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ralowe's review against another edition
5.0
i guess this is the second of these kinds of little zine things i've read. it was fine. it's hard to complain about collections of people coming forward and being brave to talk about the horrible things that have happened to them. having worked with a survivor-led direct action group that also put out a zine talking about rape culture it was interesting to see how another group of folks approached it. there are a lot of personal accounts and to me it felt to be more comprised of that than say stuff about supporting survivors. it seems there's a lot of different kinds of writers here and they don't get too complicated with say talking about sexual assault AND class or AND disability or AND race that much. but even the zine we worked on didn't talk about everything either. it feels unfair to criticize percieved shortcomings since i realize how tremendously difficult it is to get people to contribute or participate in something like this, even with relative anonymity. this book talks about parents as survivors of trauma, how-tos for dealing with panic attacks, survivor intimacy, dating a survivor and little comics where people describe their experiences. it's not hard to imagine one building a library of these little books; where it's ultimately not about one comprehensive text but rather a broader project of small collaborative stories that are always being told, lessons being learned and skills being passed on. maybe one can think of this book as part of that.
wayharshtai's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
autumnfaeb's review against another edition
4.0
I've got another review from Microcosm Publishing here! I recently bought this book without knowing that I bought this book. Microcosm has several deals that allow you to spend a flat rate and they pick out books for you. I've done this twice so far, and both times have received books that are both for me, and not for me. This book was one of those books, for me, and not for me.
Without getting too heavy and into it I, like many other women in the United States, have dealt with sexual trauma. I won't share all the details of my own journey as this is neither the time, nor the venue to do such things, but I think it's important to disclose that so I can share my thoughts on the book as a survivor, which is who the book is for.
This started out as a zine and you can tell by the formating- lots of handwritten pages, some cut and pasted layouts, some comics/illustrations. This reads more as a collection of notes passed among friends and shoved into a scrapbook of "it's ok, me too, we'll get through this, this is what I did, this is what helps, this is what doesn't."
It was really nice to read experiences from other people. It was nice to learn how to talk to other people who have held onto trauma, who may not have gotten over things, or progressed as much on their path of healing, like I have.
I love the idea, and the concept, but something just feels lacking for me. Since this is a collection of smaller pieces, instead of one narrator, one voice through it all, it seems to jump all over the place, and some pieces work for me, some didn't. There's beauty in this format, but because of the heavy topic, I would have liked to see a little more structure and support throughout the book.
Overall, if you're someone who is ready for healing, ready to dive in (a little, this is only 64 pages after all) then this will be the book for you. Note that there are heavy themes, that it may be triggering for those who aren't ready for such a journey.
Without getting too heavy and into it I, like many other women in the United States, have dealt with sexual trauma. I won't share all the details of my own journey as this is neither the time, nor the venue to do such things, but I think it's important to disclose that so I can share my thoughts on the book as a survivor, which is who the book is for.
This started out as a zine and you can tell by the formating- lots of handwritten pages, some cut and pasted layouts, some comics/illustrations. This reads more as a collection of notes passed among friends and shoved into a scrapbook of "it's ok, me too, we'll get through this, this is what I did, this is what helps, this is what doesn't."
It was really nice to read experiences from other people. It was nice to learn how to talk to other people who have held onto trauma, who may not have gotten over things, or progressed as much on their path of healing, like I have.
I love the idea, and the concept, but something just feels lacking for me. Since this is a collection of smaller pieces, instead of one narrator, one voice through it all, it seems to jump all over the place, and some pieces work for me, some didn't. There's beauty in this format, but because of the heavy topic, I would have liked to see a little more structure and support throughout the book.
Overall, if you're someone who is ready for healing, ready to dive in (a little, this is only 64 pages after all) then this will be the book for you. Note that there are heavy themes, that it may be triggering for those who aren't ready for such a journey.
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