Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

24 reviews

jadepfaefflin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Eating disorder, Excrement, Colonisation, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and War

bigheadcam's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

An absolutely incredible, fascinating, and perfectly paced narrative nonfiction on the Troubles. Radden Keefe is very careful to specify that this book is not "historical" nonfiction because a lot of the information in this book is derived from oral accounts. He did his best to reconcile these accounts by corroborating them with more official records and reports, but the Troubles are not well documented and were a truly chaotic time.

Radden Keefe's writing is objective and informative while also remaining gripping and maintaining an excellent storytelling tone. I was consistently impressed with how well he kept every subject covered interesting, and how he manages to switch contexts without losing the reader or making it jarring.

Thanks to John Oliver for recommending this on Hot Ones. I'd happily do the same for anyone with an interest in history, radical ideologies, revolution, and modern struggles for independence as well as the cost of said struggles.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Cancer, Bullying, Murder, War, Blood, Child abuse, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Confinement, Classism, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Gun violence, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Body horror, Excrement, Physical abuse, Violence, Child death, Chronic illness, Eating disorder, Self harm, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Forced institutionalization, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture

qqjj's review

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Vomit, Death of parent, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Medical content, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Grief, War, Confinement, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Trafficking

lipliplip's review

challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Murder, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Blood, Classism, Colonisation, Confinement, Hate crime, Mass/school shootings, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Gun violence, War, and Police brutality

nitar8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Violence, Murder, Police brutality, Torture, Death, Kidnapping, Confinement, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Mass/school shootings

Minor: Sexual assault, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

Going into this my knowledge of the troubles was limited to Derry Girls and that small plot point in Criminal Minds, so to start I was a little confused (and I’m still not 100% confident) but overall was explained in an interesting and clear way. 

The audiobook gets a bonus 0.5 star (not included) because it is narrated by an Irish man and every time he said “poor” it added a week to my life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Eating disorder, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Self harm, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Death of parent, Hate crime, Suicide, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Blood, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, War, and Murder

meredith_peruzzi's review

challenging dark informative fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, War, Violence, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Murder, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gaslighting and Alcoholism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Terminal illness

travisppe's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Very interesting narrative, almost reads like a novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Confinement, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and War

rcsreads's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

Say Nothing is advertised as though it's a true crime but the case of Jean McConville's disappearance is just a loose binding to what is essentially a history of The Troubles. From other reviews I've read a lot of people go into this expecting a true crime novel and are disappointed. But if you go into it as a narrative nonfiction history then it's incredibly readable and well written. Patrick Radden Keefe has clearly done his research and, mainly, stays impartial. You will kind of hate Gerry Adams by the end though!
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 I think this would be a good introduction to The Troubles for people who weren't around for this particular part of history, or just as a more detailed look if most of your knowledge came from Newsround in the 90's.
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, War, Excrement, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Colonisation, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

arrianne's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Colonisation, Death, Suicide, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Incest, Murder, and Religious bigotry