Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

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

40 reviews

yossy_cookie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

3.5

An interesting look at the victims of Jack the Ripper. This is not true crime, there is nothing at all about the killings but this focuses on the lives of the women. It is an interesting insight into what life was like in Victorian London and the attention to detail is superb. It is, however, slow paced and quite heavy going 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Classism, Trafficking, Death, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Addiction, Murder, Misogyny, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

will_cat_books's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Addiction, Child death, Murder, Classism, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

jessi_lou95's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Minor: Chronic illness, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Terminal illness, and Trafficking

mahmabaer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

I enjoyed it for the most part and the author's basic theory

that all the women were not prostitutes

, does give one something to consider.  I do wish she hadn't been so heavyhanded in her attempt to find no blame towards the women themselves, as it makes it come across as if she is less interested in telling the stories of the five victims and more interested in proving her point.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Death, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Bullying, Death of parent, Addiction, Grief, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Abortion, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Violence

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

What a tragic and depressing, albeit illuminating, book about the horrors of poverty in the late 19th C. We’ve all been told that Jack the Ripper killed prostitutes. This study shows how these morally superior judgments have come to inform everything we know about the case. 

The author focuses on the women, only referring to Jack the Ripper as their murderer. She has done extensive research to find out who these women were and what their lives were like, such that they ended up dead in the gutter. All these women came from working class families but because they were born female, the deck was stacked against them. The smallest setback could literally ruin someone’s life. 

By viewing these women with compassion instead of condemnation, we can see who they really were. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Grief, Classism, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Murder

tlholmes's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Women’s history, non fiction 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, Domestic abuse, Police brutality, Trafficking, Classism, Death, Grief, Sexism, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Violence, Pregnancy, Murder, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Alcoholism

thinkingcatss's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Classism, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Sexism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Abandonment, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Terminal illness, Trafficking, Death, Drug use, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Medical content, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Child death, Alcohol, Grief, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Violence

gabriella_brown's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This book is a beautifully written and angry exploration of the lives of the women murdered by Jack the Ripper. It de-bunks common misconceptions about the victims and gives an intelligent insight into their experiences as working class women in Victorian London.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Sexism, Child death, Classism, Death, Misogyny, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

Minor: Pregnancy, Trafficking, and Suicide

tiernanhunter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Violence, Abandonment, Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Trafficking, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, War, Classism, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, Addiction, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Terminal illness, and Mental illness

siobhanward's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

I had this on my TBR years ago and then dropped it because I didn't like the writing style. I remember there being a lot more conversations in the book (i.e. "so and so woke up and said x to her mother"), but that was not something in the book at all. Everything was either cited from primary sources (either specific to the women or general for the time), or was posed as a hypothetical ("she likely..." or "it's possible.."), so I have no idea what I was thinking?

Anyway, I'm glad I wound up trying this again because it was a great and informative read. I loved how Rubenhold told the women's stories, focusing on their lives rather than their deaths. It was a new angle for the Jack the Ripper story and it was well done. I'm really glad I didn't miss out on this one in the end!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, Death, Violence, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gore, and Alcoholism

Minor: Death of parent