Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones

18 reviews

fanchera's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Cursing, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Chronic illness, and Adult/minor relationship

mirandalikesbooks's review

challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

3.5

I've never read a memoir of someone who isn't a well-known public figure. It was interesting learning his story at this personal level of introspection.

I would read this if you're interested in the impact your family has on your identity; the intersectionality of being gay, black, and poor; or the struggle of figuring out how to act when the world is telling you to be someone else.

I guess I finished the book hoping for more resolution - why did his mom act cagey when he came out? How will he approach his relationship with his grandma? Will he learn how to be happy with himself and live authentically instead of approaching life the selfish and guarded way he approached his college years?

Overall a decent read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death of parent, and Drug use

Minor: Animal death

april0686's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Chronic illness, and Homophobia

Moderate: Death of parent, Racial slurs, and Sexual content

oddreads_nicolestins's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

I am simply wowed by this memoir! Jones literally has poured so much hurt and self-realization on the page, I was right there with him searching myself with the same questions! I really liked how he split it up in chapters, with years/months to guide us through his major moments/memories. But look, Saeed Jones really tore me up with this one. Especially the parts including his mother and grandmother- that weird place where you are technically estranged but still deeply interdependent, especially in times of financial or emotional distress. WHEW if you haven't read this and you're a memoir person like me, get your hands on it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Grief, and Homophobia

Moderate: Medical content, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, and Sexual violence

Minor: Blood, Confinement, Car accident, Chronic illness, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Suicidal thoughts

mazeeee's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

incredibly moving. grief is such a bitch. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Grief, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Chronic illness, Bullying, Homophobia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.75

This is gorgeous and poetic and so intimate. I'm excited to read more from Mr. Jones. It's a tough memoir to read - Jones has been through so much pain. An important display of the failure of our social systems too.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Bullying, Grief, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Homophobia, Terminal illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Death, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Medical content, Rape, Violence, Cursing, and Racism

Minor: Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, and Classism

amerikanerin's review

sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Death, Violence, Terminal illness, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Racial slurs, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Adult/minor relationship, and Homophobia

mmefish's review

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

A beautifully written memoir that had spoken to my soul more than once (and made me cry).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Grief, and Sexual content

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual violence, Chronic illness, Cursing, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Torture, Animal death, Hate crime, Murder, and Rape

katielaine_w's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Terminal illness

Minor: Drug abuse, Animal death, and Alcohol

armontheroad's review

challenging dark emotional funny informative lighthearted reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

I truly cannot put into words how deeply incredible this memoir is!! This was raw and deeply personal. Saeed Jones narrates his audiobook, which in my opinion, amplified the experience. It baffled me how Jones was able to discuss so much hardship whilst somehow managing to keep the book light and funny at points. By the time I got to the end, I could not stop crying. The writing is just brilliant! At the end of the day, this memoir is a love letter to his mother who passed away after being terminally ill for years. It is about the relationship the two of them had, about his life growing up Black and gay, about the religious abuse he suffered throughout his life. It’s a story about family and trauma. I do not recommend it lightly. Please take my trigger warnings into consideration before reading and to ensure the protection of your mental health I suggest doing additional research into trigger warnings beforehand!

CWs/TWs: suicide, racism, hate crime, homophobia, religious bigotry, child abuse, sexual content, pedophilia, childhood sexual assault, RuPaul reference, chronic illness, medical content, death of a parent, grief, rape, murder (minor), fetishization, car accident, physical assault, animal death, eye gore, etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Medical content, Physical abuse, Animal death, Death of parent, Grief, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Suicide, Racism, Homophobia, and Rape

Minor: Murder