Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

물고기는 존재하지 않는다 by Lulu Miller

18 reviews

asolis's review against another edition

2.5

A mix of memoir, biography, popular science, and a bit of self-help. From childhood, the author is unmoored by her father's nihilistic yet unshakably optimistic approach to life. Here she looks to the life story of David Starr Jordan for perspective. 
The content is primarily dedicated to Jordan's story, whom we come to find is a notably repellent human. The author does a good job of giving us a look under the hood at the story of someone who could be considered a scientific hero, and showing the ugliness of bigotry and white supremacist ideology underneath. But the framing presents this in the context of a memoir, even though Miller is stingy with her own story. That, despite its other strengths, makes the book feel unsatisfying. 

CW: self harm, substance abuse, sexual assault, state violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Racism, Self harm, and Murder

cass_lit's review against another edition

3.0

There is a certain category of nonfiction that doesn’t work for me. This started off like that and I was worried. 

I had no idea where this was going for most of this book. It seemed in the beginning like a stream of consciousness about “chaos” as the author worked through some thoughts on dependency (her dad, her ~curly haired~ ex-boyfriend). (All of her thoughts there are totally valid, I just don’t get a lot of enjoyment out of reading them.) I did not understand her obsession with David Starr Jordan at first, but then she started telling us all of the shitty things he did and I REALLY did not understand why he deserved a book that wasn’t focused on setting his reputation straight. When someone uses his power to cover sexual assault with threats and potentially murders someone (and definitely gaslights the hell out of her after her death), I’m simply not interested in the psychology behind why he did it. He did it and he was wrong. In my opinion, the author’s desperation to find out why Jordan was like this felt like she was trying to find an excuse for him. 

The last ~1/4 or so of the book truly saved it for me. Miller felt like she was unequivocally calling Jordan a bad person, and she even got a little vindictive - deservedly. The threads of the story finally started to make some sense and I could find a point to why she wrote this. I am in awe of Anna and Mary’s strength for getting through what they did; they’re a great model of what women (and all humans!) can be, no matter what depraved narcissists have said. I also didn’t know that “fish” wasn’t considered a scientific classification any longer, so it was equally as interesting as it was satisfying.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism and Medical trauma

Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Forced institutionalization, and Suicidal thoughts

emhunsber's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abortion, Alcohol, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: War, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Infertility, Homophobia, Hate crime, Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Colonisation, Child abuse, Car accident, Body horror, Blood, Biphobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Ableism

skudiklier's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This book was really good! I had kind of weird expectations going in that made me wary of it, but by the time I got about halfway through I couldn't put it down. It goes a lot of places and has so many really important ideas. I'd definitely recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Racism, Murder, Death, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Bullying, Self harm, Child death, Drug use, Infertility, Infidelity, Homophobia, Body horror, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, and Confinement

Minor: Gun violence, Sexual content, and Alcohol

Eugenics, forced sterilization, r slur And mild/moderate people being eaten by animals

starscattered's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

Beautiful, clever, and thought-provoking. This is a wonderful novel and I tore through it (definitely didn’t stick to the Life’s Library timings on this one, I started it early and I honestly couldn’t put it down). This part biography, part memoir is a real lesson in nuance and how we see (and how we should see) the world around us. Stunning.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Sexual violence

Moderate: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

Forced sterilisation and sterilisation laws

bookpunhere's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Infertility, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Infidelity and Sexual assault

vlntnmz's review against another edition

hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Alcoholism

jeanneerin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Torture

Moderate: Alcoholism, Ableism, Addiction, Violence, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Grief, Death, Confinement, Death of parent, and Child death

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, and Car accident

Forced sterilization, eugenics, depression, Trump, Confederate statues, Proud Boys