Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan by Lou Sullivan

2 reviews

bashsbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Lou Sullivan's diaries made me laugh, cry, scream, scratch my head, text my friends in the middle of the night... I think everyone should read them. He has a really casually poetic style to his writings, and peering directly into his diaries is so intimate. His quote, "They told me at the gender clinic that I could not live as a gay man, but it looks like I will die as one," is going to stay with me for a long time (I've been reciting it to everyone). What an amazing man. How devastating it is that we lost him so young. How lucky we were to have him when we did.

I will say, I didn't love all the stylistic choices the editors made - I wish there had been clearer markers of the passing time, and the footnotes were a little sparse.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Transphobia, Cursing, Alcohol, Grief, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Medical content, Death of parent, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal death, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Infidelity

Minor: Incest, Police brutality, War, and Car accident

-Death of siblings -Graphic descriptions of Sullivan's decline due to HIV/AIDS -Car accident is actually a motorcycle accident -Does it count as deadnaming if he is literally referring to himself? I don't really think so, but you decide for yourself.

jainabee's review

challenging inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

What a gift to the world, my heart is bursting with so many feelings. Phenomenal. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Homophobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Transphobia, Body shaming, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Alcohol, Car accident, Deadnaming, Death of parent, Incest, Outing, Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Grief, Misogyny, Racism, and Self harm

Minor: Biphobia and Cursing

These are the diaries of a queer white person who lived through the 60's, 70's and 80's, and the language and attitudes are of the time. The editors have done a great job to not bowdlerize the life of a complex person facing the traumatic experience of trying to live authentically in the face of so much oppression and ignorance. Not for the squeamish, and full of rich insights and wisdom for those who can handle it.