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Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'
Be Not Afraid of Love: Lessons on Fear, Intimacy, and Connection by Mimi Zhu
4 reviews
strangerfig's review
5.0
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, and Rape
essie__reads's review against another edition
5.0
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I honestly feel like I need to reread this in physical format to really digest and unpack everything she touches on! I listened to the audio, and her voice was extremely soothing, which I loved. I also loved that she takes a few deep breaths at the end of each chapter (not gonna lie, I started taking them with her and it was very calming).
The author mentions frequently her ex, referred to as "X", and describes the evolution of their toxic relationship and his emotional, physical, and sexual abuse towards her. So please be aware of content warnings because this can be heavy content! She also acknowledges her privileges and touches on the ways abused women in society, including disabled and trans women of color, often have less resources available to aid them in escaping abusers and aid them through their healing. She also touched on how abuse can be cyclical, making it difficult for the victims to leave those toxic relationships, and how abusers were often abused themselves too (although noting that is not an excuse to continue these harmful and generational cycles).
There was seriously so much touched on throughout this- because healing from abuse and learning to love oneself again requires so much emotional and spiritual growth. She touches on grief, anger, fears, feelings of being labled a victim, society's pressure for victims, generational trauma, diaspora, self love, forgiveness, religion, non-Western techniques/therapies for healing emotionally and spiritually, ptsd, community/friendship, abolitionism and it's lasting effects, the prison systems, allyship, etc. And breaks down all the nuances and connections between these experiences/ideas/emotions. All of this is done through the lense of her own experiences as a queer Chinese-Australian person, too.
I definitely recommend this to anyone with generational trauma- even if your trauma is not identical to the author's, there is still so much that can be learned and applied to your own experiences. I personally, really enjoyed her thoughts on anxiety, grief, anger. Honestly there wasn't a chapter of this book that I didn't find meaningful and impactful. I will likely be thinking of her words for a while to come.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Violence, Emotional abuse, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Grief and Panic attacks/disorders
noahee's review
5.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Rape, and Sexual assault
madelynemae's review
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Violence, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault