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adamskiboy528491's review against another edition
4.25
“The body is an afterthought.”
Constellations by Sinead Gleeson is a collection of essays that seem to go on further than the others, so preoccupied with the body and what we don't write about it: illness, fertility, death, relationships - each topic is explored in a tight, well-written essay that, despite the familiar subject, manages to find new areas to explore and insights to describe. There is a thread on feminism running through many of the essays.
Medical professionals do not always take a woman's pain seriously. Gleeson shares her treatises on the body—her experiences of living with illness and pain. Then, she moves into writing about motherhood, abortion, and even dementia. She holds a mirror up so the reader sees the author's experience and how it reflects against a backdrop of history and other strong women. Women's rights and issues are essential to Gleeson, a freelance broadcaster who can be seen on many YouTube postings.
She has much to protest, given Ireland's backward stance on Women's Rights. The Republic of Ireland, long one of the most catholic countries in the world, is now slowly freeing itself from church domination.
els04's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.0
Hemellichamen. Door: Sinéad Gleeson.
Gleeson ken ik van het boeiende boek This woman’s work, dat ze samen met Kim Gordon schreef. Omdat ik dat zo goed geschreven vond wou ik ook Hemellichamen lezen. De prachtige cover en het thema (Spiegelingen uit het leven) speelden ook een rol. Uitgeverij HetMoet lijkt wel een patent te hebben op prachtige covers en uitgaves…
Hemellichamen is een boek om traag te lezen: je wil niets missen en je hebt tijd nodig om veel te onderlijnen. Hoewel Sinéads leven ver van mij afstaat (qua moederschap en ziekteverleden) voelde ik toch veel verwantschap.
Niet elke essay of gedicht raakte me even diep. Een wond straalt licht uit én Het avonturenverhaal sprongen er voor mij echt uit, maar dat is natuurlijk persoonlijke smaak.
Ierland is een speciaal geval (eufemistisch uitgedrukt) qua vrouwenrechten en dat speelt een belangrijke rol in veel van de essays. Soms vroeg ik me af of Gleeson de vrouw/schrijver zou zijn geweest die ze nu is als ze niet zo lang ziek was en/of ergens anders geboren was. Er moet toch iets in het Ierse water zitten want zo veel geweldige schrijvers, acteurs komen van daar…
Het persoonlijke is politiek én omgekeerd. Gleeson schrijft schijnbaar nonchalant: met het grootste gemak raakt zij alle aspecten van het leven van een vrouw, vrouwen van vroeger en nu, in Ierland en wereldwijd, lichamelijk én geestelijk. En hoewel het heel persoonlijk is wordt het nergens pathetisch.
Sinead Gleeson schreef een intelligent, moedig, eerlijk en intiem boek dat je hoofd, hart én buik raakt. Een mooi boek; letterlijk én figuurlijk.
lisainbookland's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
I think this is the first essay collection I ever read and it was wonderful. Beautifully written and thoughtful with the main theme of the author’s relationship with her body and health over the many struggles she’s faced. Read for a book club.
emmajane66's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
purplemuskogee's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
These essays about illness were very engaging and touching, with the narrator starting with her childhood in 1980s Ireland, where after several gruelling operations for arthritis on her hip, she is sent on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in the hope of being cured. These were my favourite essays, along with Second Mother, the last one about her aunt Terry, lost to dementia. The writing is beautiful and poetic and it reads very pleasantly; I found many of the essays on pregnancy and motherhood less interesting but that's just my personal taste. The essay on abortion was interesting but not particularly original. I disliked the poems in the letter to her daughter and the ones about pain, I found them too disjointed for me. Overall still a collection I enjoyed and I would love to read more of her essays, especially if they relate to her own experience.
booksarentbinary's review against another edition
5.0
A deeply resonant read.
With kindred experiences in youth, to have some of the more specific physical markers of my being represented and reframed with reverence is a unique gift to grow forward with.
Gleeson speaks of her personal experiences with an inclusivity that acknowledges the universal nature of battled relationships with our bodies. The fragilities of self image.
With this, the stories of others are so well weaved into the fabric of the text. From Spence to Woolf. We ache.
A potent vocalising of the spectrum of pain, a sick woman’s resistance.
Overall: Sublime. I finish with the knowing that Constellations will become a place of frequent refuge and sanctity, safely nestled among my shelves.
With kindred experiences in youth, to have some of the more specific physical markers of my being represented and reframed with reverence is a unique gift to grow forward with.
Gleeson speaks of her personal experiences with an inclusivity that acknowledges the universal nature of battled relationships with our bodies. The fragilities of self image.
With this, the stories of others are so well weaved into the fabric of the text. From Spence to Woolf. We ache.
A potent vocalising of the spectrum of pain, a sick woman’s resistance.
Overall: Sublime. I finish with the knowing that Constellations will become a place of frequent refuge and sanctity, safely nestled among my shelves.
jessica_patient's review against another edition
4.0
Constellations by Sinead Gleeson will be adored by fans of Maggie O'Farrell's I Am, I Am, I Am and Michelle Elman's Am I Ugly? when it is published in April. In this fantastic, powerful book of personal essays, Gleeson looks at the struggles and pain her body has been through during childhood, childbirth, growing up and cancer. Through pain both physical and emotional, there are scars full of stories. The writing is razor sharp as she delves into the limitations of our bodies as she explores the abortion debate in Ireland, tackles death of an ex-boyfriend, survives having a rare type of leukemia.
Thank you to Netgalley for sending me a copy.
Thank you to Netgalley for sending me a copy.
zoevancauwenberg's review against another edition
5.0
What a wonderful read! Really gripping and Gleeson's prose and lyrical interludes really carry you through. At times very thought-provoking, with themes that are still topical today such as the question of abortion and women's right to control their own bodies. It's quite a fascinating collection as it really pushes the way we conceive ourselves vis-à-vis our bodies and how it is indeed often an afterthought as Gleeson writes in her opening.