Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

26 reviews

lauradvb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Emotional abuse, Colonisation, Racism, Gaslighting, and Death of parent

catapocalypse's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

This memoir is brief, but a big experience. Mailhot crafts prose that feels effortless, sometimes almost offhand, while also feeling like poetry. I was too engrossed to take time to write down the many beautiful entries I wish I had, so I think this will be one of the few memoirs that I may need to physically collect for myself.

Mailhot does not flinch at all from a number of difficult topics, so be mindful of content warnings if needed.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Racism

thazell's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

I don't think of myself as qualified to give a rating to someone's memoir; it's their life story after all. This memoir was messy, raw, heartbreaking, poetic and beautiful. At times it felt like poetry and while I was absolutely confused about the timeline of the events that took place, it was beautiful and touched my heart. I love reading about Indigenous women persevering through their struggles, I really admire their strength and durability, it's what I aspire to be myself. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Racism, and Abortion

Moderate: Rape

stevie's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Incest, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Self harm, Rape, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Grief, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Racism, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, and Colonisation

nadinebean's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Abortion, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Self harm, and Mental illness

Minor: Colonisation, Cursing, Grief, and Racism

spinesinaline's review against another edition

challenging reflective medium-paced

4.0

A book I’ve heard great things about. This is a very personal memoir, told by the author after a hospitalization and diagnosis of PTSD and bipolar disorder. Mailhot writes beautifully and painfully, but I do wonder about how personal some memoirs get — I’m assuming her husband would’ve consented to this writing but everything is on display in a very uncomfortable way. I’m certainly not a fan of his after this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Pregnancy, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

sarahmae531's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Racism, and Mental illness

Moderate: Pregnancy and Abortion

bookswithbri's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, and Mental illness

Minor: Child abuse, Racism, Abortion, and Self harm

kayceeraereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective tense

3.75

Let's get this out of the way: this book is heavy.  The content is very heavy, and you need to check the trigger warnings before jumping in.

I had to set this down several times and sit with it.  Not because I didn't like it, but because some of the feelings were a lot.

"Pain is faster than light, and I wish people would not fault me for things I can’t forget or explain."

This memoir is written beautifully.  Mailhot does an amazing job weaving together thoughts and feelings in the form of letters and essays.  It's fragmented and non-linear, so if you like concise prose, this one is not for you.  You're reading her work almost as if you are remembering a memory with her and going through all of the rollercoaster of emotions that she dealt with regularly.  It almost reads like poetry.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexism, and Child abuse

mscalls's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

1.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Violence