Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

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

20 reviews

erinmg's review

challenging informative sad

4.0

Fascinating book! I haven’t seen the genre of “narrative nonfiction” much, but it felt much more accessible to me than a typical history book. If anything, it felt more anthropological in nature in the ways it ties historical events together through the stories relayed from the interviewees to the author. I listened to this as an audiobook and found at one point that I was confused on the timeline, so unsure if the recording was out of chapter order or if that was my own error, but otherwise I thought this was very educational and intriguing throughout.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Torture, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, War, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Eating disorder, Excrement, and Child death

jmyers1's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

5.0

I really enjoyed this book! So much history I had never learned about in school, would highly reccomend - the narration is 10/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Excrement, War, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and Colonisation

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

kefink's review

challenging dark informative sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, Death, Police brutality, Cursing, War, Addiction, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence

Moderate: Incest, Cancer, Child abuse, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Medical content, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Medical trauma, and Suicide

spess's review

dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Gun violence, War, Murder, Mass/school shootings, Death, Death of parent, Violence, and Colonisation

Minor: Eating disorder, Excrement, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

sonygaystation's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Body horror, Blood, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism, Medical content, Torture, and Addiction

Minor: Child abuse, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Dementia, and Drug use

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

222abbi's review

emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

This book is incredible, it’s a non fiction history book but reads like fiction. It is amazing how it is weaved together key characters from the troubles into a story. It sympathetically told a complicated history in a understanding, entertaining and enlightening way. It is genuinely such an interesting and engaging look at history and present. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Police brutality, Mental illness, Death, Confinement, War, Torture, Physical abuse, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Genocide, Excrement, Eating disorder, Blood, Pedophilia, Murder, Death of parent, and Colonisation

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