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Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler
18 reviews
yajairat's review
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
Came in expecting to learn about sea creatures, but I left this reading experience in awe of just how vast this world is and how similar their lives are to ours.
The essays were a beautiful mix of informative and personal. I like the fact that Imbler switched between the story of the sea creature and their own story every paragraph. Think it kept it nicely separated, but still saw the connections between them. They had some really poignant reflections on their youth, identity, sexuality, and big life events. Teared up at times not gonna lie!! One of my favorite reads of the year.
"In the animal kingdom, there are two ways to be a mother. Some animals can reproduce multiple times in the span of a life, others just once.... creatures like octopuses have no such maternal privileges. Their single shot at reproduction produces hundreds or thousands of babies, stacking the odds that at least a few will make it out alive... the octopus mother cannot leave her post to hunt. She survives on the stored energy of her body. She will never again see another place; this is her last view." - from the story "My Mother and the Starving Octopus", where a female octopus will starve herself while tending to her eggs, and dies once they hatch.
"I realize now that my mother's wish for me to be thin was, in its way, an act of love. She wanted me to be skinny so things would be easier. White, so things would be easier. Straight, so things would be easy, easy, easy. So that, unlike her, no one would ever question my right to be here, in America. I just wish I could tell her I've been okay without those things, that I've actually been better without them. I wish she would stop wanting those things too." - from "My Mother and the Starving Octopus"
"I predict I will always be in negotiation with my body, what it wants, and what I want of it."
"These animals eked out an alternative way of life. I prefer to think of it not as a last resort but as a radical act of choosing what nourishes you. As queer people, we get to choose our families. Vent bacteria, tube works, and yeti crabs just take it one step further." - from "Pure Life"
"I felt confused about why she never left, surrounded by the ghosts of the abuse and the trial and the hounding by the press. But I also understand the security that comes when you know a place and its ghosts. When you have seen the worst of it and survived." - from "Beware of the Sand Striker", Lorena Bobbitt's story and the bobbit worm that was named after her trauma
"Though prey can be caught off guard, can be surprised, can even be ambushed, prey is never truly unsuspecting. It has evolved the blueprint of its body in response to, or in anticipation of, trauma."
"Almost every system we exist in is cruel, and it is our job to hold ourselves accountable to a moral center separate from the arbitrary ganglion of laws that, so often, get things wrong. This is the work we inherit as creatures with a complex brain, which comes with inexplicable joys, like love and sex and making out in cars, but also the duty of empathy, of understanding what it means when someone is stumbling"
"Trauma is not just a catalyst to regeneration; it is the only catalyst"
"Maybe these moments teach me that this joy does not come from being around people who look like you but from people who are irritated in the same ways. Maybe home is the people who hear your rants and nod, because they know. Maybe complaining to someone who gets it is one of the purest comforts on Earth. Maybe it is less about our shared backgrounds than it is about our shared irritations, obsessions, grievances, fears, resentments. - from "Hybrids"
The essays were a beautiful mix of informative and personal. I like the fact that Imbler switched between the story of the sea creature and their own story every paragraph. Think it kept it nicely separated, but still saw the connections between them. They had some really poignant reflections on their youth, identity, sexuality, and big life events. Teared up at times not gonna lie!! One of my favorite reads of the year.
"In the animal kingdom, there are two ways to be a mother. Some animals can reproduce multiple times in the span of a life, others just once.... creatures like octopuses have no such maternal privileges. Their single shot at reproduction produces hundreds or thousands of babies, stacking the odds that at least a few will make it out alive... the octopus mother cannot leave her post to hunt. She survives on the stored energy of her body. She will never again see another place; this is her last view." - from the story "My Mother and the Starving Octopus", where a female octopus will starve herself while tending to her eggs, and dies once they hatch.
"I realize now that my mother's wish for me to be thin was, in its way, an act of love. She wanted me to be skinny so things would be easier. White, so things would be easier. Straight, so things would be easy, easy, easy. So that, unlike her, no one would ever question my right to be here, in America. I just wish I could tell her I've been okay without those things, that I've actually been better without them. I wish she would stop wanting those things too." - from "My Mother and the Starving Octopus"
"I predict I will always be in negotiation with my body, what it wants, and what I want of it."
"These animals eked out an alternative way of life. I prefer to think of it not as a last resort but as a radical act of choosing what nourishes you. As queer people, we get to choose our families. Vent bacteria, tube works, and yeti crabs just take it one step further." - from "Pure Life"
"I felt confused about why she never left, surrounded by the ghosts of the abuse and the trial and the hounding by the press. But I also understand the security that comes when you know a place and its ghosts. When you have seen the worst of it and survived." - from "Beware of the Sand Striker", Lorena Bobbitt's story and the bobbit worm that was named after her trauma
"Though prey can be caught off guard, can be surprised, can even be ambushed, prey is never truly unsuspecting. It has evolved the blueprint of its body in response to, or in anticipation of, trauma."
"Almost every system we exist in is cruel, and it is our job to hold ourselves accountable to a moral center separate from the arbitrary ganglion of laws that, so often, get things wrong. This is the work we inherit as creatures with a complex brain, which comes with inexplicable joys, like love and sex and making out in cars, but also the duty of empathy, of understanding what it means when someone is stumbling"
"Trauma is not just a catalyst to regeneration; it is the only catalyst"
"Maybe these moments teach me that this joy does not come from being around people who look like you but from people who are irritated in the same ways. Maybe home is the people who hear your rants and nod, because they know. Maybe complaining to someone who gets it is one of the purest comforts on Earth. Maybe it is less about our shared backgrounds than it is about our shared irritations, obsessions, grievances, fears, resentments. - from "Hybrids"
Content Warnings
Moderate: Eating disorder and Sexual assault
Minor: Racial slurs
jazhandz's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
I picked up this book because the marketing and blurb makes it sound like science nonfiction. It is not. It is a collection of personal essays that use marine as a metaphor. They’re beautiful essays, they’re very striking, but I was just intensely frustrated the whole time because of the marketing failure. I wanted the sea creatures to be the point of the book, and it didn’t feel like they were. Maybe I would rate this higher if I’d gone in knowing that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Animal death, and Eating disorder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Racism, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Sexual content, and War
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Homophobia, and Racial slurs
skbat's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, War, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Racism, Rape, Violence, Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, and Body horror
spidergirl502's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder
Moderate: Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and Racism
bookbrig's review against another edition
emotional
informative
fast-paced
I read this thinking it might be a good fit for teen readers, and I do think it could work for teens with some clear content warnings. It's creative and moving, and deals with lots of teen relevant topics - college drinking/hookups, body image, racism, family dynamics, gender, and sexuality, plus there's engaging science and animal stuff. But it doesn't elide details. It's... graphic is the wrong word, but maybe just blunt? Honest. And that makes it both excellent and definitely not something I was in a great place to read right now. Check the content warnings on this one before you go in, because I didn't, and I wish I had. I wasn't really in the right place to read it, though I will happily recommend it to the right readers. The audiobook, read by the author, was excellently done.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Racism, Body shaming, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Animal death
phathaway's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Man, this book. It's a series of essays on the author's life, correlated with a different sea creature. Author is NB, but socially raised as a woman who definitely experienced comphet and I understand so much of their story as a late-in-life lesbian. Just such a beautiful read and I would definitely recommend it to any late-in-life or questioning queer.
I also love how she really put her struggles about her body out there.
I also love how she really put her struggles about her body out there.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Hate crime, Misogyny, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Grief, Dysphoria, Body shaming, Rape, Racism, Xenophobia, and Fatphobia
dreareads_'s review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.5
There is so much about this book to love. I love the way Sabrina is so open and honest about their life, identity, and existence. Each essay provides us with a glimpse to their story, a story that is intertwined with a love for sea creatures and science that only Sabrina can blend together. By portraying their life through sea creatures, Sabrina opened the door for strangers to walk in and see a world that is both familiar and strange. Of all the essays I must say that my favorites were definitely "If You Flush A Goldfish" and "We Swarm". Two essays that felt both deeply personal and universal at the same time.
