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moonyreadsbystarlight's reviews
576 reviews
The Woman in Me by Britney Spears
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
3.5
This would have greatly benefited from a cowriter or strong editor, however I still really appreciate this. And considering everything, I really understand why she wouldn't want a cowriter or anyone else to have their hands on her story.
Her story is reflective of so many things wrong with society, from the textbook misogyny she experienced post-breakup to the isolating postpartum depression, to the even less talked about experience of conservatorship. I think it will make a lot of people feel seen and her story of conservatorship will hopefully open a much wider conversation about familial abuse, disability justice, and bodily autonomy for all.
Her story is reflective of so many things wrong with society, from the textbook misogyny she experienced post-breakup to the isolating postpartum depression, to the even less talked about experience of conservatorship. I think it will make a lot of people feel seen and her story of conservatorship will hopefully open a much wider conversation about familial abuse, disability justice, and bodily autonomy for all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical trauma, and Abortion
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Alcoholism and Eating disorder
Palestine by Joe Sacco
emotional
informative
reflective
4.5
Palestine by Joe Sacco is a comic/graphic nonfiction work of journalism that documents his travels through Palestine in the early/mid 1990's. Alongside his own experiences, he tells the stories of many Palestinians that he interviewed. He is invited into many houses for tea and food while hearing stories of brutal imprisonment, death of children, political divides within the community, and much more.
This work will certainly put the Palestinian struggle into perpective if you are unfamiliar. It also makes the crimes against humanity we are witnessing being livestreamed online even more horrific. For example: hospitals are being bombed now with doctors and patients inside, parallel is the story of a boy (15) who had already been shot by a soldier and sent to the hospital only to be beaten inside the hospital by soldier (his arm broken alongside the arm of a member of hospital staff who tried defending him). The horrors we are seeing now have a long history and this comic shows many small snapshots within that history.
Throughout the story of Sacco's time in Palestine, we see some of his thoughts and at times he outright discusses some of his biases. This was a self-aware framing that is supposed to (I think) show us some of the problems with the Western gaze. Even as I understood it, I still found some of it annoying in the moment. As I reflect on it, I do think that parts of this message are quite important in the context of journalism (particularly as we see how much western news has covered Palestine recently). I still have mixed feelings, but ultimately it's small parts that I have conflicted feelings about.
Overall, this was an intense collection of experiences and an important read. I'd definitely recommend it to people who are unfamiliar and wanting to learn more about Palestine. It is western journalism that is self-critical and even if the jurry is out on my full opinion of exactly how he did that framing, I'm glad that it was there.
This work will certainly put the Palestinian struggle into perpective if you are unfamiliar. It also makes the crimes against humanity we are witnessing being livestreamed online even more horrific. For example: hospitals are being bombed now with doctors and patients inside, parallel is the story of a boy (15) who had already been shot by a soldier and sent to the hospital only to be beaten inside the hospital by soldier (his arm broken alongside the arm of a member of hospital staff who tried defending him). The horrors we are seeing now have a long history and this comic shows many small snapshots within that history.
Throughout the story of Sacco's time in Palestine, we see some of his thoughts and at times he outright discusses some of his biases. This was a self-aware framing that is supposed to (I think) show us some of the problems with the Western gaze. Even as I understood it, I still found some of it annoying in the moment. As I reflect on it, I do think that parts of this message are quite important in the context of journalism (particularly as we see how much western news has covered Palestine recently). I still have mixed feelings, but ultimately it's small parts that I have conflicted feelings about.
Overall, this was an intense collection of experiences and an important read. I'd definitely recommend it to people who are unfamiliar and wanting to learn more about Palestine. It is western journalism that is self-critical and even if the jurry is out on my full opinion of exactly how he did that framing, I'm glad that it was there.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
The Groundings with My Brothers by Walter Rodney
informative
reflective
4.75
The Groundings With My Brothers by Walter Rodney is a classic work about Black power, education, and the necessity of community in both. Rodney goes in detail about what Black power means, defying popular watered down notions and reveiling a revolutionary unifying understanding of what Black Power is. He discusses this in the context of Jamaca, having lived there and taught with and learned from the Rastafarian people. With this context, we learn about the racism of the Jamacan government (even post-Independence) and how African history is tied to the region.
Not only is this useful historical context and breakdown of white supremacy in the Caribbean and global context, but this is an important work pedagogically. Education and power comes from sharing within a community, understanding your power as a collective. It's about defying the academic norm of isolation from (being above) the common person and about connecting scholarship and activism in the communities most impacted by the issues.
In this edition, the original work is framed by an introduction and essays about the work that come together to show the importance of this work both historically and how it continues to be relevant. I really enjoyed these essays and thought they added a lot as well. Parts of this a little difficult to fully grasp without some context, but these essays help with that.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia
Momfluenced: Inside the Maddening, Picture-Perfect World of Mommy Influencer Culture by Sara Petersen
informative
3.75
3.75? 4? Star ratings are hard
Momfluenced looks at some of the big pitfalls of mom influencer culture and how they are reflective of (are impacted by and themselves impact) culture at large. There are some really interesting connections and insights here concerning marketing, inequality, the role of white women in white supremacy, and much more. There is also discussion about the positives including how these social media platforms connect marginalized people.
