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Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'
Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It by Greg Marshall
2 reviews
thelivermorebulb's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
2.5
Read this for a book club, not a big memoir person otherwise so I'm sure that affects my answer. I feel weird leaving a review of someone's life story, but he did make it into a book.
Overall, I feel meh. The book was funny, and I enjoyed that, but in the end I just didn't like the author all that much. I felt like he set up a lot of potentials in the beginning, promising growth and interesting stories, and that largely got glossed over.
And of course this isn't his fault, but it was just a downer for me. It was a rough read, hard to stomach at times, and I didn't come away feeling like I had gained much.
As a side note, I was appalled when he learned from his sister with her psychology degree that aspergers was an outdated and incorrect term and continued to use it, and laughed with a boyfriend about it. Seeing myself in his sister and that young boy so alike her and then seeing how he couldn't stand that they communicated differently was awful. That he felt like they needed fixing. and even when he seemed to change that stance, he really didn't.
Even at the end hes still so worried about being normal!
But overall the book was really funny, mostly easy to follow, and had a few great quotes and insights. I loved the bit about how its unfair that gay people become expected to leave their homes and families to move to more accepting areas.
Overall, I feel meh. The book was funny, and I enjoyed that, but in the end I just didn't like the author all that much. I felt like he set up a lot of potentials in the beginning, promising growth and interesting stories, and that largely got glossed over.
And of course this isn't his fault, but it was just a downer for me. It was a rough read, hard to stomach at times, and I didn't come away feeling like I had gained much.
As a side note, I was appalled when he learned from his sister with her psychology degree that aspergers was an outdated and incorrect term and continued to use it, and laughed with a boyfriend about it. Seeing myself in his sister and that young boy so alike her and then seeing how he couldn't stand that they communicated differently was awful. That he felt like they needed fixing. and even when he seemed to change that stance, he really didn't.
Even at the end hes still so worried about being normal!
But overall the book was really funny, mostly easy to follow, and had a few great quotes and insights. I loved the bit about how its unfair that gay people become expected to leave their homes and families to move to more accepting areas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, and Cancer
Moderate: Homophobia
imstephtacular's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Death of parent, Cancer, Medical trauma, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Cursing, Bullying, Homophobia, Addiction, Drug use, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Death, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Alcohol
Minor: Fatphobia, Blood, Classism, Excrement, Pregnancy, Racism, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Lesbophobia, and Violence
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