The only reason I do not give this book 5 stars is because there were a couple of essays where the chosen sea creatures and scientific discussions did not easily blend with the story that Sabrina was presenting at the time.
Regardless, I cannot help but love a book where I learn a lot and feel even more.
The only reason I do not give this book 5 stars is because there were a couple of essays where the chosen sea creatures and scientific discussions did not easily blend with the story that Sabrina was presenting at the time.
Regardless, I cannot help but love a book where I learn a lot and feel even more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Bullying, Cultural appropriation, Drug use, Sexual content, Blood, Dysphoria, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Grief, Racism, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault
julianairving's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
annemaries_shelves's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
4.5 stars
I really loved this collection - it's a blend of nature writing and memoir. The author relates the lives and science behind 10 different creatures to a particular aspect of their life and experiences. For example, their gender explorations, their grandparents' stories in WW2 China, and the eating disorder they experienced as a teen. I appreciated how Imbler made those connections and used metaphor to expand on both sides of the concept - it's not always easy to balance the nature with the personal in an engaging and accurate way.
The writing itself was straightforward and lacking that lyrical, more poetic writing a lot of nature and memoir writing can have and that I tend to prefer (less Braiding Sweetgrass style, if that's a helpful reference). However, the authorial voice and the occasional joke or sarcastic aside worked for me. It's also very much a collection of essay chapters, so there's less of a connecting thread (aside from the high-level concept) across chapters.
In terms of the animals themselves, I either learned a lot about them or got a refresher on ones I’m more familiar with. The sand striker, octopus, cuttlefish, and whales were some of my favourites but honestly all 10 creatures were fascinating in their own way. And the chapter art was so good - it’s hand drawn line art (the artist is listed in the acknowledgments) and compensated for the lack of full colour photo inserts that I wish the book had had a budget for.
Overall, if you like blends of nature and memoir - and especially if you're looking for more queer and/or BIPOC (specifically mixed race Chinese-white) representation in your science/memoir writing - I recommend checking this book out. (Which the author so aptly points out is a hyperfocus of people in the chapter about hybrid animals).
CW: discussions of eating disorders and attempts to lose weight unhealthily as a teen, sexual assault and substance-induced blackout periods of sexual activity where consent cannot be given, brief discussions of war and the Japanese invasion of China in WW2
I really loved this collection - it's a blend of nature writing and memoir. The author relates the lives and science behind 10 different creatures to a particular aspect of their life and experiences. For example, their gender explorations, their grandparents' stories in WW2 China, and the eating disorder they experienced as a teen. I appreciated how Imbler made those connections and used metaphor to expand on both sides of the concept - it's not always easy to balance the nature with the personal in an engaging and accurate way.
The writing itself was straightforward and lacking that lyrical, more poetic writing a lot of nature and memoir writing can have and that I tend to prefer (less Braiding Sweetgrass style, if that's a helpful reference). However, the authorial voice and the occasional joke or sarcastic aside worked for me. It's also very much a collection of essay chapters, so there's less of a connecting thread (aside from the high-level concept) across chapters.
In terms of the animals themselves, I either learned a lot about them or got a refresher on ones I’m more familiar with. The sand striker, octopus, cuttlefish, and whales were some of my favourites but honestly all 10 creatures were fascinating in their own way. And the chapter art was so good - it’s hand drawn line art (the artist is listed in the acknowledgments) and compensated for the lack of full colour photo inserts that I wish the book had had a budget for.
Overall, if you like blends of nature and memoir - and especially if you're looking for more queer and/or BIPOC (specifically mixed race Chinese-white) representation in your science/memoir writing - I recommend checking this book out. (Which the author so aptly points out is a hyperfocus of people in the chapter about hybrid animals).
CW: discussions of eating disorders and attempts to lose weight unhealthily as a teen, sexual assault and substance-induced blackout periods of sexual activity where consent cannot be given, brief discussions of war and the Japanese invasion of China in WW2
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcohol, Eating disorder, War, Body shaming, and Sexual assault
Minor: Racial slurs
caseythereader's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Eating disorder, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Body shaming, Racial slurs, Death, Homophobia, Animal death, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Pandemic/Epidemic