Reviews tagging 'Transphobia'

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler

35 reviews

shugentobler's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

As a biologist I sometimes find it hard to want to read about biology, especially in a pop sci story of way. It's just hard to look forward to having someone explain things you know and it can often come across as gimmicky, which is maybe why I put off this book for so long. 

I am not sure I would call this book "pop sci" and I instantly regretted not reading it sooner. 

This book is a iridescent gem of a collection of essays exploring the sea and a queer narrative of self discovery. It was so beautiful at times I wanted to weep. I instantly thought of 3 or 4 people I wanted to gift it too.

It's so magnificent and so perfectly interconnected-I could not recommend this queer nature book more. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Dysphoria, and Rape

Moderate: Xenophobia and Transphobia

bibliomich's review

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

Okay, I generally don't add star reviews for memoirs, but since this book is only part-memoir (and deserves all the hype), I'm giving it five stars.

How Far the Light Reaches is not only a favorite of this year, but possibly one of my favorites *ever*. At the end of each chapter, I'd think to myself, "Oh, okay, that was the best one. That was my favorite chapter so far." And then I'd listen to the next and be blown away once again.

In each chapter, Sabrina Imbler (they/them) juxtaposes autobiographical anecdotes with scientific facts about different marine species. For example, in "Beware the Sand Striker," Imbler alternates between discussing their experiences with sexual autonomy and assault, and then draws parallels with the sand striker's predatory behaviors. They discuss a range of topics (some quite heavy), including race and racism, body image and disordered eating, mother-child relationships, identity, sexuality, and bigotry (to name a few), and they write with so much honesty and vulnerability. I also learned A LOT about marine life, and even though I often shy away from nonfiction, these were some of my favorite sections of the book.

Imbler also narrates the audiobook, and their narration is exceptional. While I highly recommend listening to the audiobook, I would also love to own a physical copy (and will likely purchase one) just to return to it over and over again.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Sexual assault

Moderate: Transphobia, Alcohol, Eating disorder, Racial slurs, Racism, Fatphobia, and Homophobia

lue_moon's review against another edition

5.0

Beautifully written prose. I love all of the ways in which the stories of sea creatures were woven into memoir and memoir into the stories of sea creatures. Hits home for the little me who wanted to be a marine biologist, and still often finds sea creatures fascinating, even if bodies of open water terrify me slightly.

Most resonant for me were "My Mother and the Starving Octopus," "Morphing Like a Cuttlefish" and "Us Everlasting."

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder and Sexual assault

Moderate: Homophobia, Racism, Fatphobia, and Transphobia

cblace's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Transphobia

tiffanyjeannine's review

4.0

Great collection of essays mixing personal experiences with a sea creature’s own experience. The way the stories parallel one another was masterful. The animal stories were fascinating. I feel like I need to go watch a nature documentary or two. I also need to check out the physical copy to see the illustrations I missed out on. Definitely check trigger warnings. Things get heavy.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Classism, Transphobia, Xenophobia, and Homophobia

sglance9's review

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Transphobia and Biphobia

creatingavery's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Rape, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Racism

befrazzledenby's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I absolutely adore memoirs written in this style. Imbler weaves oceanography and queerness and racism and just humanness together so well and I loved every moment of this audiobook

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Medical content, Mental illness, and Transphobia

deslarsen's review

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Transphobia, Sexual assault, and Racism

rabelais's review

3.0

lots of transmisogyny. aquatic science descriptions were good

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia