Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Nowhere for Very Long: The Unexpected Road to an Unconventional Life by Brianna Madia

5 reviews

gh2mi's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

An excellent memoir on two fronts: not only is it an inspiring and fascinating nonfiction, Madia's presentation heightens the book from being a great recollection to a story so excellently told that I would almost believe was fiction. Madia's storytelling capabilities are incredibly evocative (as I would hope from someone writing about their life). I listened to her transfixed as she hilariously, viscerally, and reflectively presented her life, jumping back to the past to present fascinating throughlines. The quality of this memoir makes the fact that it is nonfiction all the more amazing. I could not recommend this enough.

The author also narrates her memoir! I found she largely did a good job, and in some parts was downright great. I would recommend this audiobook! Hearing the person who wrote it kept me grounded in reality, making it all the more interesting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Grief, Abandonment, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Mental illness

Minor: Drug use, Animal death, and Body horror

merakiforest's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Alcohol, Cursing, Addiction, Blood, Classism, Drug use, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, and Forced institutionalization

pixelited's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

A genuinely beautiful book about the life of a woman I had never heard of before but now is someone I look up to as inspiration and with the utmost respect.

The author does an excellent job of describing every detail of her adventures and challenges, and it was easy to be enthralled in her words and see the images of her life play in your mind. As a reader, I felt everything right alongside the author as she told it and even had to choke back tears at some parts. Overall, this is just a truly phenomenal memoir that I would recommend to anyone!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Car accident, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Drug use, and Drug abuse

ridgewife's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing fast-paced

5.0

Well. Where do I begin. This story was everything I knew it would be having followed Brianna for years. My heart will remember this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Grief, and Vomit

caitlinpfry's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

I have been following Bri on Instagram since 2017 and have read about her highs and her lows and the trolls in between.

I don’t read memoirs to confirm my own perspectives about a person. I read memoirs to put myself into that person’s shoes as much as a person can from a book. While in those shoes I am a witness to the relationships, the feelings, and the conflicts that individual has experienced. 

What makes this a 5 star memoir? Brianna is raw - she acknowledges her “tortured artist past” to show that she is growing, learning, healing, and loving instead of choosing to focus on her past persona. A memoir isn’t for the reader, it’s for the writer. This book is a love letter and a forgiveness to herself. Don’t we all deserve to give ourselves that?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Grief, Car accident, and Blood