There was so much that I really enjoyed about this initially but it did have it's issues as well. Certainly, there were topics that could have been expanded upon and I would have liked to see a bit on how this culture impacts the children as well. But the real drawback for me was some of the analysis politically. While there were some issues shown and some systems questioned, there was a lot that wasn't. Most solutions or ideas of where to go from here were more neo-liberal and surface-level. Given the insight in the rest of the book, I was disappointed in how watered down a lot of the last couple of chapters were in this regard.
Overall, this had some really interesting and important insights, but there is a lot more that I'd like to see dug into on several fronts.
Momfluenced looks at some of the big pitfalls of mom influencer culture and how they are reflective of (are impacted by and themselves impact) culture at large. There are some really interesting connections and insights here concerning marketing, inequality, the role of white women in white supremacy, and much more. There is also discussion about the positives including how these social media platforms connect marginalized people.
There was so much that I really enjoyed about this initially but it did have it's issues as well. Certainly, there were topics that could have been expanded upon and I would have liked to see a bit on how this culture impacts the children as well. But the real drawback for me was some of the analysis politically. While there were some issues shown and some systems questioned, there was a lot that wasn't. Most solutions or ideas of where to go from here were more neo-liberal and surface-level. Given the insight in the rest of the book, I was disappointed in how watered down a lot of the last couple of chapters were in this regard.
Overall, this had some really interesting and important insights, but there is a lot more that I'd like to see dug into on several fronts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny and Racism
Moderate: Mental illness and Abortion
Minor: Miscarriage and Pandemic/Epidemic
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
4.0
This was a really intense collection. It's the sort of literature you really have to sit with. I felt like I should have been reading it for a class (not in a bad way). There was a lot explored in interesting and intricate ways. There was a lot thematically about misogyny, trauma and mental health, and queerness.
As with any collection, there were ups and downs. My favorite story was probably Mothers. My least favorite was Especially Heinous (though I love a lot of the ideas there, it was way too long). Overall, it was well written, intense, and definitely fucked with my mind
As with any collection, there were ups and downs. My favorite story was probably Mothers. My least favorite was Especially Heinous (though I love a lot of the ideas there, it was way too long). Overall, it was well written, intense, and definitely fucked with my mind
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault
Universal Harvester by John Darnielle
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
I read the first third or so of this a couple of years ago and stopped just because life happened. I picked up The audiobook on a whim and read it all in one night and it was quite the time.
I'm not sure that I've totally wrapped my head around the book completely. This strange story is told going between characters and between times. There were fourth wall breaks and explorations of how things may have gone differently, as well as insight on grief and memory. Thematically, there are a lot of profound things to unpack. However, if you are a plot person, you will come out of it far more unsettled that I am. There are a lot of everyday "plotless" points in order to (in theory) discover what is behind the mystery of the tapes.
I feel like this is one I'm going to have to process and maybe reread to totally get it (and there were enough compelling bits that I would like to). I had an interesting time with it nonetheless.
I'm not sure that I've totally wrapped my head around the book completely. This strange story is told going between characters and between times. There were fourth wall breaks and explorations of how things may have gone differently, as well as insight on grief and memory. Thematically, there are a lot of profound things to unpack. However, if you are a plot person, you will come out of it far more unsettled that I am. There are a lot of everyday "plotless" points in order to (in theory) discover what is behind the mystery of the tapes.
I feel like this is one I'm going to have to process and maybe reread to totally get it (and there were enough compelling bits that I would like to). I had an interesting time with it nonetheless.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Torture, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail
Parental abandonment, car crashes, emotionally disturbing scenes, cults/brainwashing
Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English by Valerie Fridland
informative
4.75
This was such a cool read! For context, my master's thesis was linguistic in nature, so this is the exact sort of thing I would have had to include in it (had it been published earlier). This was very approachable and accessible to a less academic audience while also being full of interesting information. I definitely learned some things around history! This does a great job breaking down how social biases impact public opinion on language - meanwhile, it is those marginalized groups who are the innovators.
I would recommend to anyone who is interested in linguistics. If you read Wordslut by Amanda Montel and you want to learn even more, check this out!
I would recommend to anyone who is interested in linguistics. If you read Wordslut by Amanda Montel and you want to learn even more, check this out!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism
Moderate: Racism and Transphobia
Twistwood Tales by A.C. Macdonald
adventurous
funny
hopeful
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
This was weird, adorable, a little creepy, and a lot wholesome. This is a series of comics with interconnected characters and a few connected plots. I adored this and will absolutely be revisiting. It's so comfy!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying and Injury/Injury detail
Drama by Raina Telgemeier
funny
lighthearted
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
3.5
This is a story about some theater kids and the drama that can happen behind the scenes of the show. There were parts that were funny and I thought that there were some good things happening with discussions about coming out and generally coming out of your shell as a person. I did find parts clunky or frustrating at times but overall, it was pretty cute.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia