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candelibri's reviews
1931 reviews
The Match by Sarah Adams
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
2.0
Alright, strap in everybody.
My main question for the author is - did you have sensitivity readers for this? Because having a mother-in-law with a decade of working as a service dog trainer acting as your inspiration for the novel is not enough.
So first we meet Evie who not only has epilepsy and a service dog, but is also working as a service dog trainer. However, we never learn what kind of epilepsy/seizures Evie has. We just know Evie has been paired with Charlie since she was 23 and an epileptic since she was 16 and that she lost her license/car because of them. (For some easy context that could have been a sentence but wasn't: Evie lives in SC and in SC, the DMV requires epileptics to be 6 months seizure free and then annual periodic updates for three years once you have been registered. Additionally, your neurologist is not required to report your seizures to the DMV. With all of this information - that I came to on my own - I am assuming that Evie has had severe enough seizures that she has not been able to go past six months without having one.)
However, for a book surrounding service dogs and epilepsy we also don't find out too much about what the criteria are for service dogs. The hinge of the plot revolves around Jake's daughter Sam just emailing Evie's "company" and...asking for one. It is barely discussed that a properly trained dog can cost anywhere from $15k-70k depending on the breed and training - it's a few sentences in the first chapter that you may miss if you don't pay attention. We also don't discuss needing a medical sign off on needing a service dog - for epileptics, that would mean a neurologist.
That same neurologist that is never called when either Evie or Sam has a seizure in the book. As an epileptic myself, I am never a fan of calling EMS and usually tell people to avoid it if possible. However, once I have a recovered from my seizure, I always call my neurologist to let him know what's happened, how long I have been unconscious, if I've been hurt, possible triggers, if any medication needs to be adjusted, etc. In both instances when Evie and Sam had seizures, none of that was done/discussed. EMS was never discussed and neurologists were never mentioned.
Another BIG red flag that no sensitivity readers were consulted is the pool party scene. One second, Evie is standing and chatting with someone at Jake's family pool party and the next, Jake is picking her up and THROWING HER IN THE POOL.
- PLEASE DON'T EVER DO THIS. -
Unless you know the person very well and they are okay with this, don't throw an epileptic in the pool within a week of knowing them!! But also - WHERE was Charlie during this scene?? If Charlie was in Jake's space earlier in the book when he "made Evie's heart race" how is Charlie not at attention or even IN THE VICINITY when this happens??
Finally, this is not "bad" epilepsy rep, it's just...not good. It's like the author did a bare bones google search and went "good enough!" but there were enough plot points that were left unfinished that it was frustrating.
- how often are Evie and Sam having seizures?
- what kind of epilepsy do they have
- why is no one taking medication???? Do you know how many alarms I have on my phone so I don't forget a dose?
- no one is talking about avoiding triggers or, if they don't have triggers, trying to discover them
- when someone is coming out of their post-ictal phase, don't immediately move them. Jake comes charging in, checks in with...CHARLIE(?)...and then picks up Evie from the floor. For someone who has an epileptic daughter, this man is oblivious. You need to check them for consciousness and make sure they are responsive. Since he came in to see her convulsing, he needs to make sure she hasn't hurt herself anywhere and comes out of the seizure enough to speak with him before just picking her up and moving her.
CHARACTERS:
- Everyone needed more character development but can we all just side eye Jake and the closet of tampons? Wtf
- Was Evie really going to fire her caterer bc they were working with her mother? How old are you.
- Also - Twilight? Gilmore Girls? Why? Is this supposed to be cute?
- Jake, it's not cute body shaming and name calling your ex-wife.
- Dogs don't roll their eyes, Evie.
My main question for the author is - did you have sensitivity readers for this? Because having a mother-in-law with a decade of working as a service dog trainer acting as your inspiration for the novel is not enough.
So first we meet Evie who not only has epilepsy and a service dog, but is also working as a service dog trainer. However, we never learn what kind of epilepsy/seizures Evie has. We just know Evie has been paired with Charlie since she was 23 and an epileptic since she was 16 and that she lost her license/car because of them. (For some easy context that could have been a sentence but wasn't: Evie lives in SC and in SC, the DMV requires epileptics to be 6 months seizure free and then annual periodic updates for three years once you have been registered. Additionally, your neurologist is not required to report your seizures to the DMV. With all of this information - that I came to on my own - I am assuming that Evie has had severe enough seizures that she has not been able to go past six months without having one.)
However, for a book surrounding service dogs and epilepsy we also don't find out too much about what the criteria are for service dogs. The hinge of the plot revolves around Jake's daughter Sam just emailing Evie's "company" and...asking for one. It is barely discussed that a properly trained dog can cost anywhere from $15k-70k depending on the breed and training - it's a few sentences in the first chapter that you may miss if you don't pay attention. We also don't discuss needing a medical sign off on needing a service dog - for epileptics, that would mean a neurologist.
That same neurologist that is never called when either Evie or Sam has a seizure in the book. As an epileptic myself, I am never a fan of calling EMS and usually tell people to avoid it if possible. However, once I have a recovered from my seizure, I always call my neurologist to let him know what's happened, how long I have been unconscious, if I've been hurt, possible triggers, if any medication needs to be adjusted, etc. In both instances when Evie and Sam had seizures, none of that was done/discussed. EMS was never discussed and neurologists were never mentioned.
Another BIG red flag that no sensitivity readers were consulted is the pool party scene. One second, Evie is standing and chatting with someone at Jake's family pool party and the next, Jake is picking her up and THROWING HER IN THE POOL.
- PLEASE DON'T EVER DO THIS. -
Unless you know the person very well and they are okay with this, don't throw an epileptic in the pool within a week of knowing them!! But also - WHERE was Charlie during this scene?? If Charlie was in Jake's space earlier in the book when he "made Evie's heart race" how is Charlie not at attention or even IN THE VICINITY when this happens??
Finally, this is not "bad" epilepsy rep, it's just...not good. It's like the author did a bare bones google search and went "good enough!" but there were enough plot points that were left unfinished that it was frustrating.
- how often are Evie and Sam having seizures?
- what kind of epilepsy do they have
- why is no one taking medication???? Do you know how many alarms I have on my phone so I don't forget a dose?
- no one is talking about avoiding triggers or, if they don't have triggers, trying to discover them
- when someone is coming out of their post-ictal phase, don't immediately move them. Jake comes charging in, checks in with...CHARLIE(?)...and then picks up Evie from the floor. For someone who has an epileptic daughter, this man is oblivious. You need to check them for consciousness and make sure they are responsive. Since he came in to see her convulsing, he needs to make sure she hasn't hurt herself anywhere and comes out of the seizure enough to speak with him before just picking her up and moving her.
CHARACTERS:
- Everyone needed more character development but can we all just side eye Jake and the closet of tampons? Wtf
- Was Evie really going to fire her caterer bc they were working with her mother? How old are you.
- Also - Twilight? Gilmore Girls? Why? Is this supposed to be cute?
- Jake, it's not cute body shaming and name calling your ex-wife.
- Dogs don't roll their eyes, Evie.
Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes through Indigenous Science by Jessica Hernandez, PhD
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.0
As important as this book is (at times I would say this should be included to reading lists with Braiding Sweetgrass and As Long As Grass Grows), the pacing and editing leave much to be desired. It is extremely dense and some chapters leave you struggling to make it heads or tails of what point was being made a mere paragraph ago. I don’t blame the author but those who left her to wallow in academic prose.
Remember Love by Cleo Wade
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
These are so tender, my god. Will definitely be making room for more Cleo in my life!
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype [Abridged] by Clarissa Pinkola Estés
I’m conflicted about this book. On the one hand, I listened to the audiobook and didn’t realize it was an abridged version (only 2hrs long whereas the book is somewhere around 400-something pages). So, I don’t know if maybe it was abridged badly or what is missing but this just wasn’t doing it for me.
On the second hand, I cannot ABIDE the audiobook’s narrator/the author. I found her voice so frustrating as the cadence seemed to affected as to be grating. So that probably didn’t help. I may or may not have to revisit this in its physical form.
On the second hand, I cannot ABIDE the audiobook’s narrator/the author. I found her voice so frustrating as the cadence seemed to affected as to be grating. So that probably didn’t help. I may or may not have to revisit this in its physical form.
Body Language: Writers on Identity, Physicality, and Making Space for Ourselves by Matt Ortile, Nicole Chung
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
What an excellent and VARIED collection!!
This is my first experience to organically come into contact with first-person experiences of lockdown and how ppl responded to it. Not every essay is about it - maybe a handful deal with it directly and one or two reference it tangentially - but it made me realize how much of the pandemic I had either purposefully or indirectly blocked out that time period or just avoided it altogether. (It may be because it doesn’t feel like it’s ever “ended” to me, so reading about it seems jarring but that’s a reflection for myself on another day)
This is my first experience to organically come into contact with first-person experiences of lockdown and how ppl responded to it. Not every essay is about it - maybe a handful deal with it directly and one or two reference it tangentially - but it made me realize how much of the pandemic I had either purposefully or indirectly blocked out that time period or just avoided it altogether. (It may be because it doesn’t feel like it’s ever “ended” to me, so reading about it seems jarring but that’s a reflection for myself on another day)
Force and Freedom: Black Abolitionists and the Politics of Violence by Kellie Carter Jackson
informative
medium-paced
4.5
Stunning and so thoroughly researched. Absolutely required reading - this introduced me to a complete pantheon of Black abolitionist leadership that shaped the civil rights and abolitionist movements that we know of today. Can’t recommend this enough
Planet on Fire: A Manifesto for the Age of Environmental Breakdown by Laurie Laybourn-Langton, Mathew Lawrence
slow-paced
2.25
This was a lot. Very dense, very academic at parts but also just very defeatist? The problems are presented in such a way that they feel almost too big to contemplate completely, much less solve so the reader is left feeling adrift.
I’ve read better climate books.
I’ve read better climate books.
Kill Everything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam by Nick Turse
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
5.0
It feels repulsive to give this a star rating - this is so much more than that. Consider it required reading.
I think I said this on Instagram as I was reading through but I truly believe that the US involves itself in war after war, in unending conflict after unending conflict, purely to prevent all of the horrific war crimes that we’ve been responsible for to never get the public outcry they so desperately deserve.
Were there Vietnam war protests - of course. I’m not brand new. But I truly doubt the anti-war protestors were truly privy to the utter depravity we sent our military off to commit.
Immediately in the introduction, I was introduced (hah) to the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group - a task force set up as a response to the American-perpetuated My Lai massacre (a war crime). Essentially this task force was supposed to be the net that would prevent America from being caught “unaware” of charges of war crimes were to be levied. (Will we never learn: looks at Palestine.)
Some specific takeaways that stole my breath:
“It would wage a war of overkill […] Overkill was supposed to solve all American problems.”
“Anti war critics were afraid Vietnam would end up the most bombed country in the history of the world.”
32 tons of bombs per hour were dropped on North Vietnam. (1965-68)
American troops would rain leaflets down on country villages, telling them to evacuate and as the villagers fled, would gun them down. This was largely due to the “body count” rule - if your number (of kills) wasn’t high enough, you would be shamed and, at times, punished.
If I ever meet a Baumgartner, I’m asking if they’re related to the Vietnam vet bc that man is a MONSTER and I want zero degrees between us.
I think I said this on Instagram as I was reading through but I truly believe that the US involves itself in war after war, in unending conflict after unending conflict, purely to prevent all of the horrific war crimes that we’ve been responsible for to never get the public outcry they so desperately deserve.
Were there Vietnam war protests - of course. I’m not brand new. But I truly doubt the anti-war protestors were truly privy to the utter depravity we sent our military off to commit.
Immediately in the introduction, I was introduced (hah) to the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group - a task force set up as a response to the American-perpetuated My Lai massacre (a war crime). Essentially this task force was supposed to be the net that would prevent America from being caught “unaware” of charges of war crimes were to be levied. (Will we never learn: looks at Palestine.)
Some specific takeaways that stole my breath:
“It would wage a war of overkill […] Overkill was supposed to solve all American problems.”
“Anti war critics were afraid Vietnam would end up the most bombed country in the history of the world.”
32 tons of bombs per hour were dropped on North Vietnam. (1965-68)
American troops would rain leaflets down on country villages, telling them to evacuate and as the villagers fled, would gun them down. This was largely due to the “body count” rule - if your number (of kills) wasn’t high enough, you would be shamed and, at times, punished.
If I ever meet a Baumgartner, I’m asking if they’re related to the Vietnam vet bc that man is a MONSTER and I want zero degrees between us.
Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan's Disaster Zone by Richard Lloyd Parry
challenging
emotional
sad
medium-paced
3.75