definitly interesting.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Grief, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, and Rape