Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

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

29 reviews

caribbeangirlreading's review

challenging emotional informative tense slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Kidnapping, and War

Minor: Eating disorder

echellwig's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense

4.5

A brutally honest look at the Troubles in Northern Ireland and the ways they continue to impact the area today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Torture, and Violence

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

danidamico's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

Hace años que tenía ganas de leer Say Nothing, pero siempre me intimidó un poco. Finalmente me animé y fue una experiencia increíble, por momentos un poco densa en cuanto a información, pero cada capítulo terminaba valiendo la pena. Hace poco cursé una materia que se llama Taller de Crónica, en la que vimos que una de las cosas más importantes de la crónica es que el cronista logre mostrar los hechos y no sólo contarlos. Patrick Radden Keefe lo logra, durante los cientos y cientos de páginas te transporta a cada lugar, como si él mismo hubiera estado ahí cuando todo ocurrió. El laburo que hizo para que semejante cantidad de información pueda ser narrada de una manera atrapante y disfrutable es admirable. Prácticamente se lee como una novela, transitando momentos de mayor tensión, de suspenso, de tristeza y hasta pequeños destellos de humor.

Con esta bestia de libro, Radden Keefe intenta relatar la historia del conflicto armado en Irlanda del Norte, en especial el período conocido como "the Troubles", desde 1969 en adelante. Pone especial énfasis en ciertas figuras del IRA como Dolours y Marian Price, Brendan Hughes y Gerry Adams, como también en el secuestro de una mujer llamada Jean McConville. Empezar esta lectura es como embarcarse en un viaje que te va llevando por lugares insólitos, sorprendentes y frustrantes, y cuando creés que todo terminó, aparece algo nuevo que te deja con la boca abierta. Es una historia fascinante y el autor sabe cómo contarla.

Say Nothing es, sin duda alguna, una de mis mejores lecturas del año y mi favorita de no ficción junto con Putas y Guerrilleras. En fin, no quiero seguir elogiando a Radden Keefe, hay miles de cosas para decir sobre este texto, pero no sé ni por dónde empezar. Creo que si tuviera que señalar lo que más me gustó es que nunca cae en el blanco o negro, buenos o malos, sino que se sumerge en las contradicciones y complejidades que caracterizaron a este conflicto histórico. Radden Keefe no subestima a nada ni a nadie, no simplifica, al contrario, te deja con preguntas abiertas. Te deja pensando. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Addiction, Child abuse, Colonisation, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Gun violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, and Police brutality

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Torture, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Child abuse, Incest, and Rape

kimveach's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.0

If you are interested in The Troubles or the IRA during the latter half of the 20th century, then this is a well-crafted book.  By starting with the kidnapping of Jean McConnville, he has a thread to tie the book together.  However, it didn't work for me.  I don't read much non-fiction and was not interested in this particular story.   While I did learn much about the IRA and Northern Ireland, the large number of names and intertwining stories was tiring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War

ainereads's review

adventurous dark informative reflective tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Cursing, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Torture, Violence, War, Xenophobia, and Confinement

Minor: Child abuse

laurenparham's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

2.75

I think this book was just not for me—it’s informative about some key events but does little to contextualize the IRA’s actions in response to the state violence that drove The Troubles. If the goal is to explore how people become radicalized to commit political violence, I think it’s important to present that trajectory with more than a few cursory mentions of the oppression that led to it. I understand that would be a massive undertaking but anything less feels irresponsible, especially given how uneducated most Americans are about The Troubles and how, for many, a book like this would be their first introduction. There is no justification for what happened to Jean McConville, and I don’t think there has to be any whataboutism regarding that—it was tragic and violent and caused lifelong suffering and devastation for her family. But I do think that the British government and the loyalists earn some portion of the blame as an oppressive and exploitative force that perpetuated violence and radicalization. I do wonder why many people are so squeamish at the idea of interpersonal or paramilitary violence but sanction the same actions carried out by people acting on behalf of the state as somehow more valid and justified and less violent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Death, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and War

fungivibes's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Colonisation, Death, Eating disorder, Excrement, Gun violence, Kidnapping, and Torture

Moderate: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Medical trauma

Minor: Pedophilia