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theabigaillo's reviews
381 reviews
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
it genuinely took me three tries and two years to get through this book (because it kept hitting too close to home and i kept getting triggered), but i finally did it. suffice it to say that i am infinitely glad foo had the strength to write this, so that i could finally understand my own brain — and use this book as a sort of measure to see where i am in my healing journey with c-ptsd. it’s so fascinating how this time around, the things that sent me into a spiral two years ago don’t seem nearly as terrible. i’m glad this book exists, and i’m eternally grateful for my friends who show me more love than i could ever hope to repay.
A Million Junes by Emily Henry
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
as an avid fantasy / magical realism reader, i can certainly acknowledge that this book is flawed — but frankly the writing was too beautiful for me to even care. plus this book is pretty much like if i blended all my favorite themes into one: starcrossed lovers, living with grief, the beauty and effervescence of memory … and it reminded me of the moment in my life that i chose to live. what a wonderous thing, to face death and conquer its pull. there’s no moment like the present, and there’s no gift like the gift of every new breath we take.
When the World Tips Over by Jandy Nelson
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
somehow i’ve never read jandy nelson before — and boy am i realizing that was a mistake!! her writing is so stunning and explosive + the characters in this huge family epic all intertwine in such beautiful ways. it reminded me of isabel allende’s house of the spirits, which is one of my favorite generational stories. and you know i’m always a magical realism fan — that aspect of it was so wonderful. i also loved how nelson filled in missing parts of the story through other characters’ perspectives — it made everything feel complete, and of course it still managed to tug at the heartstrings.
my only real qualms with this book are: 1) there’s frankly too much going on. i think nelson could have afforded to cut down on some plot lines so that she could spend more time with the more compelling stories — which brings me to 2)cassidy and wynton … the more you point out that it’s not weird, the weirder it gets! i do think that nelson tried to pull most of the storylines into romances (see dizzy and tristan at the very end), which is fine i guess — but i think she should have cut those two romantic storylines. it’s perfectly believable (and more compelling in my opinion) if cassidy comes back to meet her family purely because she wants that community so badly.
my only real qualms with this book are: 1) there’s frankly too much going on. i think nelson could have afforded to cut down on some plot lines so that she could spend more time with the more compelling stories — which brings me to 2)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
what a sad little book — my heart breaks for little sherman alexie <3 inevitably pulled at my heartstrings as i remembered just how devastating it is to experience real, life-changing grief as a child. there’s just nothing quite like having your world change forever when you’re only 14.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cultural appropriation
Minor: Ableism, Drug use
The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
it really was a solid 3 or 3.5 until the last few pages. i could feel how meticulously planned this book’s plot was — if anything, it was almost too convoluted to follow. my critique of the first 90% of the book is that i had to spend quite a bit of my brain cells just figuring out the timeline, which means i couldn’t get invested in the characters. but for the last bit, the plot (and specifically the mechanics) just made no sense to me. the book presents itself as a harder sci-fi book, but then it completely glosses over any explanation of the ending? i get the poeticism of it and everything coming full circle, but like — i’m still a bit annoyed that after wracking my brain over this plot for 300+ pages, it doesn’t even make sense in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Police brutality, War
Moderate: Xenophobia
Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
challenging
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
the only reason it took me so long to read this book is how goddamn infuriating it is. multiple times, i had to close the book before i became overpowered by sheer rage at the fucking nerve of the sacklers + everyone else they bought off. in terms of my takeaways: immense wealth and nepotism will be the literal death of our society. when corporations are allowed to buy their way through all the regulations in place in what amounts to a caricature of free-market capitalism, real people will always suffer. like he says in the afterword: while pain management is a very complex question and opioids are helpful to many people, my heart aches for those who lost their lives due to big pharma's (and specifically purdue's) lust for money. fuck capitalism -- eat the rich <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicide
Moderate: Mental illness, Forced institutionalization
Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Pandemic/Epidemic
The Art of Holding Space: A Practice of Love, Liberation, and Leadership by Heather Plett
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
2.75
i dunno ... it was fine? it felt like a very basic book on how to hold space, which is fine in and of itself. i definitely would have liked it more if plett didn't go into such weirdly intrusive details about her husband's mental illness. it felt super icky to read, and it was also in some of the first few chapters. these types of self-help / advice books really rely on the reader thinking that the author is admirable (or at least someone to look up to), and that just didn't happen here because of how much detail she went into. super weird vibes when she would talk about how you shouldn't hijack the space, but then she talked for pages and pages about how hard her husband's mental illness was on her? like yes, i'm sure it absolutely was hard -- caring for those who are struggling is never easy. but the balance just felt off in terms of how much she was talking about his struggles vs. herself. and most of all, it truly just felt way too invasive. i sincerely hope she got his permission to share those details before publishing. i did manage to achieve my goal though, which was to pull some good excerpts for a training i'm coordinating -- so i will be noting down her bibliography and then promptly donating this book <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent
Moderate: Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Colonisation
Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
Tilly in Technicolor by Mazey Eddings
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
ugh i just love everything about this book!! like tilly and oliver are so lovely and the neurodiversity is handled with such love and the talk with her mom at the end did make me cry — i have nothing further to say other than i love romance <3
Today Tonight Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
objectively, this book should be a 3.25 — it’s very feminism / antisemitism 101, and rowan feels too much like a self-insert from someone who had a wildly different childhood than i did. like i just genuinely can’t imagine a world where people are that explicitly discriminatory against jewish people? i feel like most discrimination in today’s day and age is more implicit than anything. but also consider that neil is kind of my dream boy and i’ve also dealt with a lot of nostalgia about the high school and college experiences that will never be — so yeah i cried (several times) and it gets a bump up for that. one of those books where i completely understand why someone would say the technical elements aren’t perfect, and they’d be right! but solomon does capture that feeling of nostalgia so well, and that’s really what ya books are all about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism