Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

70 reviews

vixenreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

It is good to see the victims of Jack the Ripper as human beings instead of faceless statistics to be gawked at. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gore, Racism, and Xenophobia

There is a lot of talk about the abuse within the workhouses and dissolving of familial dynamics.

walkie_check's review

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

louiseisabed's review

dark emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

Moderate: Murder

jordangddrd's review

dark informative slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

dckathleen's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

Everyone has heard of Jack the Ripper. Years ago I read Patricia Cornwell's book theorizing on who Jack the Ripper was, and over time I've read some other theories on the identity of the killer. The victims have never been treated as actual people with lives and families and stories of their own. They are dismissed because they were poor and were assumed to be prostitutes and their violent murders are described in great detail. 

This book is a biography of the canonical five victims. It traces their lives with as much information as is available and contextualizes it by explaining what it was like to be a poor woman in Victorian London. In some cases we learn about how these women grew up and then about their adult lives. We learn about marriages and children and glimpses of happiness. We read about how working people hovered over an abyss of dire poverty at all times, where an illness or turn of circumstances could take a family from a safe apartment to a workhouse or homelessness in the blink of an eye. Once they were in that position it was nearly impossible to get out. 

Several of these women were alcoholics, a few did engage in sex work, but several did not, they were dismissed as prostitutes after their murders because they were women in the poorest parts of London.  Several had children. There's very little concrete information on one woman, but even in her case the author gives us an idea of what her life might have been like. 

The author doesn't describe their deaths at all nor does she speculate about the killer. This book is about the women.

I found this to be a compassionate book and even beyond these particular women I feel like I have a better understanding of the incredibly tenuous lives of poor families in this time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, and Classism

rach59r's review

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism

Minor: Addiction, Child death, Violence, and Classism

epeolatri's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

I have never heard anything about the women killed by jack the ripper before this book. It was very well informed and I’m so glad I read it. As the author said, it is important to remember these women as human beings and not just victims of a famous man. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

keeganrb's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage

kshertz's review

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.25

I really really love the concept. The research done is amazing. These women were not victims and prostitutes. They were a product of their time and the patriarchy. But I felt the author loses the story in the insane amount of research and that made it hard to keep my interest and finish. I only really recommend if you’re very interested in the women and Jack the Ripper historically and love research. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

camz's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Un libro difícil de digerir. Pero era exactamente lo que buscaba de un libro así, incluso diría que más ya que se preocupa no solo de contarte lo que se sabe de la vida de estas mujeres sino que se preocupa de darte el contexto de por qué sus vidas fueron lo que fueron. 
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Mental illness and Miscarriage

Minor: Trafficking