Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

83 reviews

ehmannky's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

I truly did not know what to expect with this book, but on the whole I thought it was a fine memoir/biography with a little bit of science sprinkled in. I don't think it's particularly mindblowing and I think it's definitely overhyped, but overall it was fine. I didn't know anything about David Star Jordan, and now know he was an awful eugenicist (and honestly odd to sort of have that be a Big Reveal when it's in the intro paragraph to his wikipedia page) who probably had Jane Stanford murdered for rightfully trying to get him to face consequences. The best parts of the book are Miller's interviews with survivors of the sterilization program and the bit about taxonomy at the end. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Murder, and Racism

imogenclendinning's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Hate crime, Genocide, and Forced institutionalization

grey_jayne's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

I think the hype got to me on this one. It's good but I found it too meandering from the central premise at times. I did enjoy listening to it read by the author tho...and how she shared her queerness. Worth checking out.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Racism, Classism, Colonisation, Sexism, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness

Moderate: Police brutality

craftysnailtail's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

A challenging read, but also an important one. A story that ended up being about topics that I never would've expected based on the synopsis. Many of those topics were heavy and difficult, but I appreciated the way Miller wove them together. The novel felt raw and human in a way that really stuck with me, which was especially surprising with it being non fiction. Also loved how the audiobook ended. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Racism, Genocide, Emotional abuse, and Ableism

alexandryareads's review against another edition

informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Racism, Ableism, Medical content, and Medical trauma

bookbrig's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

I learned a lot from this relatively short audiobook, but it wasn't quite what I expected. Which is my own fault for not reading a summary first, but for other readers have a heads up that there's a lengthy dive into eugenics that is well reported and interesting, but heavier than I was anticipating from the cover. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Racism

Minor: Suicide attempt and Infidelity

readingpicnic's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical trauma, Child death, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Racism

Minor: Infidelity and Self harm

inthemoonlight's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I genuinely have no words for much this impacted me. It is truly beautifully and completely done. 

My only warning would be to look at any trigger warnings if that's something that would impact you. I personally went in blind, not even knowing what it was about, and did not realize how dark things would be. Vital to talk about, but still potentially triggering nonetheless.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Genocide, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Racism, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Death, Rape, Child death, and Physical abuse

fridayreads's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Misogyny, Alcohol, Death, Slavery, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Addiction

whatannikareads's review

informative reflective sad fast-paced

2.75

nooooooot y’all tricking me into reading about a eugenicist!!

i’m a mixed bag of emotions about this book. after about halfway through i think the first half of the book was completely unnecessary/a different book altogether. i fell asleep quite a few times during the first half. the second half was much more interesting, but i kept getting whiplash on the organization of it; we kept switching from history to memoir to social science. i don’t feel the memoir section was expanded enough to be super engaging. the connection between the writer and david star jordan, aside from her research of him, felt like a reach. i think if she has developed her story more, or just made it a completely separate book, it could’ve been more enjoyable. the whole book could’ve just been 3 different articles tbh. it felt like reading a really long op-ed and i don’t think ot should’ve been a book tbh.

also again, i don’t know if talking about how shitty his beliefs were in the second half made up for how nicely he was portrayed in the first half?? it was just very clearly not written by a person of color lol. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Medical trauma, Death, Racism, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Ableism