Scan barcode
A review by kalira
A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy by Tia Levings
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
4.5
Tia writes her story (and shades of so many others' stories, both in their likeness to hers and in the way she touches on the lives of others in her own) with beautiful and shocking clarity. She clearly illuminates so many reasons why - and ways how - people are pulled into these horrific places (traps, prisons, if not ones that can be so outwardly escaped) and even why they stay - whether or not they supposedly would have freedom or ability to leave.
While she never shies away from the choices she made, nor does she soften what others did that affected her, and the choices she made or options that were removed from her.
I appreciated that her story continued solidly after the theoretical 'breaking point' and her escape, but through her recovery (and finding a type of therapy that didn't work, and later one that did), as well as the wavering path along it. Her search for others who came from the same tight, pressured place she did - those who escaped, those who were still there, and no way to know whether it was happily or not.
While she never shies away from the choices she made, nor does she soften what others did that affected her, and the choices she made or options that were removed from her.
I appreciated that her story continued solidly after the theoretical 'breaking point' and her escape, but through her recovery (and finding a type of therapy that didn't work, and later one that did), as well as the wavering path along it. Her search for others who came from the same tight, pressured place she did - those who escaped, those who were still there, and no way to know whether it was happily or not.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Stalking, and Pregnancy