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A review by onceandfuturereads
Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
2.0
This wasn’t the worst memoir I’ve ever read, but it was far from the best. The title, and the criminal law it’s drawn from, has nothing to do with the story, no matter how much the author tries to shoe-horn it in.
I found a lot of the writing to be needlessly repetitive - the first half of the book doesn’t even delve into Lee’s story but instead takes the reader again and again through the details of other traumatized victims’ court cases. In between cases, Lee details her disordered eating, and the subject is later dropped and never resolved, which I found frustrating. There’s also a couple of small things that irked me because they could have so easily been edited out: she mentions separately but AT LEAST twice the way her mom rubs her hand “like she used to do when I was sick.”
A lot of the writing seemed like the kind only a daughter of a cop could come up with. At one point she asks her dad, “how many people are actually criminals?” when what she really means is “how many people are actually rapists?” I really dislike the term “criminal” in the way it’s used here not only because it disregards race, class, etc but also because the majority of rapists are never actually tried and convicted. Look, overall I loved the message - we should all stand up against the shitty men who try to silence us - but I disliked the way the message was presented.
I found a lot of the writing to be needlessly repetitive - the first half of the book doesn’t even delve into Lee’s story but instead takes the reader again and again through the details of other traumatized victims’ court cases. In between cases, Lee details her disordered eating, and the subject is later dropped and never resolved, which I found frustrating. There’s also a couple of small things that irked me because they could have so easily been edited out: she mentions separately but AT LEAST twice the way her mom rubs her hand “like she used to do when I was sick.”
A lot of the writing seemed like the kind only a daughter of a cop could come up with. At one point she asks her dad, “how many people are actually criminals?” when what she really means is “how many people are actually rapists?” I really dislike the term “criminal” in the way it’s used here not only because it disregards race, class, etc but also because the majority of rapists are never actually tried and convicted. Look, overall I loved the message - we should all stand up against the shitty men who try to silence us - but I disliked the way the message was presented.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, and Rape
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Animal death