Scan barcode
cmsloan's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
5.0
mcmali_'s review against another edition
5.0
[4.5] To be axiomatic is to be self-evident, or taken to be true on it’s logic. In this light, Tumarkin has provided an axiomatically agonising but insightful collection of stories.
Having the Australian-specific context makes it all the more visual, and unfortunately all the more harrowing, especially with a lot of the stories hitting personal and professional soft spots.
In light of its overshadowing gloom though, it speaks of great resilience in hard times and provides an avenue of introspection and re-evaluation.
Having the Australian-specific context makes it all the more visual, and unfortunately all the more harrowing, especially with a lot of the stories hitting personal and professional soft spots.
In light of its overshadowing gloom though, it speaks of great resilience in hard times and provides an avenue of introspection and re-evaluation.
katarinabee's review against another edition
5.0
This book dissolved me. The themes in this book are hard but it wasn't just that - Maria Tumarkin writes and thinks in such a beautiful, self-conscious way; the words sometimes feel like they're tumbling artlessly out of her mouth, sentences sometimes lack the punctuation I might expect, it feels mid-conversation; and yet you know that this book took many years of reflection and re-reflection.
iamnaomifaye's review against another edition
5.0
How do I review this book? I feel unworthy of even commenting on it! Axiomatic is a tremendous reminder of the power of writing.
Cultural historian Maria Tumarkin interrogates our relationship to the past through five essays spanning teen suicide, the Holocaust and drug addiction. Axiomatic asks questions like, how do we deal with trauma as individuals and collectives? How do our cultural and personal histories affect us in the present? How do we make sense of grief? Not happy questions, no, but absolutely necessary and insightful.
The blurb made it sound like this book would be a hard one to get through, but it was no effort at all. It flowed at such a wonderful pace. I was enthralled from beginning to end.
I really look up to writers who are able to write about such complex ideas in accessible ways. After reading this book, I think differently — this is what good writing does! Tumarkin made it look like magic to me.
Cultural historian Maria Tumarkin interrogates our relationship to the past through five essays spanning teen suicide, the Holocaust and drug addiction. Axiomatic asks questions like, how do we deal with trauma as individuals and collectives? How do our cultural and personal histories affect us in the present? How do we make sense of grief? Not happy questions, no, but absolutely necessary and insightful.
The blurb made it sound like this book would be a hard one to get through, but it was no effort at all. It flowed at such a wonderful pace. I was enthralled from beginning to end.
I really look up to writers who are able to write about such complex ideas in accessible ways. After reading this book, I think differently — this is what good writing does! Tumarkin made it look like magic to me.
eallan's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
bartvanovermeire's review against another edition
5.0
This book floored me. One of the most impressive books I read this year, containing 5 brilliant essays exploring trauma and grief. Incomparable to anything I've read, a book that will resonate for a long time.
edevoe8891's review against another edition
4.0
Despite feeling disjointed, this is provoking book! As unusual as the style feels in non-fiction, it works.
For me, it feels more like a conversation—trying to talk through and make sense of trauma—rather than some academic treatise.
There are no claims on the why or how of traumatic events. There is no grand theory to explain it all. Only questions or insights to shed light in corners of a convoluted, dark topic.
Excellent read.
For me, it feels more like a conversation—trying to talk through and make sense of trauma—rather than some academic treatise.
There are no claims on the why or how of traumatic events. There is no grand theory to explain it all. Only questions or insights to shed light in corners of a convoluted, dark topic.
Excellent read.
maya_irl's review against another edition
3.0
"What can be grasped of another person's suffering has limits. Ignore the limits and people become symbols, vessels in which we carry liquids of our choosing."