Hi there, curious to hear some opinions on maybe an unusual question.
I have found that I am highly sensitive to certain types of content when reading; think violence, rape, abuse, incest, etc. And sometimes it doesn’t even have to be that extreme. It can trigger my anxiety, stress me out, put me in a bad mood, etc. The problem is, many of the best books have at least some of this in them.
I realize we all have different degrees of sensitivity to this sort of content, but I am curious how others handle it. Do you skip the section and keep reading? Do you push through it in order to read all of the book?
by nature_and_grace
2 Comments
i personally try to read as much of the book as i can and have never had to tap out mid-book. HOWEVER, it’s just reading and you should not let it harm your mental health for the sake of finishing the passage. it’s not worth it.
i drop the book, instant DNF. i wanted to read the shining so bad but the opening bit on high school bullying was too triggering. even if i had powered through i probably would have been richly triggered once more by jack’s abuse of his wife.
“The problem is, many of the best books have at least some of this in them.”
i was going to disagree, but then i realized the books i am reading right now and the ones i’ve just finished are extremely violent. thankfully my triggers are pretty specific otherwise i’d be SOL