Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying: Essays by Bassey Ikpi

5 reviews

lureads2's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

I loved this book-Beautifully written & visceral insights into the reality of bipolar disorder. There are vivid descriptions of depression, hopelessness, self-starvation & suicidality that could be triggering to readers.

bookishbrenbren's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

This is a memoir of one woman's struggles through her bi-polar II in a series of chronological essays. 

This was a moving memoir and beautifully written, she writes emotions beautifully - you can really tell she makes her living through her words. Memoirs like this are why I'm a fan of them at all, I think they teach us how to be more empathetic and more understanding - both towards the world around us and towards ourselves. 
That being said, this was not a perfect 5* read for me. It's hard to put my finger on exactly why - I thought it could have used more structure... I didn't understand until the 50-60% mark that the essays were chronological and walking us through her life experiences. And I didn't realize we wouldn't revisit any of the people she introduced us to until that point. I would've liked more reflections on her family and less on her men. I also have issue with the ending. She basically writes/includes one essay as a great goodbye and in my opinion

it has a bit of a goodbye-cruel-world bent to it, especially knowing she has struggled through suicidal ideation so heavily

... but then the next essay

she's like oh I have a kid and here's my letter to him

and in between those two things we are expected to

mourn the great loss of Peter and understand how this loss affects her but... we don't know a Peter?

unless my reading was off, that was our first introduction to him. Anyways I understand that her life is still a work in progress, aren't we all, and reading even somewhat disjointed essays by her is a real treat. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Drug use

omarickman's review

emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, and Sexual content

Minor: Body shaming, Cursing, Grief, and Physical abuse

stayshomeandreads's review

emotional reflective

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Eating disorder, and Child abuse

codywolf's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Self harm, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism