I really wanted to like this book.

The first two-thirds were promising, but the story really starts to fall apart in the climb to the climax. 
A rather unsatisfying climax at that.

There were several lazy red herrings, each one promising to be a better story than the one that ended up being used.

The overall quality of the writing was decent, but it could have used some refining.

I'm glad I read this in a single sitting because I'm not confident that I would've returned to it again if I'd put it down.

DNF

Sexism, sympathy for men caught looking at child sexual abuse material, and much more make the protagonist extremely unlikeable. 

And that's just the first half of chapter one.

I'll be honest, I didn't expect to enjoy this much. 

All I knew about the book was that an astronaut gets left on Mars, and people thought Matt Damon was a good choice of actor for the protagonist, which immediately made me think I wouldn't enjoy the book. 

However, after several friends insisted that I would enjoy it, and since my fiction to read pile was empty, I decided to give it a shot, and they were absolutely right. 

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially the "laugh or you cry" humour that was prominent throughout the narrative. 

OWN VOICES MATTER!

I would  recommend this book to everyone, especially to non-disabled folks and/or people who have no regular and meaningful interactions with disabled people.

The essays in this collection are insightful, informative, authentic, and powerful.

WARNING: This story contains repeated use of the N*word and is racist as all heck!!!

Look, we all know Lovecraft is racist and there's no use trying to pretend otherwise, and it's important to call out problematic authors even if we enjoy their works. But this story was much more than his usual racist crap. Literally, the idea that a woman being of African decent is made out to be more horrific and terrifying than the fact that she is a FREAKING MONSTER!

Yeah, nah.

The atmosphere in this story is better built than most Lovecraft stories, but the ending is just too much. 
No way am I going to pretend that portraying African heritage as being the most awful thing imaginable in a world where unnameable and unimaginable insanity-causing horrors exist is excusable or acceptable and anyone who enjoyed this story (even "despite the ending") needs to ask themselves why the heck they're so comfortable with such unacceptable and blatant racism. Not even the excuse that "it's a product of its time" can be used here.

I'm glad that Lovecraft never copyrighted his works because I would hate to give his estate any of my money.

Despite being a little predictable, I found this story to be very enjoyable.

My only annoyance was the main character's constant catastrophising. It got a little (read: A LOT) annoying by the end, but otherwise, it was a very fun read.

If you are looking for a traditional, stuffy autobiography with proper paragraphs and linear reminiscence, then this isn't the book for you.

But honestly, who would actually *want* that from a JVN autobiography?

This autobiography is basically like a one-sided conversation that you could easily have with a friend on your couch, in the salon, or with a total stranger on a long flight.

JVN tells their story in their trademark authentic and forgiving way, and I definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for a story about resilience and finding self-love.

I'll be honest - I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. I usually prefer to read academic feminism rather than accessible feminism but Ford's writing and conversational tone mixed with wit, snark, and sarcasm, along with her on-point observations and insight, made for a really good read.

This book touched on a lot of eye-opening issues, but I felt like it never went deep enough with any of the issues raised. I came away knowing that "x is an issue" but with no real knowledge about the issue itself. As a result, I feel the book could have been boiled down to just a few lists.

The overall read is a bit dry, too, and the author's attempts at humour often come across as unnecessarily sardonic.

Both my partner and I grew up around books and are both avid readers so reading to our children since birth just came naturally, same also with having a diverse collection of books always on hand, so I found very little to take away from this book.

HOWEVER, I think this book would be perfect reading for families who don't already have a strong reading culture in their homes as the information in this book is well set out, easy to understand, and gives helpful tips for how to get started.