Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

5 reviews

stevia333k's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

3.5

usually I consider Adrienne Rich references to be an immediate DNF & didn't do so this time because it was only cited as an inspiration at the very end. In fact, the blurb my library gave in retrospect is basically trying to spin the Andrienne Rich influence -- that being said, besides some squicks, it was decent.

So this is by an author who wanted to challenge expectations about works written by indigenous authors. (I didn't pick up on how besides various marketable narratives -- i mean this in the way that both karl marx & the austrian school of economics are considered "controversial".)

Anyways, I read the book on the basis of family building & decolonization. The part about forgiveness being done in ceremonies instead of the white idea of "letting go", especially since I've struggled with that colonial dynamic too, except as a white settler I didn't have established ceremonies for context.

Admittedly I was kind of indifferent to the poetics I guess. The intersections were interesting enough.

in the interview at the end, there's 2 notes about influences on this book that the author mentions that explained the squicks I had with this book: 
- the bible (which went over my head because I'm not a Christian), 
- and Adrienne Rich (I already returned my copy of this book to the library & it was an audiobook, but the way the word "man" was used felt heteronormative & that "patriarchal" could've worked better. Like I think I figured it out via like argument from analogy with like settler vs indigenous & the fact she's mainly talking about 1 man in particular, but the lack of precision felt suspicious to me, and it turned out I was right.)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Alcohol, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Abandonment, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Incest, Infidelity, Ableism, Addiction, Medical content, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

akhcreates's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Terese Marie Mailhot's book is an emotional and gripping story of her life and her struggles with mental health, writing, motherhood, and romantic relationships, particularly as an indigenous woman. Her writing is beautiful and compelling, and I was gripped by her stories. I listened to this as an audiobook, and it is not read by the author and the narrator is not my favorite, so I might recommend reading with one's eyes over the audiobook, if that's an option. The audiobook is decent, I think it might be something for me personally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Forced institutionalization

jayisreading's review against another edition

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

planreadrepeat's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Pregnancy, and Self harm

esmithumland's review against another edition

I knew nothing about this book except for the title, and I was surprised at how painful it was to listen to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Violence