Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Zami: A New Spelling of My Name: A Biomythography by Audre Lorde

18 reviews

dominic_t's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

"Every woman I have ever loved has left her print upon me..."

This is an amazing book that transcends the memoir genre. Lorde calls it a biomythography, and that really fits. She centers her analysis of her life on her relationships with women and explores how each woman shaped her. Her writing is so vivid and provides a window into what life was like for gay-girls (her term) in the northeast US in the 40s and 50s. 

She wrote so beautifully about each relationship and really captured the experiences of infatuation, love, and heartbreak. I viscerally felt the highs and laws.

I also loved reading about the community of gay women she belonged to. It was a fascinating window into the past. She went into a lot of detail about her experience as a Black woman in a majority white community and explored the complexity of her friendships and relationships with white women. She also talked about her struggles to fit into the community as a woman who wasn't either butch or femme. I've read the perspectives of butches and femmes from communities like hers, and it was cool to get the perspective of someone who didn't fit in either role.

The progressive communities of that time were really homophobic and saw queerness as "bourgeoisie." In response to that, she wrote, "I didn’t know how I was going to bring my personal and political visions together, but I knew it had to be possible because I felt them both too strongly, and knew how much I needed them both to survive...Any world which did not have a place for me loving women was not a world in which I wanted to live, nor one which I could fight for." That quote deeply resonates with me. I can feel both her pain and her hope.

This is not an easy read. She covers abuse, bigotry, and suicide in detail. Even though the book was filled with tragedy, I ended the book feeling hopeful. Throughout everything, she had a vision of a better world, and I was able to see it too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Animal death, Alcohol, Racism, and Rape

Moderate: Cancer

Minor: Racial slurs

reading_mermaid's review

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Abortion, Child abuse, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racism and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Incest

planetsaturns's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Abortion, and Homophobia

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Animal death and Sexual assault

quirkilybookish's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion

Moderate: Self harm, Violence, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Suicide, and Racism

Minor: Rape, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Infidelity

lynnloveshobi's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Abandonment, Classism, Grief, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Death, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Self harm, Homophobia, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Animal death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Racial slurs, Abortion, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Addiction

addyruth17's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.25

Such a fascinating life, and a delectable poetic voice.  I was writing down quotes and annotating like crazy.  A bit slow and perhaps unsettled in the timeline, but worth it for the insight into the Black lesbian 1940s/50s experience, and the gorgeous descriptions of loving women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Sexual content, and Suicide

Moderate: Death, Racism, Alcohol, Rape, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug use, Animal death, Blood, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Sexism, and Toxic relationship

lily1304's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

Filled me with gratitude for queer elders and ancestors. It is such a gift to love women.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Suicide, Racism, Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Alcoholism

Description of a burn injury from boiling water

mmirjamm's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad slow-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Animal death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, and Misogyny

zombiezami's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Racism, Sexual content, Self harm, Sexism, Animal death, Death, Child abuse, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Grief, Classism, Blood, Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Misogyny

Moderate: Bullying, Ableism, Drug use, Mental illness, Cursing, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Infidelity, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Vomit, War, Trafficking, Cancer, and Slavery

Colorism

bluehourphile's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Audre Lorde has a wonderfully rich, sensual way of writing. I feel she invites you in to her musings and explores her story and trauma with the reader. Personal in a different level from a regular biography. It almost feels like you are reading one of her extended essays. Her acknowledgement and appreciation of the divine feminine comes through in all aspects of her biomythography, as well as the struggles of growing up in a segregated America as a black lesbian. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm

Moderate: Abortion, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcoholism