Reviews tagging 'Pandemic/Epidemic'

Femeia din mine by Britney Spears

71 reviews

bookswithlauren's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

It makes me sad to read about everything that Britney has been through in her life, especially at the hands of people who were supposed to love and care for her. 

Despite the book not being as detailed as it could have been, it was more than enough to show and explain not only everything Britney went through, but how it has impacted her and will continue to affect her. 

This book does read almost like a teenage diary, but that is not surprising considering most of the control of her own life started to disappear when she was a teenager. So many opportunities and life experiences were taken away from her and it has definitely left its impact. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Child death, Abandonment, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcoholism, Bullying, Car accident, Grief, Medical content, Body shaming, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

pixelpigeon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad fast-paced

4.75

An important piece of feminist literature. I hope Britney's story helps other people in predatory conservatorships.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, Body shaming, Pregnancy, Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Fatphobia, Medical trauma, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, and Miscarriage

itscassie's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

A beautifully honest story of Britney’s life. It was raw and I could sense the power she reclaimed in telling her story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Miscarriage, and Medical trauma

david_slack110507's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.75

It feels weird to give this a rating considering that this is actually based off of Britney's life in the same way that it was weird to give a rating to I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, but I feel like while this memoir from one of pop's most influential figures did have the insight that was promised, it wasn't the best structured which is what brought it down for me. 

Before reading this, I had previously known very little about Britney's life other than being one of the most successful artists in the past few decades as well as being in an abusive conservatorship that was eventually exposed to the mass media through the #FreeBritney movement (which Britney acknowledges in this book as being one of the things that kept her going in the fight for full control over her life) so this memoir was very insightful into the tumultuous life of Spears and how it all started from a very young age. Ranging from her family life being unsafe and toxic to using music, dancing, and acting to escape that home life only for those escapes to be poisoned with issues too. 

The early and later years in Spears' music career and spotlight in the media really showed how cruel the media can be to those in the spotlight and how this can take various methods from asking deeply personal questions, to sexualising Britney, to harassing her when she was obviously not in the mental space and state to actually deal with everything and much more. Memoirs in particular are very good at exposing how much the media got away with (and continues to do so in some instances) in their treatment of celebrities, particularly women and other minorities, in the earlier years of modern media and I hope that like many other memoirs that spotlight and criticise these issues, Britney's story will help lessen the likelihood for more stories like hers for future stars. 

My main issue with this memoir is how it was structured, some parts felt fully explained and in detail while others were less detailed and so there was often a sporadic movement between years that threw me off slightly and made me a little confused as to when a certain event was happening or what family member Spears was referring to due to having only mentioned them at the beginning of the book or a brief description in the midst of a big and important event in her life. 

Overall, I'm so glad that Britney is free of her conservatorship and can actually live her life rather than having her life dictated for her like how it was for so long and I wish her all the best when it comes to rebuilding herself slowly from the insurmountable damage caused by her family's control over her. This was such an important story to tell and one that deserved to be told and so I'm glad that Britney finally felt ready to share her story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Abortion, Grief, and Mental illness

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Confinement, Cursing, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Bullying

Minor: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Drug use, Addiction, and Adult/minor relationship

rhi_'s review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Gaslighting, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, and Sexism

kelly_e's review against another edition

emotional sad fast-paced

3.25

Title: The Woman in Me
Author: Britney Spears
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 3.25
Pub Date: October 24, 2023

T H R E E • W O R D S

Brave • Chaotic • Halfhearted

📖 S Y N O P S I S

In June 2021, the whole world was listening as Britney Spears spoke in open court. The impact of sharing her voice—her truth—was undeniable, and it changed the course of her life and the lives of countless others. The Woman in Me reveals for the first time her incredible journey—and the strength at the core of one of the greatest performers in pop music history.

💭 T H O U G H T S

I was a pre-teen when Britney's first album dropped in 1999 and I remember getting the album the following Christmas and listening to it on repeat. However, my interest was short lived and it ended up being the only one of her albums I owned. Despite not following her career closely, I still knew I wanted to read this memoir.

While I can empathize with Britney's story, The Woman in Me lacked depth. She has gone through her fair share of trauma and struggle, revealing some heavy truths within. Yet because she kept thing very surface level, these reveals felt like shock value additions more than a part of the healing process. I can imagine it took tremendous courage putting her story out into the world and I hope it was therapeutic for her. However as a reader, the writing was so chaotic, reading more like a diary than a well-crafted memoir.

With all of that said, what this book did offer me was insight into the behind-the-scenes world of music, as well as the enduring power of music in healing. I also greatly appreciated her devotion to her children, something the mainstream media has certainly left out.

At the end of the day, I am glad to have picked this up and listened to it. However, it was the deep emotional memoir I was so hoping for. I hope the writing process was a healing part of her journey to taking back control of her life. But when I got to the end, I got the sense she still has a long ways to go.

📚 R E C O M M E N D • T O
• die-hard Britney fans
• celebrity memoir enthusiasts

🔖 F A V O U R I T E • Q U O T E S

"Music stopped the noise, made me feel confident, and took me to a pure place of expressing myself exactly as I wanted to be seen and heard. Singing took me into the presence of the divine."

"If no one is used to you being assertive, they get very freaked out when you start speaking your mind." 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Sexism, Abandonment, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Confinement, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Addiction, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Abortion, Miscarriage, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug use, Bullying, Alcoholism, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Cursing, Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, and Infidelity

plumpeony's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Abortion, and Mental illness

Minor: Eating disorder, Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, and Pregnancy

lennie_reads's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I love Britney so my review will be biased anyway but I genuinely thought this was written very well. 

It reignited those feelings of fury and injustice for what she's been through and also made me want to give her a big hug. 

Also I 100% recommend listening to the audio version because Michelle Williams is a phenomenal narrator. I genuinely forgot (multiple times) that it wasn't actually Britney narrating the book. 

CW: conservatorship, mentions of underage sex, mentions of drug and alcohol use, forced institutionalisation, miscarriage, abortion, mental health issues, abusive family

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Death, Drug use, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Confinement, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Sexism, Emotional abuse, and Pandemic/Epidemic

miranda_is_reading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad fast-paced

3.75

I’ve been a Britney fan since I was a child. It was easy to remember all the times she was referencing throughout the book. But, it was sad to realize how even though she was thriving to the outside world, she was hurting so much inside and being mistreated by so many adults and family members in her life. This was a good book. I would recommend it to all Britney fans. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Addiction, Alcohol, Mental illness, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, and Grief

Minor: Cursing, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Eating disorder, Medical content, Miscarriage, Death, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Pregnancy

ahopper7's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

4.0

The book itself is not well written, however, I do feel like listening to it on audio helps the book read better. With Michelle Williams, the conversational style of the book comes through more clearly. With that said, this was still a powerful book, because it’s what Britney chose to use to tell her story. It’s worth the read for anyone who was or is a fan of Spears, it reminds us there is a human behind the celebrity.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Abortion, Panic attacks/disorders, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death, Self harm, Alcoholism, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Car accident