Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot

12 reviews

frufai's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

Used the English language beautiful. Makes you think about the difference between love and obsession 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Child abuse, Death of parent, Rape, and Pregnancy

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

lexiefolkerts's review

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

I did not know anything about this book before starting and after reading a few pages I feared I wouldn’t like it because it seemed too distant from my reality. I was wrong. Although I haven’t lived the same life as Terese or endured the same traumas, there were so many ways in which I connected to her story. This book had so many good quotes to pull from that I felt drawn to and raised emotion out of me. I would recommend this book to anyone that’s had an imperfect romantic relationship with a man. This book also delved into childhood trauma, childhood SA, grief, bipolar, suicidal thoughts, love, and heart break. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Death of parent

readingwithkaitlyn's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Terminal illness, Rape, Incest, Kidnapping, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Animal death, Cancer, Murder, Self harm, Death, and Drug use

Residential schools, illnesses, rehab, divorce, foster home, teen marriage, child services, neglect, postpartum depression.

honeyvoiced's review

dark fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Sexual harassment, and Pregnancy

Minor: Rape and Violence

thazell's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

I don't think of myself as qualified to give a rating to someone's memoir; it's their life story after all. This memoir was messy, raw, heartbreaking, poetic and beautiful. At times it felt like poetry and while I was absolutely confused about the timeline of the events that took place, it was beautiful and touched my heart. I love reading about Indigenous women persevering through their struggles, I really admire their strength and durability, it's what I aspire to be myself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Racism, and Abortion

Moderate: Rape

stevie's review

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Incest, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Self harm, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Grief, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Colonisation

nadinebean's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Abortion, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Self harm, and Mental illness

Minor: Colonisation, Cursing, Grief, and Racism

jayisreading's review

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

It’s always hard to review a memoir, considering how personal it is. For me, at least, it is never the content of what the author chooses to share that is under review. It generally tends to drift towards execution of whatever story it is that they want to share. In the case of Heart Berries, I can tell how much care Mailhot put into sharing such vulnerable aspects of her life, having dealt with so much pain. Considering this, it was such a delight reading her acknowledgments and seeing the absolute joy and support she has for and from her loved ones.

Mailhot thoughtfully writes about various events that occurred during her lifetime, musings of being an Indigenous woman, and white society; all of which were told in a nonlinear fashion. On the note of white society, I found her description of self-esteem being a white invention really profound, especially with her conclusion that it seemed like “identity capitalism.” Mailhot’s comments on what forgiveness meant in her culture and white culture also left an impression on me; how the latter sees it as “letting go,” while the former rejects the idea of framing pain like a problem with a solution.

When it comes to structure, admittedly, I wasn’t a fan of the nonlinear approach at first, but I realized how well it worked in this situation, considering the ways memory and trauma work. These rarely unfold in chronological order and, at least to me, it started to make sense to have the book structured the way it was. The lyricism of Mailhot’s writing ebbed and flowed. The times lyricism didn’t come through, it felt very rough around the edges, but it almost felt intentional. After all, thoughts are never that clean. The narrative wasn’t always easy to follow (and the overall structure being nonlinear doesn’t help), but in a way, I think that challenge is needed and thoughtfully questions what a memoir should be and how they are structured.

Overall, I found this to be a powerful memoir with raw emotions, leaving much for the reader to contemplate in such a short span of pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Forced institutionalization

emzireads's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Suicidal thoughts