Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

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

11 reviews

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

atalea's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Murder, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, War, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Death, and Torture

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

imds's review

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Colonisation, Grief, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Genocide, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Violence, War, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Body horror, Gun violence, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Self harm, Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Cancer, Death of parent, Drug use, Suicide, Confinement, Physical abuse, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Xenophobia

cassimiranda's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Rape, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Trafficking, War, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Gaslighting

marywahlmeierbracciano's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious slow-paced

5.0

Say Nothing is a chilling chronicle of The Troubles of Northern Ireland and its aftermath, with special focus on the orchestrated disappearance of civilian mother of ten Jean McConville.  Per the author, Patrick Radden Keefe, the book is not a comprehensive history, but as someone who knew virtually nothing about The Troubles going in, I found Say Nothing to be a great place to start.  I found the account of the Price sisters to be particularly fascinating.  This is a compelling story about people standing up for what they believe in, filled with betrayal and deadly consequences.  Matthew Blaney’s narration is exquisite.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Kidnapping, and Eating disorder

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Excrement, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Physical abuse, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Police brutality, Suicide, War, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Dementia, Pedophilia, and Child death

samarakroeger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

a must-read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Hate crime, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Mental illness, Religious bigotry, War, Gore, Grief, Torture, Trafficking, and Violence

bexdubyah's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

The first half was rather dense, but the second half picked up as I became familiar with all of the names and how it all tied together. If you enjoy journalistic nonfiction and history, this is for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Addiction, Child abuse, Eating disorder, War, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Murder, and Kidnapping

atsundarsingh's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Exemplary writing. The Troubles are such a hard thing to write about, precisely because the story of the violence is still such a live issue. Still, this is a tightly coiled and deftly rendered dig into some of that hard history. Since it's such recent history, it was also really cool to be able to look up some of the obits and editorials that he discusses online, and know they were only a quick search away. Finally, and this is historian brain speaking, the absolutely essential nature of oral history projects especially to peace and reconciliation efforts is on full display here, and so is history's present-day relevance. A very well-deserved award winner, and likely to send me on another full anti-empire rabbit hole of books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Grief, Medical trauma, Addiction, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Police brutality, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Blood, Colonisation, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Religious bigotry, Violence, War, Alcoholism, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Torture, and Toxic relationship