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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
“The dream is not about ‘overcoming’ a disability. The dream is about looking straight into the abyss and creating something out of nothing. Dreaming is infinite universe building.”
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
slow-paced
An interesting format for a memoir; some parts were more effective than others.
For the audio version, I very much liked the descriptions of the photos and visual materials included in the print version (basically alt text) but I wish we could have had the author herself read at least the intro or something. And some of the transcripts of interviews felt like they went on a bit long.
I definitely learned a lot about disability advocacy and justice. One of my favorite essays was about plastic straws because it really made me think.
For the audio version, I very much liked the descriptions of the photos and visual materials included in the print version (basically alt text) but I wish we could have had the author herself read at least the intro or something. And some of the transcripts of interviews felt like they went on a bit long.
I definitely learned a lot about disability advocacy and justice. One of my favorite essays was about plastic straws because it really made me think.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I'm so glad to be finished this book and not in a good way. I admire Alice Wong a lot, she is super smart and has invaluable insight but the layout of this book left a lot to be desired. I definitely understand that she wanted to differentiate herself in a sea of disability memoirs and she absolutely did that but in doing so this book kind of fell flat.
This was a very disjointed read. I love reading memoirs and experiencing the stories of people's lives and I don't mind if it's not chronological but to be frank some of the chapters in this book felt entirely irrelevant. Some of the interview chapters in particular felt very misplaced.
I did love certain parts though, including the interview with her mom about Lunar New Year, the interview about the Denzel Washington movie, the chapter about human gene editing, and the chapter about her school teacher. I loved seeing pictures and artwork throughout the book. The format was fun even if I didn't love all of the content within it. I was so psyched that there was a crossword!!! How cool. I only got a single word right because I'm terrible at crosswords but coolest thing to find in a memoir ever.
This was a very disjointed read. I love reading memoirs and experiencing the stories of people's lives and I don't mind if it's not chronological but to be frank some of the chapters in this book felt entirely irrelevant. Some of the interview chapters in particular felt very misplaced.
I did love certain parts though, including the interview with her mom about Lunar New Year, the interview about the Denzel Washington movie, the chapter about human gene editing, and the chapter about her school teacher. I loved seeing pictures and artwork throughout the book. The format was fun even if I didn't love all of the content within it. I was so psyched that there was a crossword!!! How cool. I only got a single word right because I'm terrible at crosswords but coolest thing to find in a memoir ever.
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
fast-paced
I’m glad I read this book. I learned a lot about the disability activism community, and the formatting with different styles of chapters was a fun way to provide sometimes hopeful and fun stories and sometimes disheartening tales of oppression. Wong’s essay writing was engaging and fun, albeit sometimes stream-of-consciousness.
It wasn’t my favorite mostly for editorial reasons. listening to transcribed interviews became frustrating when a sentence/thought would be interrupted with the interviewer saying things like “yeah,” or “ah, interesting” (with attribution that also had to be read aloud). This might be better for non-audiobook listeners, but it still doesn’t seem super necessary, especially when at the beginning of each chapter there is a note stating the interviews have already been condensed.
If someone asked specifically about it I’d recommend the book, but I don’t know if it’d be the first one that I recommend if someone asked for general recommendations.
It wasn’t my favorite mostly for editorial reasons. listening to transcribed interviews became frustrating when a sentence/thought would be interrupted with the interviewer saying things like “yeah,” or “ah, interesting” (with attribution that also had to be read aloud). This might be better for non-audiobook listeners, but it still doesn’t seem super necessary, especially when at the beginning of each chapter there is a note stating the interviews have already been condensed.
If someone asked specifically about it I’d recommend the book, but I don’t know if it’d be the first one that I recommend if someone asked for general recommendations.
funny
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced