Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

26 reviews

theboricuabookworm's review against another edition

Gripping and raw. The lyrical way Mailhot writes about pain and trauma and grief will leave you gasping.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Incest, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Rape, Suicide attempt, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Classism, Drug use, Sexual assault, and Alcohol

carnimdream's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Violence

Minor: Abortion and Chronic illness

emilyb84's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

Moderate: Racism

sillysausagezj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Racism, Sexual violence, Addiction, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Abortion

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

spicycheesecake's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

Such a beautiful book. The writing is amazing, and the story being told is so captivating. I was immediately pulled in from the first page, and felt emotional the whole ride through.

There are many things I could not relate with, but I understood everything, and I felt like I was there -- spectating, watching, experiencing.

I've learned about myself and my own relationships just from seeing the perspectives in this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Drug use, Death of parent, Addiction, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicide attempt, Grief, Death, Violence, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Self harm, Abandonment, Pregnancy, Drug abuse, and Cursing

Moderate: Abortion

solenodon's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

Intense and poetic — will be re reading at some point. Trigger warning for sure 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Abortion, Vomit, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Racism, Sexual content, Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Self harm

clarabooksit's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Pregnancy, Eating disorder, Child abuse, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual violence, Alcohol, Colonisation, Grief, and Alcoholism

aimnorth's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

This is a unique book that looks at trauma - past and present - and dissects it in prose like poetry. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Racism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Abortion

ivanisagrave's review against another edition

emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Racism, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse