Alexis's Reviews > Trauma Plot: A Life

I don't know how to write a review of this book. Just trust that it's better than whatever I come up with, but also know that it's not an easy read. Hood writes about her rapes in an unflinching, sometimes-detached manner. The book is divided into sections, with Hood identifying as a first-person subject in some and third-person in others. It's always grim, and the writing is generally reflective and often stunning. This is a personal memoir as well as a look into #MeToo culture as a whole, including its pitfalls, particularly those relating to trans visibility and a focus on "innocent" victims.

Hood is essentially performing literary analysis on her own diaries, which is a first for me. I admire the distance it gave to some of the passages - it feels speculative at times. Hood is also clearly still working through her trauma, and she does not at all claim to have a cure or even advice. She shares her progress and leaves it at that.

In the beginning, Hood writes a bit about feeling that "A Little Life" is unfairly maligned as trauma porn due to the (to many) excessive traumatic experiences one of the characters endures. Hood points out that some lives are filled with abuse and asks why those stories shouldn't be shared. She then goes on to share one.

I think it's important. If you are able to read it, I think you should.