Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

Love Is an Ex-Country by Randa Jarrar

6 reviews

alainajreads's review against another edition

Perhaps I should’ve heeded the trigger warnings and read the reviews before jumping into this, but I was expecting something totally different based on the synopsis. Rather than a travelogue,  the writing was a bit disjointed and dealt with themes that, while important to discuss, were more traumatic than I was expecting. I enjoyed the first few chapters and Jarrar had some interesting insights about being Arab in America and I wished there were more about her cross-country road trip. Not bad, just not for me and not what I was expecting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Islamophobia, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Pregnancy, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual content, and Vomit

Moderate: Racism, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

amberinpieces's review

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Body shaming, Islamophobia, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Fatphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Sexism

Minor: Violence, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Abortion, Emotional abuse, Blood, Car accident, Chronic illness, Colonisation, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Deportation, Infidelity, War, Mass/school shootings, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Sexual assault, Excrement, Genocide, and Cancer

erickaonpaper's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

no ratings for a memoir, buuut, i particularly enjoyed randa's reading of her memoir. it felt more personal in that sense, similar to feelings i had of constance wu's reading of hers. i'm shaken by the physical and sexual abuse randa survives and am very thankful she did. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence and Sexual content

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Islamophobia, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Infidelity

speedofhuman's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Fatphobia, Bullying, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Body shaming, Sexism, Islamophobia, Sexual violence, and Racism

Minor: War, Pedophilia, and Police brutality

bostonki's review against another edition

I really wanted to like this book. I really did. Based on the blurb, I was expecting travel memoir. Alas, this was mostly just an essay memoir. Which is fine, except there is too much graphic sex and asexual shaming for my tastes. Jarrar’s holier-than-thou attitude rubbed me the wrong way, and the final straw was a sentence on page 159 of the ARC that reads, “When I arrive in Austin, I get nostalgic because I can’t afford to live there anymore. The airport is full of transplants, cowboy-boot-wearing women who don’t deserve to live there.” Who are you to decide who deserves what? Bye!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, and Pregnancy

emoryscott's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.75

I really wanted to like this book. I love memoirs and the jacket summary was intriguing. However, this author’s style is not for me. If you enjoy quippy, erratic narration, you’ll love this. I felt like the journey across the country could have been more clearly defined. I felt like I never knew which era of her life she was speaking about. I know this is some people’s favorite type of writing, but it just wasn’t for me. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Child abuse, Biphobia, Blood, Body shaming, Excrement, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Pregnancy, Rape, Slavery, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Antisemitism, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child death, Colonisation, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Fatphobia, Grief, Homophobia, Infidelity, Islamophobia, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Genocide, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

Also, at times, it really seemed like the author was glorifying trauma and abuse. It was definitely a bit difficult to read as a survivor, but I can see how someone else may find this empowering.