Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls by Kai Cheng Thom

9 reviews

joensign's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide attempt

jayisreading's review against another edition

emotional hopeful reflective fast-paced

4.75

A collection of letters wrapped in compassion, Kai Cheng Thom—a trans Asian Canadian woman—writes from the heart to embrace every human as sacred beings. In spite of the pain she has dealt with in her life, in spite of all the hateful people in this world, she writes with hope and sincerity. She writes to trans women, sex workers and their patrons, herself, among others to remind them (and the readers) of the love and beauty that exist in this world. Especially in a world that’s weighed down by hurt and grief, Thom’s words are more needed than ever for us to take a moment to reflect.

I also appreciated that, between each letter, she invited the reader to practice an act of self-love and self-reflection. For example: “Write a letter of forgiveness to someone. That someone can be yourself.”

I read this collection and listened to the audiobook simultaneously, and I found that hearing Thom reading each letter herself left a greater impression on me.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Gun violence, Self harm, Sexual assault, Death, Suicide attempt, Rape, and Racism

aliyahoff's review

challenging reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicide attempt, and Transphobia

Minor: Sexual violence

meganpbell's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

4.75

What do you do when the world threatens your belief that all beings are worthy of love? In this powerful collection of poems, prayers, and spells, a Chinese Canadian transwoman writes to reclaim her love of being human, through  tender and intense letters addressed to such diverse recipients as J. K. Rowling, johns, and Jesus Christ, to fellow trans femmes, to the church of social justice, to compulsive caregivers, and many more, each with a suggested action, my favorite being: “Think of someone you’d like to punish….send them a book of poetry instead.” Read this brief book to fall back in love with being human—it begins by falling in love with the powerful, spiritually wise, and redemptive words of Kai Cheng Thom.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Police brutality, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Death, Hate crime, Racism, Sexism, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Transphobia, Gun violence, and Homophobia

eicart_reads's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective

5.0

This hit me right in the feelings. The writing is so emotionally vulnerable. The letters are direct, open, painful, bold, sometimes funny. And they are full of love and compassion, even for people and situations seemingly unworthy of such consideration. 

I listened to this on audio, narrated by the author. Her voice grabbed me and wouldn't let go. I loved it and will listen again and again, I'm sure. 

Each essay was followed by a short action item or thought experiment suggestion that tied in to its theme. Things like "Design and perform a ritual to release something from your life that you love, but that is no longer serving you." Or simply "think of a lie you've told yourself." I loved these ideas and look forward to spending some time with them. 

I highly recommend this. It's short but speaks volumes.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Transphobia

Minor: Rape and Suicide attempt

river23's review

emotional hopeful reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

Minor: Stalking, Self harm, and Death

spec_tacles's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Body shaming, Grief, Transphobia, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Murder, Misogyny, and Hate crime

rorikae's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

'Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls' is a collection of letters written by Kai Cheng Thom to various people in her life. The letters span people that she cares deeply about, people that hurt her, and general types of people that she wishes to address. Through the letters, she discusses identity, the harm we cause each other, what it is like to be a trans femme woman of color in today's society, and more. This is a deeply personal book that feels like a healing journey for Thom. She narrates her own audiobook and I would highly recommend listening to it as it makes the reading experience all the more personal. 
My favorite aspect of the book is that after each letter, Thom adds a suggestion for something to do related to that particular letter. These are ways to both let go of relationships that we need to move on from, ways to share love with ourselves, and more. This part of the book made it feel like Thom reaching out to the reader and providing some guidance. These suggestions would be great journaling prompts or pieces to take over a year to help better our relationship with ourselves. Ultimately, this is a deeply personal, heart filled book that I highly recommend. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Transphobia, and Suicide attempt

booktribe's review

challenging hopeful reflective

3.0

This beautifully written collection of letters explores what happens when we imagine loving the people, and the parts of ourselves, that we don’t believe are worthy of love and acceptance. 

I enjoyed this novel. I loved the writing, it was very lyrical, I highlighted several quotes. Some of my favorite letters were “to the deathwalkers”, “to the johns”, “to a trans femme of color child from a trans femme of color ancestor”, and “to me, from a revolutionary trans femme of color living in the distant future”. I also really enjoyed that there were activities for reflection, self love, etc. after each letter.

I’d recommend this to anyone who loves poetry! Poetry is usually hit or miss for me, so I think I would’ve appreciated it more if I was more of poetry person.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for this arc. All opinions are my own.

TW: suicidal ideation and attempt, homophobic slurs, rape, murder 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Rape

Minor: Suicide attempt and Murder