novella42's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

5.0

This book was too powerful for me to be able to give a coherent review right after finishing it. I will say that as a white disabled queer woman, I am immensely grateful to learn these stories, struggles, and wisdom from QTBIPOC disabled community leaders and visionaries. I think this is the most important book I have read in years.

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reallife_kazbrekker's review

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hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

Listened to this as an audiobook, it was very informative! Made me feel a little bit lonely at times because I don't have a support network like it is described in this book, which I would love as a disabled / chronically ill person.
Would highly recommend this to everyone tho!

Can't write a longer review because I have like zero energy right now.... But yeah, I recommend it!

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tlaynejones's review

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

This is the best book I’ve read this year. The writing is deeply compassionate thoughtful and challenging. I am grateful to have the opportunity to question and expand many of my long held understandings of the world and of myself. Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha shared her experiences, vulnerability, strengths, and desires with a warm generous relatability. I wish everyone would read this. Highly recommended.

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rionstorm's review

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challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

3.5

There's some really good ideas and concrete resources in this book. There's also some wonderful utopian imagining and goal setting, which feels motivational and helped expand my thinking. 

It reads like a mix of a memoir, academic theory, and a practical guide, which was interesting. I struggled to get through certain sections that felt a little repetitive, or were very hyper-specific to Canada and the USA. The intense, firm narration style makes sense and fits with such vital subject matter, but for me became a bit overwhelming after a while, in the same way listening to a lot of impassioned speeches one after the other can make the words being said start to bounce off you a bit. 

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charlottejones952's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

2.0

I'll admit that I didn't complete the last 2 chapters but this was because of the content. This book is enlightening but tough so I don't know who I'd recommend to. Discussion of care work and ableism were fascinating but the trauma and surviverhood was too blunt and difficult to read for me.

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arsenic_'s review against another edition

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5.0


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skudiklier's review against another edition

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challenging informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.75

I read the first half of this book really slowly--like, over the course of several months. The second half moved much more quickly for me, and I found it more engaging. But really overall I think this book is amazing and I would definitely recommend it. For people not in radical leftist spaces, the writing might be a bit of an adjustment, but I think this is a useful and important read for anyone, regardless of their background or relationship to disability. I'm glad I read it, and thankful for Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha's work to write it. 

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emilykval's review

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0


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achingallover's review

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challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

Rating may be revised later.
Part VI was really good and gave me a lot to think about, but other parts were repetitive, reductive, bad advice (eg regarding medication) or, just, lots of acronyms that weren't explained (the irony that it discusses making writing less academic to be accessible is not lost on me).

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kelseyland's review

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challenging informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

An incredible collection of essays that put forth a radical, transformative vision of disability justice that centers the voices and needs of disabled people, and particularly folks who are queer, trans, Black, indigenous, and POC. The essays range from the theory-based (what does healing look like when it is done by and for disabled people, and what are its goals?) to the practical (hacks for going on a book tour as a disabled person). Even if you  have a baseline familiarity with disability justice, this book is likely to make you consider ideas, perspectives, and/or forms of oppression that you haven't before.

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