A review by rieriereads
How to Stand Up to a Dictator by Maria Ressa

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

I never went back to my grandparents’ house or to school. One day, they were my world. The next day, they weren’t. The door to that world was forever shut, and a new reality opened. I was ten years old.

Since 2019, I’ve invariably been asked by interviewers why I choose to come back to the Philippines, and my response is simple: there is no other choice.

My voice broke then, so I repeated the sentence. “I want to make sure that I have done all I can. We will not duck. We will not hide. We will hold the line.”

Whether we are cancer survivors, patients, or totally healthy individuals, we actually die a little every day, they told her. Each day lived is also another day never to be repeated. Now all we ask is to spend our remaining days with significance.

Over the coming years, as I stood up to the most powerful officials attacking us, people asked me how I found the courage. “It’s easy,” I would often reply. “I have the facts.”

A very important read that made me furious, emotional, frustrated, and hopeful.
 
I highly recommend this for everyone to read.

•••
 
My rating system
 
5 🌟 - Life-changing, a new favorite read
4 ⭐ - I loved it. There were parts, though, that I didn't like.
3 ⭐ - I liked it the most common star rating I give.
2 ⭐ - It was okay, but I wouldn't reread it again.
1 ⭐ - I hated it but decided not to DNF.

Note: I don't rate memoirs or autobiographies.