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4.46 AVERAGE
4.46 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
something about the author's decision addressing this book to her mother, the simple use of the word "you," made every word vibrate with so much emotion and feeling. the last couple of chapters were heartbreaking. I will probably think about this book for a long time.
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Wow, one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Difficult story to read, but necessary. The author's experience was incredibly relatable and frustrating.
This was a book I chose to read for AAPI month and when I say it became SOOO much more than I ever anticipated it to be.
First, I'll say that I expected to have a bit of a difficult time connecting with it, since it is written in the style of a letter from an Indian woman to her mother. I knew I could emphasize with it, but I was under the impression that there was potential that I would have a hard time truly putting myself in the life experiences Gupta was writing about. However, I was proven so absolutely incredibly wrong and I'm so glad for it.
The first quarter/half of the book was a bit slow, being that it was mainly talking about her childhood. I really sympathized with struggles of a young Indian girl trying to live up to the expectations set on her by cultural and family dynamics.
Moving into the second half, there was so much more I could empathize with and truly correlate to my own life and struggles as a woman. A big mention that stood out to me was how, as a child, Gupta was praised for her independence, curiosity, and stubbornness, yet those attributes became more negative as she grew. This is just such an understandable and relatable thing for women of all races. It is so often that as children, girls are supported in standing up for themselves and fighting for what they want, yet everyone seems to have a problem when women as adults are strong and outspoken about their thoughts and feelings. Another big mention was how the author talked about dealing with mental health, from learning what it is, to fighting cultural and societal stigmas around it, to then trying to balance one's mental health in situations where people make it seem that you're the problem for doing that. There was a chapter about her brother's mental health crisis that made me sob, and another chapter where I really related to the internal struggle she faced trying to understand how toxic her familiar relationships were, no matter how much she loved them or wanted strong relationships with them. The chapter right after the one about her brother's mental health crisis made me want to throw up. I'm so glad the author was able to leave the toxic familiar environment that was her father, yet I sympathize so much with her desire to still have a relationship with him.
The whole dynamic between Gupta and her mother, essentially the whole reason this book was written, is such a rollercoaster that all I can do is sympathize with her. Throughout the book, you can truly see the absolute turmoil Gupta goes through with loving her mother, hating her mother, crying for her mother, then yelling at her mother. From what I heard from my friends who have Asian mothers, this is what a lot of people experience. The struggle to find balance of differing cultural norms and identities between generations, loving yet being angered by the actions that mothers take against the child's wishes, I truly feel for everyone who has experienced this.
I think I'll be recommending this book for a long time to come. I truly home that, per the authors wishes in the last chapter, that the relationship between her and her mother will go somewhere, and I hope this book becomes a bridge for them.
First, I'll say that I expected to have a bit of a difficult time connecting with it, since it is written in the style of a letter from an Indian woman to her mother. I knew I could emphasize with it, but I was under the impression that there was potential that I would have a hard time truly putting myself in the life experiences Gupta was writing about. However, I was proven so absolutely incredibly wrong and I'm so glad for it.
The first quarter/half of the book was a bit slow, being that it was mainly talking about her childhood. I really sympathized with struggles of a young Indian girl trying to live up to the expectations set on her by cultural and family dynamics.
Moving into the second half, there was so much more I could empathize with and truly correlate to my own life and struggles as a woman. A big mention that stood out to me was how, as a child, Gupta was praised for her independence, curiosity, and stubbornness, yet those attributes became more negative as she grew. This is just such an understandable and relatable thing for women of all races. It is so often that as children, girls are supported in standing up for themselves and fighting for what they want, yet everyone seems to have a problem when women as adults are strong and outspoken about their thoughts and feelings. Another big mention was how the author talked about dealing with mental health, from learning what it is, to fighting cultural and societal stigmas around it, to then trying to balance one's mental health in situations where people make it seem that you're the problem for doing that. There was a chapter about her brother's mental health crisis that made me sob, and another chapter where I really related to the internal struggle she faced trying to understand how toxic her familiar relationships were, no matter how much she loved them or wanted strong relationships with them. The chapter right after the one about her brother's mental health crisis made me want to throw up. I'm so glad the author was able to leave the toxic familiar environment that was her father, yet I sympathize so much with her desire to still have a relationship with him.
The whole dynamic between Gupta and her mother, essentially the whole reason this book was written, is such a rollercoaster that all I can do is sympathize with her. Throughout the book, you can truly see the absolute turmoil Gupta goes through with loving her mother, hating her mother, crying for her mother, then yelling at her mother. From what I heard from my friends who have Asian mothers, this is what a lot of people experience. The struggle to find balance of differing cultural norms and identities between generations, loving yet being angered by the actions that mothers take against the child's wishes, I truly feel for everyone who has experienced this.
I think I'll be recommending this book for a long time to come. I truly home that, per the authors wishes in the last chapter, that the relationship between her and her mother will go somewhere, and I hope this book becomes a bridge for them.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
A beautifully brave, sad story. I can’t imagine how both painful and healing writing this book must’ve been. I’m know so many women felt seen reading this.
Mental illness, co-dependency, no boundaries. This book was a struggle to read. There were very few times I found myself looking forward to turning it on (I was reading audiobook). It’s like a long and horrifying drunk-a-long.