Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Being Lolita: A Memoir by Alisson Wood

18 reviews

bookswithgeorgia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Self harm, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Gaslighting, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, and Emotional abuse

savvylit's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

3.5

Alisson Wood writes poignantly about an incredibly difficult experience. Using Lolita and fairytales as a lens for her own experience, Wood is able to ask readers thought-provoking questions about consent, abusive relationships, and manipulation. Why does our culture portray girls with trauma as requiring male saviors? Why do many of the stories we tell encourage women to feel incomplete without a relationship to a man? Why do awful adult men keep preying on teenage girls and how can we stop them before they even begin?

Being Lolita is a compelling and consuming memoir. The book shines in revealing what it's like to survive a predatory and emotionally abusive relationship. I feel as though I have definitely walked away with a better understanding of how our culture has dangerously blurred young women's understanding of consent and power dynamics.

I ultimately rated Being Lolita as 3.5 stars because a large part of the memoir is a critical analysis of Nabokov's Lolita. It is an incredibly well-thought-out analysis and clearly helped Wood on her journey to better understand her own experience. However, the flow between Wood's recounting of her past and the analysis didn't hold my attention as well as I'd hoped. At some point, it felt like the threads of Wood's own experience were dropped in favor of an academic approach. While there's not necessarily anything wrong with that, it seemed disjointed to me as a reader.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

nura_aga's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

wolfiereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

jmcordero's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Grief, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, and Sexism

angel_lyd's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Alisson Wood tells the story of her grooming and eventually abusive relationship with her high school english teacher, she discusses the story of lolita and how her partner happily viewed their relationship as similar to Dolores and Humbert’s. It’s a good read for anyone who has experienced grooming or abuse, I found it helpful to be able to hear a similar story to my own and know that following this she has still managed to be successful and happy. It’s a heavy, sad story and you definitely have to be in a good head space to read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Violence

imrath's review against another edition

fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Rape, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Vomit, Abandonment, Self harm, Infidelity, Body shaming, Blood, Cursing, and Death of parent

Minor: Death and Bullying

multilingual_s's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit