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4.14 AVERAGE
4.14 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Loved this- one of the most beautifully written memoirs I've read. I rarely purchase books, but I'm thinking I will buy my own copy of this one after I return my borrowed copy to the library!
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
I loved this read. I tried to read it in 2013 and someone put me off it. I'm very glad to have gone back to it. Her observations and social commentary were very insightful. Her descriptions of her upbringing are a world apart from life today particularly the quality of housing, money and how life was. I hadn't really appreciated that was how life was then. Her story is also pretty inspiring of how she managed her challenges. I enjoyed her introspection on how her upbringing has affected her.
In short: THANK GOODNESS FOR BOOKS. Books provided an education, respite, safety, community, a pathway to college, and an eventual source of income for the author. Is it too extreme to assume that books saved her life? Her insights and writing are so crisp and there's no question that she's given back - this book will give readers life and fresh air.
The role of books and writing in her life reminded me of the song Hurricane from the Hamilton soundtrack, specifically:
I wrote my way out of hell
I wrote my way to revolution
I was louder than the crack in the bell
I wrote Eliza love letters until she fell
I wrote about The Constitution and defended it well
And in the face of ignorance and resistance
I wrote financial systems into existence
And when my prayers to God were met with indifference
I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance
The role of books and writing in her life reminded me of the song Hurricane from the Hamilton soundtrack, specifically:
I wrote my way out of hell
I wrote my way to revolution
I was louder than the crack in the bell
I wrote Eliza love letters until she fell
I wrote about The Constitution and defended it well
And in the face of ignorance and resistance
I wrote financial systems into existence
And when my prayers to God were met with indifference
I picked up a pen, I wrote my own deliverance
Matter of fact & but at the same time achey, excruciatingly well written.
This is a raw and sometimes hard to read memoir.. JW does not dwell on the harshness of her upbringing but more the effects it has had on her as an adult. It's is not a chronological biography but more an explanation of how she is who she is. Sometimes funny and sometimes very painful but there always seems to be an underlying sadness. Glad I read this book.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Ich konnte mich bisher trotz aller Empfehlungen nicht überwinden, was von Jeanette Winterson zu lesen, aber diese Autobiografie fand ich interessant und auch stilistisch eindringlich und gut, ohne eine einzige langweilige Stelle. Eigentlich mag ich es nicht, wenn alles mit Beispielen aus Literaturklassikern illustriert ist, aber hier wird das biografisch gut begründet. Die Klappentexte ihrer anderen Bücher verlocken mich weiter gar nicht, aber ich werde versuchen, meine Vorurteile zu überwinden und noch mindestens ein anderes Buch von ihr anfangen. Vielleicht sind ja doch nur die Klappentexte das Problem.
This book could easily have been half as long. The first half of the book was a monotonous repeat of the terrible childhood that the author had - it was interesting the first time, but the multiple repeats of the same injury just made it so that I didn't care anymore. The last section of the book about college and beyond was good, but by that point I just didn't have any cares left, unfortunately.
Best memoir I've read. Ever. Completely relate to the narrative of recuperating when you're a queer person who has been damaged by bizarro versions of Christianity. The adoption/abandonment story was also amazing and intense. Need to reread before I can offer more sustained reflection.