"when it started, I believe I was special. It was a terrible thing to discover that I was common, that everything that happened to me - a crystalline, devastating landscape I navigated in my care feet - was detailed in books and reports, in statistics."

The above is one of many great lines about domestic violence in this book. The exploration of how widespread, minimized, and strangely banal abuse can be was masterful.

I got the same feelings from this as I get from my favourite Jeanette Wintersons, so that's saying a lot. This memoir was extremely readable - an excellent page turner full of good information and frighteningly familiar experiences. I love candid discussions of relationship violence and the aftermath, and this delivered.

What I didn't like as much/why it's not a 5 star read for me: small stylistic things pulled me out of this. I dislike citations in my narration and some of the reflections felt out of place. I engaged with small details more than with the big picture because I kept getting "pulled out it". That said, I liked the micro style of writing (voice and sentences a lot), and am grateful that a book on this topic is making waves.