RaveLos Angeles Review of BooksIn his sweeping personal account of depression, anxiety, addiction, and childhood trauma, Thompson brings readers on a journey to discover what it means to be not just an ultramarathoner but also a human being ... In many ways, Thompson’s memoir is a celebration of what it means to be alive. Between harrowing stories of checking himself into a psychiatric hospital, attempting to take his own life, buying eight balls of cocaine, and fighting to return to some semblance of normalcy, he brings us back to Tahoe ... What’s unique about Thompson’s story, in the sea of memoirs about running, is the depth of his honesty. Thompson is unafraid to tell the reader when everything is awful. He emphasizes the dark parts of his life in tandem with the dark parts of running, encouraging readers almost to give way to the darkness in order to fully appreciate the light. Thompson paints an incredibly detailed picture of himself that lets readers inside his head. Even though he seems superhuman for running so many miles, readers come to understand Thompson’s complexity and his desire to be alive as the driving forces for his running. The transformation Thompson goes through over the course of the memoir is tangible ... a story readers won’t forget for a long time.
Jessica Zucker
RaveThe RumpusThough it plagues one in four pregnancies, pregnancy loss is not something mothers are encouraged to discuss, which Zucker makes clear in her memoir-slash-manifesto. Zucker, a psychologist specializing in reproductive and maternal mental health and the founder of the #IHadAMiscarriage movement, is an expert on miscarriage: she provides therapy to mothers experiencing pregnancy loss ... Aside from Zucker’s detailed descriptions of her own miscarriage, the most memorable parts of I Had A Miscarriage are the scenes with her children: Liev, rainbow baby Noa, and her unborn child. It’s in these scenes the reader sees Zucker with her guard down, her prose poignant and poetic with detail, sophistication, and honesty ... Through her own trauma and grief, Zucker made me reconsider my own attitudes and responses to miscarriage. Her book made me call my mother ... While this book acts as a powerful tool for women who are experiencing or have experienced pregnancy loss, it also serves those of us who haven’t. Zucker is smart to include scenes recounting her own incidents with friends and family post-miscarriage that felt extremely isolating and inappropriate ... she encourages her readers to offer support and encouragement and empathy ... I Had A Miscarriage: A Memoir, A Movement is radical in what it asks its readers to do. It asks us to change the narrative of shame and silence surrounding miscarriage and pregnancy loss to one of conversation and acceptance.
