Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot

44 reviews

leweylibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

I'm struggling to rate this one because I don't feel like I have adequate words to do so?

I struggled with the format--or lack thereof really--and the audiobook narrator. I actually got like 35% through and then had to restart it waaaaay slower because I was finding myself missing things and not paying attention. I definitely think I would've done better with it reading it physically, there are just way too many poetic moments and literary devices at work for me to track on audio. I'm grateful for the Q&A style afterwords because it did clear up some of what the author was attempting to do. Like I now have a greater appreciation for the work she put into making her writing seem simple and punchy when while reading it, it mostly just felt jarring and hard to follow or stay invested in. 

The topics covered are obviously intense. Big trigger warnings for a lot. Covering them is absolutely vital to her story, though, and her journey towards reconciliation and healing.

Overall, I can tell it was brilliant, it just wasn't totally for me in this format. And that's okay and doesn't detract from the skill it took to write it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Abortion, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Self harm, Abandonment, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

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

akmatz's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

3.25

I don't know if this style is for me. The prose is incredible, and the story, anger, and honesty are important. But the brutal honesty and lack of a sense of Terese as a person almost reads to me as dehumanizing. The substance of the book is difficult, but the voice is uncomfortable.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Violence, Child abuse, and Mental illness

Moderate: Abortion, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, and Incest

Minor: Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Eating disorder

lexicon3000's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This book tore me from the inside out and exposed me completely. I've had my eye on this read for a while, and I picked it up at the most perfect time, as I didn't realize just how much I would resonate with Mailhot's disease and how it disrupts her life. Just being diagnosed with Bipolar I had me spiraling for a little while, and though Mailhot was diagnosed with Bipolar II, I still felt every single symptom she detailed deep to my core. I want to hold her. I want to read everything she writes. I want to re-read this when I feel alone in my disease. I want more of her language, her writing style. Just utter perfection. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual assault

lureads2's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

3.5

Beautiful writing, important insights into indigeneity, native womanhood, trauma, and motherhood; but while the book is marketed as an exploration of the author's bipolar disorder and PTSD, the book ended up focusing mainly on the author's many fraught relationships with dissappointing men, which was frustrating to read about. Further, the author's criticisms of the mental health system were often shallow and trite, and fell flat for me. Nonetheless, this book holds stark and devastating revelations about what it means to be an indigenous woman, the experience of trauma and PTSD, the joys and horrors of grappling with Indigenous identity and with motherhood; so overall this is an important and well written book, as long as you are ready to explore these themes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Grief, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Child abuse

calcijade's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Self harm, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

malgal471's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, and Sexual assault

frufai's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

Used the English language beautiful. Makes you think about the difference between love and obsession 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Grief, Child abuse, Death of parent, Rape, and Pregnancy

vainnerj's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

4.0

A beautiful and ephemeral look into the intersection of race, culture, gender and mental health. The author has a certain way with words that takes you on a ride that you cannot predict the ending of. I know that the author states towards the end that she had initially envisioned this as a fictional story based on her own experiences, but I am glad she was willing to be so raw and open as to tell her story without that separation. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Mental illness, Child abuse, and Drug use

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Sexual assault, Rape, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Sexual content