Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

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

5 reviews

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

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

toffishay's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I could not have guessed that I would be adding another 5-star reading at the tail end of the year. But each page of this book brought me new insight, new pain, new joy. And in another sense, it was nothing new. We are faced with our own lives and our natural world and we take what we can get. The writing is intense and thoughtful. It afforded me some additional perspective about the world around us and made me want to learn more about nature. And it made me cry!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Confinement, Racism, Medical trauma, Forced institutionalization, and Child abuse

Moderate: Infidelity, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, War, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Rape, Toxic relationship, and Car accident

emhunsber's review

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abortion, Alcohol, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: War, Vomit, Violence, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicide, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Rape, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Infertility, Homophobia, Hate crime, Grief, Gore, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Fatphobia, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Colonisation, Child abuse, Car accident, Body horror, Blood, Biphobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Ableism

klfgasaway's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring mysterious slow-paced

4.5

Life’s library 2021

I do enjoy a good exploration of metaphors in science. It did seem a bit meandering in how the author reached her conclusion, but it it wasn’t too expansive. I’m not sure how I feel about her portrayal of David star Jordan over the course of the book. On the one hand, I think waiting to reveal his support of eugenics and his strangeness is what lent structure to the book and honestly we are talking about a white man with power at the end of the 19th century. Statistically speaking, he was probably going to have at least one highly problematic world view. She also did do a pretty good job of being chronological with his life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Infertility, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt