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songmingi 's review for:

This Is How You Remember It by Catherine Prasifka
4.0
dark emotional sad medium-paced

This was a really interesting read. It was different to what I was expecting but I still found it worthwhile. 

This book feels really intimate, parts of it was actually a bit triggering as someone who grew up as a young girl in Ireland at the cusp of the digital age. While the majority events themselves were unlike things I myself experienced, the feelings and thoughts expressed in this book is I definitely could. The feelings of being outcast, lonely, changing yourself to fit in to survive, the escape to the online world where you identity can be finetuned and tailored, all things I can relate to. 

Another standout moment for me was how the impact of seeing pornography as a young girl has. The strange obsession to understand sex, the want to to experience it and link to your self image was so well done. Its uncomfortable, it made my skin crawl but its cutting that its a reality for a lot of young people. To some maybe it'll come across extremely bleak, its hard to comprehend someone thinking of themselves in such a negative light for so many years but to many others it mirrors the life they lived themselves. 

I can't say that I "enjoyed" the reading experience because lots of these things were hard to read but I again would say that it was worthwhile. It portrays some difficult topics around growing up with the impact of the interenet in an earnest way. 

My only critique is I feel like things wrapped up a bit hastily, I think the build up could've been a bit better towards the main character breaking out of her toxic cycle but overall I still have a positive view of the book.