miggyfool's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0


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jehangel's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

4.5


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jourdanicus's review against another edition

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challenging reflective medium-paced

4.0

Not really sure how to rate this one, but I think I can give it a 4. This wasn't what I expected (not in a bad way) - I didn't realize it was a biography and not a memoir!

I also expected more gory and gross descriptions of trauma cleanings. Instead, I was given a compassionate and empathetic reflection on the human condition, what it means to be connected, and what can happen to us if we lack connection with other people.

Honestly I think this book was more beautiful than I could appreciate.

There was definitely some language regarding gender that some people might find dated. But I trust that the author, in working so closely with Sandra, reflected Sandra's experience of herself in a way of which Sandra would approve.

I also could have used some sort of warning before the fairly graphic description of Sandra's experience of sexual assault, but I've come not to expect content warnings in books more than a couple years old at this point.

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kiwichill's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This biography is extremely well written.   Sandra Pankhurst endured a traumatic and abusive childhood.   She had an extraordinary life, as a transgender woman who survived many dangerous and heartbreakin  situations. She treats the clients of her trauma cleaning business with empathy and compassion.

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chelseylb1988's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0


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dananana's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective

4.0


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rhi_'s review

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challenging dark emotional reflective fast-paced

3.25


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lasamviela's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny informative medium-paced

4.0


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xoxorawrvindictivexoxo's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

3.75


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artemisienne's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced
a star rating for my experience with this book would be reductive. i did not enjoy most of this book, although the narrator did a great job of telling the story. sandra, the titular trauma cleaner, has been through a lot of trauma in her life, so much so that she doesn't remember some of it. however, the author goes through the tedious job of finding out each and every horrendous event that has happened to this person, her friend, and tells it in as much detail as possible. it is difficult to describe how excruciating it is to get through a book so full of pain and yet so cold and fragmented at the same time. 

many reviews i've seen also say that they were put off by the author's gushing for the subject. i noticed this, and i, too, was put off. until the end, when i realised: if this were my friend i was writing about, if i had the luck to write a book about my courageous, amazing friend who has been through so much and deserves such publicity, i would publicly gush too. i would talk about how incredible my friend was for surviving so much, for succeeding despite the incredible odds against her, and for continuing to give so much back to the world.  sandra is not a perfectly likable person. she's human, like all of us, and she's bound to have a few faults. but she has been through things no person should go through, and has come out of it relatively okay. good, even. so i'll excuse a bit of gushing on the author's part. i would 100% do the same myself.

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