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Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name: A Biomythography by Audre Lorde
13 reviews
dominic_t's review against another edition
5.0
This is an amazing book that transcends the memoir genre. Lorde calls it a biomythography, and that really fits. She centers her analysis of her life on her relationships with women and explores how each woman shaped her. Her writing is so vivid and provides a window into what life was like for gay-girls (her term) in the northeast US in the 40s and 50s.
She wrote so beautifully about each relationship and really captured the experiences of infatuation, love, and heartbreak. I viscerally felt the highs and laws.
I also loved reading about the community of gay women she belonged to. It was a fascinating window into the past. She went into a lot of detail about her experience as a Black woman in a majority white community and explored the complexity of her friendships and relationships with white women. She also talked about her struggles to fit into the community as a woman who wasn't either butch or femme. I've read the perspectives of butches and femmes from communities like hers, and it was cool to get the perspective of someone who didn't fit in either role.
The progressive communities of that time were really homophobic and saw queerness as "bourgeoisie." In response to that, she wrote, "I didn’t know how I was going to bring my personal and political visions together, but I knew it had to be possible because I felt them both too strongly, and knew how much I needed them both to survive...Any world which did not have a place for me loving women was not a world in which I wanted to live, nor one which I could fight for." That quote deeply resonates with me. I can feel both her pain and her hope.
This is not an easy read. She covers abuse, bigotry, and suicide in detail. Even though the book was filled with tragedy, I ended the book feeling hopeful. Throughout everything, she had a vision of a better world, and I was able to see it too.
Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Animal death, Alcohol, Racism, and Rape
Moderate: Cancer
Minor: Racial slurs
michaelion's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Death, Grief, Suicide, Xenophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Ableism, Racial slurs, Child death, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Drug use, Abortion, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Self harm
Minor: Cultural appropriation, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pedophilia, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Fatphobia, Outing, Infidelity, and Animal death
amelody's review
5.0
Graphic: Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Abortion, Animal death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, and Suicide
reading_mermaid's review
5.0
Graphic: Suicide, Abortion, Child abuse, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Racism and Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Alcoholism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Incest
waytoomanybooks's review
3.5
Please heed all the many, many content warnings I and others have tagged.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Abortion, Death, Fatphobia, Bullying, Classism, Infidelity, Grief, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Homophobia, Death of parent, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Self harm, Medical trauma, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, and Suicide attempt
earthbound_edits's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Homophobia, Suicide, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Abortion, and Grief
zombiezami's review
5.0
Graphic: Abortion, Racism, Sexual content, Self harm, Sexism, Animal death, Death, Child abuse, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Grief, Classism, Blood, Alcoholism, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Misogyny
Moderate: Bullying, Ableism, Drug use, Mental illness, Cursing, Fatphobia, Body shaming, Infidelity, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Vomit, War, Trafficking, Cancer, and Slavery
Colorismbrnineworms's review against another edition
5.0
At times, the major themes of relationships, the self, and truth are explicitly highlighted, while at others they permeate the text almost – but not quite – unnoticed.
Graphic: Racism, Blood, Abortion, Death, Self harm, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Grief, Sexual content, and Violence
Moderate: Rape, Ableism, Alcohol, Child death, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Pedophilia, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Cancer, Murder, Fatphobia, Trafficking, Genocide, Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Slavery, and Terminal illness
sorcha's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Sexual content and Abortion
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Racism, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
Minor: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Drug use
andreiaoh's review against another edition
5.0
this book is so rich. the way Audre Lorde writes is so full of sensation; the beautiful words made me feel as though all of my senses were engaged, from taste to sight to smell.
Graphic: Abortion
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Self harm
Minor: Sexual assault, Trafficking, Homophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, and Death of parent