Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

2 reviews

ambert's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.5

 I'll be honest, when I first saw this book as one of the nominees for Goodread's book of the year I thought that it was a book that would follow sea creatures as they interact in the ocean. Almost like a food chain, going deeper into the sea as time goes on.
I have never been happier to be wrong about a book's topic.
This is an incredibly poignant memoir for those who don't quite know who they are, but know they are getting there. Each essay is an examination of an amazing sea creature and their unique social or morphological attributes, intertwined with experiences from the author's life. 
My favorite of the essays has to be 'My Mother and the Starving Octopus', where Imbler connects an extraordinary Mother Octopus who stands vigil over her eggs for an astonishing 53 months, and how her mother's body image affects how Imbler sees herself. VERY relatable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Body shaming, and Sexual content

Moderate: Sexual assault, War, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Alcoholism, and Animal death

Minor: Bullying, Alcohol, and Drug use

One of the chapters (octopus) deals with body image, both theirs and their mother's. It also covers eating disorders, wanting an eating disorder to become skinny, fatshaming themselves, etc. Another chapter (sandstriker) deals with sexual assault, alcoholism, and has the most sexual content out of any other chapter. Many chapters talk about the unfortunate fact of marine biology research being: The best way to learn about an animal is to take a carcass of one for a specimen. This results in many researchers having to kill the animal they are studying so that they can dissect it or preserve it for later studying. Another chapter (sturgeon) details the jopurney her grandmother took to escape japanese-controlled China in the 1940s, and the realities of war. Later chapters deal with their transition and how they still struggle with body dysmorphia, and many chapters speak about the racism they face today.

robinks's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I did not want this book to end. For a nonfiction book, it read so easily. Imbler seamlessly weaves stories from their own life with how fascinating sea creatures live, the parallels so clear and beautifully constructed. The first chapter If You Flush a Goldfish drew me in immediately, and I was especially hooked after the chapter Hybrid, as a mixed-race person. Imbler captures nuance, complexity, and what is yet unknown so well, and I will continue to recommend this book to everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Animal death, Misogyny, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Sexual violence, Rape, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, and Racism

Moderate: Classism, Pedophilia, Homophobia, Transphobia, Sexual content, Death, and Bullying

Minor: Alcohol, Mass/school shootings, Vomit, and Religious bigotry