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sabsey's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
A friend of mine once said that the abuse and the love story are two separate entities. They weave into one another, they get tangled together, but they are ultimately different stories."
This such a personal and moving memoir, that it would be impossible to give this a numbered rating without making the author's story redundant. This transformed from what I thought would be a memoir reflecting on the sex work and stripping industry in Australia, to a highly emotional and affecting read of a woman's experience of abuse, trauma, identity, grief, assault and generational depression.
In order to go forward, in order to survive, sometimes we have to write our own stories. We need to reframe what happens to us, we need to get up again and do it all over."
The former is still explored, and the author admirably weaves together anecdotes of her experience in sex work with her interpersonal and individual struggles and how her work contributes and exacerbates them.
The writing itself was very easy to get through - Rita Therese has a succinct and clear style, and my only criticism of it would be that without some kind of dating system in place, it was often at times confusing to place when or what events had happened (as stories or anecdotes were occasionally told to us in a non-linear fashion).
One of the most shocking elements was how unregulated the sex work industry is in Australia, and while the level of assault and abuse shouldn't be surprising, hearing a first hand account was incredibly provoking.
The memoir also builds to an emotional climax that left me feeling bereft and overall horrified of the total sum of pretty awful experiences for someone so relatively young.
Overall, a very insightful but also incredibly heavy read, and you definitely need to go into this in the correct mindset.
This such a personal and moving memoir, that it would be impossible to give this a numbered rating without making the author's story redundant. This transformed from what I thought would be a memoir reflecting on the sex work and stripping industry in Australia, to a highly emotional and affecting read of a woman's experience of abuse, trauma, identity, grief, assault and generational depression.
In order to go forward, in order to survive, sometimes we have to write our own stories. We need to reframe what happens to us, we need to get up again and do it all over."
The former is still explored, and the author admirably weaves together anecdotes of her experience in sex work with her interpersonal and individual struggles and how her work contributes and exacerbates them.
The writing itself was very easy to get through - Rita Therese has a succinct and clear style, and my only criticism of it would be that without some kind of dating system in place, it was often at times confusing to place when or what events had happened (as stories or anecdotes were occasionally told to us in a non-linear fashion).
One of the most shocking elements was how unregulated the sex work industry is in Australia, and while the level of assault and abuse shouldn't be surprising, hearing a first hand account was incredibly provoking.
The memoir also builds to an emotional climax that left me feeling bereft and overall horrified of the total sum of pretty awful experiences for someone so relatively young.
Overall, a very insightful but also incredibly heavy read, and you definitely need to go into this in the correct mindset.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual assault, Suicide, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Death, Rape, Abortion, and Misogyny
zoecarlyon's review against another edition
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Self harm, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, Eating disorder, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Toxic relationship, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Toxic relationship and Body shaming
loshells1's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abortion, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Suicide
madelonpaige's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Self harm, Suicide, Rape, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Abortion
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