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kimmykelly's review
3.0
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Dementia, Self harm, Suicide, Death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, and Sexual content
dizzzybrook's review
5.0
Graphic: Incest, Self harm, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
fkshg8465's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Incest, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug use, Dementia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual assault, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Cancer, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Trafficking, and Drug abuse
edelia's review
5.0
Graphic: Medical trauma, Self harm, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Addiction, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, and Child abuse
krmeehan's review
4.0
Graphic: Self harm and Sexual assault
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Suicide
disnelyse's review
4.25
Graphic: Drug abuse, Self harm, and Mental illness
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Suicide
notlikethebeer's review
5.0
Everything/Nothing/Someone is unyielding and unforgiving: not of it's characters, but of the reader. Carriere is brutally honest about her experiences, and this book is not going to be for everyone. There will be some for whom this hits too close to home. There are descriptions (sometimes 'graphic', whatever that might mean) of self-harm, abuse, 'body horror', and mental illness. It is a really, really tough read, and there should be no judgement about feeling that this is not for you. Equally, I think there will be a group of people who should read this, for whatever reason, who will see Carriere's honesty as a reason to shy away. Particularly, the depictions of the American medical complex are devastating. I can't remember the exact wording, but one section refers to her increasing list of diagnoses - diagnoses which happen to have the same symptoms as the side effects of the medication she is on, yet result in further medications themselves. Carriere also explores and examines the devastation that medical professionals can have, even when their intentions might be as good as possible.
Something really striking about this book is that Carriere writes with so much love and respect. Her experiences, particularly with her parents, are often not positive, and that is clear. Yet throughout it all she writes in a way that is fair and avoids being overly inflammatory. She touches on her mother's "recovered" memories, and talks a little about the wider contexts of the time, but does not take away from the trauma her mother uncovered. Similarly, when Carriere goes to meet with her father, it is not just to talk, but also to listen.
Just as I find it difficult to write any account of the content of memoirs, I also find them difficult to critique. There were parts of the narrative that I wish had been further explored. Although the beginning talks a lot about Carriere's use of self-harm, and alludes to this continuing, it features less heavily later on. A major event towards the end is precipitated by a crisis in her mental health, but it is never really explained whether this crisis eventually stabilises. Carriere's life was - in my reading - profoundly affected by the decisions of prescribers and therapists, and I wonder how she feels about these now. I personally would have liked to know more about all of these - but it's also not my memoir. It's not me baring my soul to the world. And that's something I think we need to remember more, when critiquing or discussing memoir or other such personal writings, that we are not entitled to the full story, just because someone chooses to share part of it.
Everything/Nothing/Someone does not have a pretty ending, by which I mean that it doesn't tie everything up with a bow. This is real life. I think this might be one of the greatest books I have ever read.
Thank you, Alice.
(With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC, in exchange for a fair and honest review).
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Self harm, Body horror, Mental illness, Child abuse, Drug abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide attempt