Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Seek You: A Journey Through American Loneliness by Kristen Radtke

12 reviews

kyriannaj's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

2.75

This book felt like the beginning part of a journey, not the whole journey. There's little hope or encouraging parts to hold on to in all the lonely darkness this book deals with. It's clearly an incredibly well researched piece, but with how heavy and dark the content can become, I wish more research was done to show us how to reconnect among this loneliness. Many times I felt it was building to something, or there was the start of a beautiful concept, only to be abruptly cut off and the topic changed leaving the book feeling disjointed. While this isn't the fault of the author's, due to it being written pre-COVID there is no mention of it other than the beginning author's note. Which left the whole book feeling very 'small scale' compared to what the world had just experienced.
The last 100 pages or so were incredibly difficult to read, especially with imagery. It's about Harry Harlow's monkey experiments, which I struggle to understand why they were necessary to include in the first place, at such a graphic level.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, and Medical content

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Cancer, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, and Abortion

the non-graphic summary of the study is that Harry Harlow was researching isolation, what it does to those isolated, how those isolated react upon joining a group, and how that group reacts. However as it went on he became more and more sadistic and abusive towards the monkeys. And around 100 pages are spent on this, in detail, with an attempt to humanize and explain what he did

moonbrained's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Sexual violence, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, and Chronic illness

Minor: Child death, Alcoholism, Mass/school shootings, Gun violence, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Alcohol, Abandonment, Addiction, Cancer, Car accident, Medical content, and Pandemic/Epidemic

lowbrowhighart's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

Big trigger warning for animal cruelty/torture! Part of the book details Harry Harlow's experiments with Rhesus monkeys. Wish I would've known that before reading!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Torture, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Alcoholism, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Misogyny, Sexism, Hate crime, Death, and Cancer

ka_cam's review against another edition

informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

The graphic novel format makes this book go fast, and I think I’d have found it more engaging if I were 1. more actively lonely right now and 2. Less generally familiar with the history/physiology research (so it would be new). At time moving meditation on loneliness but at other times the transitions between personal narrative and research/history felt choppy. Would recommend for anyone interested in loneliness though, since it is so quick to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, and Animal cruelty

Moderate: Animal death, Abandonment, and Alcoholism

Minor: Death, Dementia, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, and Cancer

jayisreading's review against another edition

reflective medium-paced

3.5

This was an interesting graphic novel to read, and I really enjoyed the simple (yet not) illustrations that accompanied a reflection on loneliness in the United States (and I think the emphasis on this being very culturally specific to the country is important here). I’m not sure why, but it never occurred to me that technological advancements and their influences on communication could be so impactful in (re)defining loneliness, so it was cool to see Radtke explore that.

While I did learn a fair bit, I did find that things got repetitive at times. Considering this, I thought the graphic novel could have been a little shorter. I also think it would have been really interesting if Radtke did a deeper exploration on loneliness during the pandemic a bit more, instead of just touching on it.

I wouldn’t say it was a revolutionary read, but it certainly was a contemplative one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Mass/school shootings and Cancer

sallysimply's review against another edition

5.0

This is super insightful and informative, and the art is beautiful. It gave me a lot to think about and a list of topics to keep exploring.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Death and Grief

Minor: Cancer

nouveau's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Cancer and Sexism

sfbookgirl's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

This non-fiction graphic novel illustrates the aspects of loneliness in America using science and sociology to explain why we gravitate towards each other. My favorite aspects of the graphic novel are the illustrations - Kristen Radtke does a fantastic job incorporating text in her sometimes busy, and sometimes simple, graphics. Radtke also uses her own experiences to demonstrate what loneliness means to her. Her reflections resonated with me and while some of the scientific elements went over my head, I appreciate Radtke taking the time to perform ample research on loneliness in America.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death, Cancer, Animal cruelty, and Abandonment

katiebowers's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

I expected this book to invoke more feelings in me. I’m interested in the topic because I definitely believe that loneliness and lack of meaningful community is one of the big bads that helps hold up everything from disease to fascism, and yet…the book didn’t move me in the ways that I expected (or honestly, much at all). It feels particularly on the nose to say I didn’t connect with the author’s story of loneliness, but here we are. I was more interested in the macro story of loneliness, and instead felt like it was a lot of the author’s personal story, along with way, way too much time spent on Harlow’s literally tortuous monkey experiments.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty

Minor: Cancer

lela's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Mass/school shootings, and Grief

Minor: Cancer, Dementia, Alcoholism, and Child death