Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Being Lolita: A Memoir by Alisson Wood

16 reviews

tpantozzi's review against another edition

challenging reflective fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Self harm, and Body shaming

jackieyvette's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

4.0

What can I say? There are never words that can really cover the way you feel when you read something like this. 
It's raw in a way only women can be. 


Crying score: none

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Alcohol, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Terminal illness

femmevil's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

katilein's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

madelinequinne's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

A hard and heartbreaking memoir to get through, but so important. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Rape, Pedophilia, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Bullying, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Body shaming, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Self harm

helenamichelle's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

bernieem's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

This was Allison's memoir - about her "love story" that she had with her teacher in high school, to later when she realises that this wasn't a love story.  This memoir gave me a perspective on how grooming and abuse can happen. 

 "Beauty plus pity, is the closest we will get to art" 

I found her perspective and thoughts as a teenager really interesting - we get to see why this happened, how she was groomed. She wanted to be understood and heard, especially considering her history with depression and mental illness, and how people perceived her. At the time it felt like the teacher was the only one who saw her, and maybe that's what enticed her and fought to get his attention so much in high school. It was disturbing to see how the teacher manipulated her with his words, actions, and how he made her think that the abusive relationship in Lolita was a love story that reflected theirs as well.

It was inspiring to learn that she ended up teaching young girls later to teach them what a healthy relationship is.  Her re-reading Lolita and slowly realising over time that the relationship she had with the teacher was abusive was really fascinating. I got a lot of insight from this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

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

janinagnes's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Self harm

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