Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

Why Fish Don't Exist: A Story of Loss, Love, and the Hidden Order of Life by Lulu Miller

17 reviews

bruhmantics's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Sexual assault and Racism

sierrabowers's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

If you like reading about science and taxonomy, this would be a good book for you. If you’re loosely interested, maybe you would as well. I am not interested in these subjects but the way the author tied the subjects into her own story about life and how the universe is not as it seems… well I was interested to know why fish don’t exist. It was good book! Definitely not what I was expecting but it was enlightening and relaxing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Suicide attempt, Car accident, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Racism, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Slavery, Suicide, Homophobia, Infertility, Pregnancy, Classism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Ableism, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gun violence, Medical content, Physical abuse, and Police brutality

craftysnailtail's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

A challenging read, but also an important one. A story that ended up being about topics that I never would've expected based on the synopsis. Many of those topics were heavy and difficult, but I appreciated the way Miller wove them together. The novel felt raw and human in a way that really stuck with me, which was especially surprising with it being non fiction. Also loved how the audiobook ended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Racism, Genocide, Emotional abuse, and Ableism

readingpicnic's review

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical trauma, Child death, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Racism

Minor: Infidelity and Self harm

fridayreads's review

emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Misogyny, Alcohol, Death, Slavery, Homophobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Addiction

librarymouse's review

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

About a third of the way through this book, having googled David Starr Jordan, I was ready to finish this, as a hate reader if need be. Jordan was, without question, a horrible man. The atrocities he inflicted upon the world with his promotion of eugenics outweigh any good he may have done as a scientist by multiple orders of magnitude. Seeing Lulu Miller's hero worship of the man was off-putting, the more I learned of him. However, I ended up really enjoying this book as I read on, as Miller explores her own life alongside Jordan's, she brings along the reader. We learn of the atrocities he's committedin the same order she did while conducting the research for this book. It's still hard to have the hero worship of the young Jordan, with his love of stars and rescy jokes, when faced with the knowledge of his role in the American Eugenics movement.

Jordan's hands-on malicious acts, like his touring endorsement of eugenics and the possible murder by poison of his benefactor are completely bonkers. I am constantly amazed that people Revere him, while simultaneously understanding, as I, too have been in awe of the young man he once was.

This book breaks down every facet of Jordan, from his political, religious, and social beliefs; to his family life, addressing each idiosyncrasy with data driven research.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Grief, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Body horror, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Racism, Child death, and Homophobia

jes312's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical trauma, Murder, Forced institutionalization, and Medical content

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, and Suicide

Minor: Infidelity

cornfusedsnow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault

mirto's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

If I could give this 6 stars, I would. Brilliant book. I would even say Lulu Miller created a whole new genre. Memoir, biography, essay, nature book, history book, sociology, psychology, murder mystery, whatever, you name it. Made me feel so many things, all at once. I learnt a lot, from science to giving myself the life I want. Why Fish Don't Exist will stay with me forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Ableism, Gaslighting, Infertility, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, and Hate crime

Moderate: Grief, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Self harm, Sexual assault, War, Death, Emotional abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Murder, Infertility, Infidelity, and Rape

asolis's review against another edition

2.5

A mix of memoir, biography, popular science, and a bit of self-help. From childhood, the author is unmoored by her father's nihilistic yet unshakably optimistic approach to life. Here she looks to the life story of David Starr Jordan for perspective. 
The content is primarily dedicated to Jordan's story, whom we come to find is a notably repellent human. The author does a good job of giving us a look under the hood at the story of someone who could be considered a scientific hero, and showing the ugliness of bigotry and white supremacist ideology underneath. But the framing presents this in the context of a memoir, even though Miller is stingy with her own story. That, despite its other strengths, makes the book feel unsatisfying. 

CW: self harm, substance abuse, sexual assault, state violence

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism

Moderate: Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Racism, Self harm, and Murder