Notes to Self

I couldn't decide between 3.5 or 4 stars but landed on a 4. There were so many things I liked about this book, but many parts I didn't particularly relate to. My favourites of the essays were notes on intemperance, from the baby years, and notes on bleeding & other crimes. If you're going to read this book, in my opinion, those are the best ones. Emilie Pine articulates many issues and experiences that are shared by women universally in a raw and real way.

I loved that Emilie Pine gets straight to the point, no beating around the bush or general introduction, just plunges the reader headfirst into the most intimate stories of her life. She writes so brutally honestly that some parts of it almost felt wrong for me to be reading, as if I had stolen someone's diary. It kept me interested and engaged, and I think that her essays were the perfect length. She covered just enough detail without it feeling like she was rambling on.

I also appreciated the fact that a lot of the traumas and experiences Pine discusses in this book are not necessarily ones that she has, as she noted, fully processed or healed from. I think a major issue for women particularly is that they don't feel that traumatic experiences can be talked about until they have been dealt with completely. Pine challenges this and summarises her feelings on a lot of experiences that she is still processing. She wasn't afraid to admit to her own faults and cognitive biases, which I admired.

There were parts of the book that I didn't particularly relate to or find the most intriguing, but that's exactly why it is called notes to self. It is Emilie's reflection of her life and her experiences, not mine. I am unsure as to whether the essays brought a particularly new or fresh perspective on typically taboo topics, which is a complaint raised in many other reviews. This is one of the first books I have read on these topics so that is an opinion that I can't really form yet. Regardless, I think that Emilie approached these topics in a direct and honest way that wasn't hard to digest. I believe it is worth the read.