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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
Again, I find it difficult to review a memoir, especially one so explicit and honest with one’s learning through experience as this.
I think I may be too dense to understand this book fully. There is an interview with the author in the afterword and I didn't get half of what they were talking about - very heavy literary criticism beyond this non-English major.
One thing that did resonate with me is when Mailhot said that the book seems disjointed at times but that was purposeful and that it is hard work to write like that. I believe it.
I listened to the book which I wouldn't recommend. The narrator delivers everything in the same tone with no variety for the deep emotions behind the words. And because of the format (stream-of-consciousness), I would have liked the ability to go back and re-read passages that were hard to follow.
Lastly, I have to commend Mailhot because I cannot imagine what it is like to rip yourself open on the page, to air your secrets and make yourself vulnerable in the manner that she does.
One thing that did resonate with me is when Mailhot said that the book seems disjointed at times but that was purposeful and that it is hard work to write like that. I believe it.
I listened to the book which I wouldn't recommend. The narrator delivers everything in the same tone with no variety for the deep emotions behind the words. And because of the format (stream-of-consciousness), I would have liked the ability to go back and re-read passages that were hard to follow.
Lastly, I have to commend Mailhot because I cannot imagine what it is like to rip yourself open on the page, to air your secrets and make yourself vulnerable in the manner that she does.
Critically acclaimed and (seemingly) instant bestseller, Heart Berries is a circling memoir that dances throughout Mailhot’s upbringing on a Native American reservation, her experiences of trauma, abuse and mental illness, and her complex familial relationships. While so much of the writing is transcendently poetic, the effect of reading Heart Berries is akin to gravity — it pulls you down, down, down to the very soil of the ground, down to the roots of human nature in all its beauty and ugly brokenness. It’s a quick read, but it will sit heavily in your gut afterward. I recommend reading it like poetry, seeking to make meaning between the lines.
I was not sure what to expect going into this book but wow. The writers style is incredible and very poetic. I felt everything flowed so beautifully and I learned a lot. I hope she continues to write more.
3.5 First time reading a book with this writing style and it was hard to get through at first. If you stay with it though until the end, you'll see how powerful the way Terese writes as an experience in telling her story.
A hard, honest, wrenching memoir about trauma, pain and renewal. This book was often disorienting much like mental illness, parts were stream of conscious journal entries, or paranoid points of view, and a few were tedious.
I don’t think I can rate this one. It’s far too personal and Mailhot is doing something that is perhaps not fully appreciated on a singular read.
I hated reading 2/3rds of this book. Mailhot has talent but her depiction of her own suffering, her own delusion, her own turmoil was too accurate. I have never read a memoir written in this way. It feels entirely in the moment, as if she was writing directly from her mental hospital stay or from the moment after a fight with her husband. Even the prose feels choppy and disjoined and hard to read. I found it terribly hard to read and to witness. Which I do think was her point.
The last third of the book—where Mailhot reckons with her trauma and what has led her to where she is—feels like a massive exhale. I sped through it, underlying many passages and gasping at her artistry. I really loved it and it did make the beginning feel meaningful.
I will say I still can’t claim to have enjoyed the bulk of the book. I am glad, however, that Mailhot is telling her story. It is so impossibly hard to be honest about things people don’t like to hear about, things that make them feel uncomfortable. I can’t imagine how much harder it is for Native women. Mailhot is brave and talented and I hope she continues to go places.
I hated reading 2/3rds of this book. Mailhot has talent but her depiction of her own suffering, her own delusion, her own turmoil was too accurate. I have never read a memoir written in this way. It feels entirely in the moment, as if she was writing directly from her mental hospital stay or from the moment after a fight with her husband. Even the prose feels choppy and disjoined and hard to read. I found it terribly hard to read and to witness. Which I do think was her point.
The last third of the book—where Mailhot reckons with her trauma and what has led her to where she is—feels like a massive exhale. I sped through it, underlying many passages and gasping at her artistry. I really loved it and it did make the beginning feel meaningful.
I will say I still can’t claim to have enjoyed the bulk of the book. I am glad, however, that Mailhot is telling her story. It is so impossibly hard to be honest about things people don’t like to hear about, things that make them feel uncomfortable. I can’t imagine how much harder it is for Native women. Mailhot is brave and talented and I hope she continues to go places.
My rating is not because of the quality of the book’s writing, I just didn’t really enjoy it. Not my type of book, but I did finish it.
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced