Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

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

42 reviews

jessmbark's review

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.75

Though it was a slow start, this memoir has something for everyone and should serve as an inspiration for anyone who wants to write their own.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexism, Animal death, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, Racism, and Abortion

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Fatphobia, Grief, Addiction, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Animal death, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Violence, and Blood

queerbooklover03's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Audre Lord is one of the best, most beautiful writers that I've ever read and her talent is on full show here.  Now there are some parts that are rather slow, but then there are some scenes that are so compelling and meaningful that they overshadow the slow scenes.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide

Moderate: Abortion, Lesbophobia, Sexual violence, and Racism

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

savvylit's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

Zami offers a captivating look at several unique and specific settings. The first is Lorde's experience growing up in Harlem as the child of strict immigrants during the 1940s. The second is a foray into an enclave of expats who fled the U.S. during the McCarthy/Red Scare era. The third is the lesbian social scene in New York City in the 1950s. All three of those settings and perspectives are endlessly fascinating on their own. But told in Lorde's characteristic sharp and lyrical voice, they are made even more engrossing.

In this memoir, Audre Lorde doesn't hold back. Rather, she shares all the details - good and bad. Lorde frankly discusses traumatic physical events sexual assaults and a brutal illegal abortion. She also beautifully and achingly describes the emotional aspects of her life: her difficult relationship with her mother, the loss of a close childhood friend, and, later, the crumbling of her first long-term relationship.

Overall, I really enjoyed learning about the early development of Audre Lorde's brilliant mind. After reading Zami, it became clear to me how Lorde's trifold outsider status (Black, lesbian, leftist) shaped her life and her writing. I am now very eagerly anticipating reading her essay collection, Sister Outsider, at some point in the near future!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt, Xenophobia, Sexual violence, Misogyny, Racism, Suicide, Lesbophobia, and Toxic relationship

queerghstbuster's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Audre represents loving women so softly and so comforting it just gives you a warm embrace.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Lesbophobia and Suicide

venusdapoopiehead's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

this is the most amazing book i’ve ever read, and i don’t say that quite often. audre lorde’s prose and vivid storytelling is both beautiful and memorable as she talks about her childhood and what it was like growing up in a west indian household, her identity and what it was like to be a black queer woman, and the women in her life who’ve made a lasting impact. definitely a must read 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Racism, Suicide, and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape, Homophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

christie_evelyn's review

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Abortion, and Suicide

Minor: Homophobia and Mental illness

michaelion's review against another edition

emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.25

she, and i cannot stress this enough, just like me. fr. minus the dating white women. but the circumstances surrounding that and explanations? wow! she just like me! fr!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Racism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Ableism, Racial slurs, Child death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Drug use, Abortion, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Self harm

Minor: Cultural appropriation, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Outing, Infidelity, and Animal death

amelody's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Animal death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, and Suicide

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