Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

37 reviews

kimberlina82's review

inspiring sad fast-paced

3.0

I really liked the idea of this book, and have been a big Britney fan since high school. However, this was a tough read for me as it seemed like something someone in middle school wrote. There were some inconsistencies in her stories as well.  All that said, I truly believe it is caused by years of confinement and probably being medicated when she didn’t need it.  I’m so glad she was finally able to get out from under the thumb of her family.  I hope she truly loves how she wants to now, and is happy for the rest of her days. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Drug abuse, Cursing, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Abandonment, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

_ren's review

challenging dark emotional funny inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

3.5

I have read some of the reviews, and understand that people who usually read memoirs have their educated opinions about Britney's memoir feeling like a girl's dairy or just generally unpolished. I, as someone who does not often read memoirs, thought that the writing style had some pros and some cons. The pros being the casual conversation feel of the whole book that made me feel that this was truly Britney speaking to us (some say her social medias are still highly controlled, I personally do not believe that), and the cons being the numerous jumps and time skips that were not warned about or acknowledged while I was reading. The time-skips were quite an annoyance at times because as someone who has kept up with the Free Britney Movement since summer of 2022, I felt that some details we uncovered that were crucial to the movement were not mentioned from Britney's perspective. I would have loved to seen more of Britney's version/feelings toward specific things we had uncovered about her case. In the end, this is definitely her way of saying FU to everyone who had wronged her through books, interviews, and documentaries. I am proud of her for just that.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Torture, Abandonment, Cursing, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Eating disorder, Medical content, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Confinement, Violence, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Drug abuse, Vomit, Sexism, Abortion, Addiction, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy and Fatphobia

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic friendship

add_a_little_spook's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Pregnancy, Torture, Toxic friendship, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Body shaming, Abortion, and Miscarriage

littleautisticwitch's review

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Body shaming, Grief, Slavery, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Child abuse, Trafficking, Dementia, Gaslighting, Bullying, Hate crime, and Medical trauma

cerysl's review against another edition

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Sexual content, Abortion, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Mental illness, Alcohol, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Fatphobia, Grief, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Medical trauma, Transphobia, Death, Kidnapping, Medical content, Sexism, Abandonment, Addiction, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Biphobia, Drug use, Confinement, Physical abuse, and Torture

aleilvandrea's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Pregnancy, Ableism, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Violence, Self harm, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Drug use, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Miscarriage, Infertility, Suicide, Infidelity, Blood, and Drug abuse

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Vomit, and Cursing

srgreen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abandonment, Bullying, Body shaming, and Alcohol

Moderate: Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, and Violence

Minor: Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Death of parent

mblanke's review

informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Child abuse, and Confinement

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, and Bullying

caitlinemccann's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

4.0

Listening to Spears' story in her own words was easy and difficult at the same time. Easy in that the book feels like she's talking to you, telling you everything while you're both curled up on the couch under a blanket. Difficult because it highlights the double standards and abuses she's faced as a celebrity and under her conservatorship. 

Even though Britney Spears only reads the introduction to the audiobook, I think it's worth listening to this over reading it because of the oral history feel of the book. Michelle Williams manages to capture some of the cadences and slight twang Britney has without it feeling like she's trying to directly represent Spears. The first word I think of after reading this book is "heartbreaking." If you grew up with Britney Spears or are generally curious about her story, I would recommend this read even if large chunks of time are glossed over. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Body shaming, Mental illness, Sexism, Toxic friendship, and Pregnancy

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

bookswithbethx's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Self harm, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

Minor: Miscarriage