Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency by Tove Ditlevsen

4 reviews

lagaialettrice's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, War, Abortion, Addiction, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Alcohol, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Minor: Incest and Misogyny

relf's review

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

A collection of three memoirs describing the author's childhood--not happy, but already singularly aimed at becoming a writer; her early working years and sexual adventures; and her descent into addiction. Tove Ditlevsen's writing is bracingly clear and unsentimental, and the narration of her own story is compelling--I found it almost suspenseful. Highly recommended. I happened to listen to Billy Porter's memoir at the same time as I was reading this, and, different as the stories are, the parallels were interesting: both authors had difficult childhoods but were single-minded from a very early age on practicing their arts and achieving success, whatever it took. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Toxic relationship, and Abortion

Moderate: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

m_sotos's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

3.5

It is strange that in reading a memoir, I was left at the end with a very vague/incomplete sense of who the author and subject actually was. I read a review of the memoir that speaks about how Ditlevsen splits one person into two selves in the text: the self who writes and the one who exists in reality, and yet she’s unable to ever quite integrate those two selves. I think that’s a perfect summary of how reading this book feels. Despite being led through Ditlevsen’s reality from childhood to adulthood, I never really felt that I understood her own role in that reality. The brisk narration of big life events makes it seem as though she herself isn’t ever really experiencing anything to the fullest. Her life trajectory jumps from marriage to marriage quickly, just as it jumps around between various jobs, living situations, and friendships seemingly undifferentiatingly. Despite this, she’s clearly not a fully passive participant in her life (as we see also through the myriad of ways she takes charge of obtaining different drugs to uphold her opioid addiction). It’s a strange balance between Ditlevsen as the narrator controlling the presentation of her life retrospectively and seeming to pass through these same life events relatively unfeelingly as they happen. While I think the clipped, straightforward narration produces an interesting effect and (likely intentionally) speaks to the dulling impact of a perpetually unsatisfied existence, I ultimately prefer a bit more feeling for my own reading enjoyment!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and War

beatrizstg's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

wow. what a journey this book has led me into.

Tove's life is incredibly sad and fascinating, her childhood, the loneliness, the lovers and husbands. the way she was abused mentally and physically (with drugs). the last third of this book is a rougher one, but brilliant.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship