Reviews

First, We Make the Beast Beautiful: A new story about anxiety by Sarah Wilson

gothdess's review against another edition

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3.0

It honestly felt like 300 pages of rambling, however, despite that I did really enjoy some of the antidotes and exercises she put in there, and felt that they were valuable inputs into the book

gemcon_'s review

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2.0

I bought this book because I seemed to promise a new outlook on anxiety and why it can be a positive thing when looked at the right way.

Instead it’s basically just a memoir posing as a self book. Not bad at points but not the book I picked up to read

amandameowly's review against another edition

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2.0

I really struggled to get through this book. It took me forever to read and I honestly had to push myself to finish it. In fact, I would say that other than a few pieces of wise information, this book made my anxiety worse than actually helped it.

First of all, the astounding place of privilege this book comes from. Wow. At one point the author literally says that she never worries about money. And then has an anecdote about how $10,000 magically appeared when she needed because she forgot about it... Okay, great, must be nice? She then goes on to mention the various ashrams and spas she's been to, to help manage her anxiety. Taking months or a year off of work to go live somewhere on her own...

Then, the best example of her privilege of it all, she talks about a time she was without any documentation and literally stole food and snuck into hostels to stay for free. Of course, this is a white woman we are talking about, so of course no serious repercussions happened other than she finally learned how to "sit with herself." Uh, okay?

It felt like there was less of an actual book about what she knew and experienced, than just a very long list of other books, quotes, references, studies never linked, generalizations, and story after story after story. The fact that the book was broken up into numbered passages made it even worse. Every time I saw a new numbered passage, I would immediately groan, knowing it would start with something like, "M friend Allison and I were sitting at a cafe and she said...." blah blah blah ancient wisdom.

I didn't click or connect with the author well, her tone was all over the place. I felt like I was reading the author's fast-paced inner monologue, like we were going down a steep hill in a bicycle with no brakes.

I'd say skip this book and just read the highlighted notes.

clubsanwich's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.25

lozzyd's review against another edition

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5.0

After having this book recommended to me more than once, I decided to give this a go. I found myself nodding, laughing, crying and taking notes at various times and in varying orders. Sarah is so relatable and has such a conversational writing style, I left this book feeling like she was one of my friends! This book is a great read for anyone prone to anxiety or a loved one of an anxiety sufferer.

keeks2312's review against another edition

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3.0

The first half of this book really spoke to me and I felt like I got sooo much out of it. The second half felt a little bit preachy and felt more of a "how to" on anxiety and kinda made me feel like I'm not doing enough which is probably not what was intended with this one haha

Still would definitely recommend and thought it had some great information and a really good insight into living with anxiety.

sarahelem's review against another edition

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funny hopeful informative slow-paced

4.5

I ate this book up.

kittykets's review against another edition

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hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

knygu_skaitytoja's review against another edition

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3.0

Ši knyga ne kiekvienam ir ji tikrai ne man. Nelabai patiko knygos montažas, joje daug blankių teiginių, daug neatitikimų laiko juostose pasakojant. Man gal kiek kliuvo pats tekstas – būtų padėjęs geresnis redagavimas. Jautėsi skaitant tarsi ji išleista ir parašyta paskubomis, tarsi parašant tinklaraščio įrašą ir jį išplėtojant. O ne kaip knyga dideliam leidėjui. Knyga įdomi, naudinga, tiesiog kaip yra sakoma turi rasti savo skaitytoją – ir jis tikrai ne aš.

jmcrobbie's review against another edition

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3.0

I have very mixed feelings about this. There is a LOT of fat phobia and diet culture littered throughout this book. Strays worryingly into zones I would consider disordered eating…

Also the author and I experience the same mental illness in ways that are in such complete opposition that it’s almost comical.

That said, I did glean a lot of interesting information from this book. Reassuring of framing things that are a constant struggle, acknowledgement of things I thought only I had issues with, and some helpful practices to add to my roster of coping mechanisms.

More than one thing can be true at once