Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Paris: The Memoir bonus chapter

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Paris: The Memoir bonus chapter by Paris Hilton

289 reviews

thecatburglar's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Quick disclaimer before I get into the actual story review: the only reason this isn’t a 5 star review is because I listened to the audio version of this book and (genuinely no offense), I just couldn’t vibe with the LA valleyish tone in her voice. While she wasn’t using her fake baby voice that she’s known for, the unnecessarily raspy ending of every single sentence nearly drove me mad in certain chapters. So personally, it deducts a star for me because it did make the experience of this story a little less “enjoyable” if I may even call it enjoyable (considering just HOW MUCH trauma there is to unpack in her story). But the story itself was soul crushing.

Okay, on to the story.

I don’t know where to begin, so I’ll just word vomit my feelings: this was nothing like I expected it to be. I went into this audio book completely blind, curious about what Paris might have to say because I remember being OBSESSED with The Simple Life back in the day. I knew Paris as the iconic Barbie girl who was an excellent business woman and knew how to market herself and keep herself relevant. What I did not expect was the horrific tragedies she had gone through.

From being literally kidnapped — with her parents permission! - and forced into an abusive youth facility to all the other unfair struggles she faced, I was shocked. I can’t fathom how she was able to forgive her parents after everything she went through because of THEIR continuous choices, but I guess it just goes to show how compassionate and big her heart truly is. Turns out I did not know Paris Hilton at all.

Paris shows how resilient she is and how strong she is to have endured the level of abuse on literally all levels she has had to go through. The fact that so many desperate parents who truly just wanted the best for their children had been scammed not only out of their money but also been broken beyond repair by these massive industries that are STILL RUN TODAY and that benefited from these difficult situations is absolutely disgusting and makes me lose my faith in humanity.

And I truly just can’t help but question what the fuck her parents were on who kept repeatedly sending her back to the place that literally broke her apart each time she managed to run away. You can tell me whatever you want, but when your child begs you to come home and confesses with tears they’re being abused and you’re literally witnessing them dwindle into nothingness with your own eyes, how do you justify it with “we couldn’t have known”???????

I hope one day she gets to fully heal from all that she has suffered from and I pray for all the other victims whose names haven’t been mentioned but who have suffered the same — if not even worse — fate.

This was a very eye opening book and I’m glad I gave it a shot.

Content Warnings

_camchamomile's review against another edition

3.75

emotional informative inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

I didn't realize how little I knew about Paris Hilton until I listened to this. I sincerely enjoyed Paris' narration and appreciated having the opportunity to hear her side of the story. Paris has overcome a lot in her life! An enjoyable, relatively quick listen.

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amanid's review against another edition

3.25

dark reflective sad slow-paced

I wouldn’t say this book was bad but it definitely wasn’t good. One major issue I had was the book just didn’t flow well. Paris does give her reasoning behind this early on in the book but I think this is something that could have been easily corrected by an editor. It really took a lot away from my enjoyment of the book. However, I did feel like I learned a lot about Paris’ life which was the main point of the book. I didn’t know much about her coming into this book and she did a good job of showcasing her life experiences and connecting them to her current day self. I do think her story offers her personal perspective and experience with a tragedy that I didn’t know much about before hand. Paris does try to offer some words of wisdom but it comes off rather forced.

Content Warnings

sdloomer's review against another edition

2.5

informative lighthearted fast-paced

Reading this made me simultaneously respect and despise Paris Hilton that much more than I thought I did. I really don't know what I was expecting when I picked this up (definitely not my usual choice of book), but that was not it.

I am saddened by her confession of being subjected to horrible abuse—details of which I won't go into because they are really that horrible—instigated by her own parents, and am genuinely hoping that those relationships can be mended for her.

On the other hand, I grew increasingly annoyed by her constant whinging about "work". Every other page is marked by how much she throws herself into her work, how she can't live without the work, how she's always been work-driven, and can't you just see that she's so hardworking? I get it. Work is something that is a constant in everyone's lives and some people find a lot of meaning in it, but being humble is something that means a lot to me, and for better or worse, Paris Hilton ain't it.

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bookwyrm_kate's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

This is a such a juxtaposition of a person who came up in the public eye of a technology renaissance, but was also subjected to more abuse, trauma, and violence than most combat veterans, and no one knew, and those who did, were in complete denial. This was a person left to the wolves, quite literally, who clawed her way back. It’s one of the most harrowing accounts I’ve ever read, and I recommend anyone who wants to read it, first looks up the content warnings. I found it deeply disturbing, but it left me also with an incredible amount of respect for the person who survived this, and wouldn’t stop fighting until she could thrive.

Content Warnings

misslynette's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Unable to rate because the book in of itself is absolutely remarkable. The way she shines a strobelight on the "troubled teen" industry is more than necessary and hopefully leads to radical change.

That said, her well-documented racist/homophobic statements of the past, which are largely unaddressed aside from the one-liner, "I said some awful things in the past," show she just isn't there yet. I wish she dug in deeper about her decision to defend Trump's vile statements during the 2016 election and throwing other women under the bus. It really undermines her messaging throughout.

Additionally, there were multiple instances when she commented, "Oh, I really loved this comedian/artist until they targeted me. You shouldn't hurt people like that," as if she hadn't been laughing along before.

I think, ultimately, she has shown an immaculate amount of growth and she still has a long way to go to catch up.

Given what I learned during reading it (her remarks), I don't regret spending my sick days reading it. I think it's an excellent story and a good reminder that we can hold multiple truths at the same time. I'm glad someone with her size of following wrote about this absolutely horrific topic, barring their soul. And, ultimately, I want to trust that she will someday dismantle the clear racism that she absorbed from her world (just as I hope all wh1te people will).

Content Warnings