Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer

41 reviews

andmingmingtoo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

This book sets itself apart from most other "true crime" by going beyond the who+what+where+when to ask why-- instead of just focusing on one tragedy, this book asks how the setting and history surrounding what happened led to it occurring.
(Also bonus points to this book for making me hyperfixate on mormonism. It's so hard to explain to my friends that I'm having a mormon phase but not in a religious way, it's in a learning about neat history way)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Incest, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, and Rape

Moderate: Confinement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide, War, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

Minor: Deportation, Homophobia, Cursing, and Alcohol

The main case in this book involves

the murder of a woman and her baby

. There's also a lot of discussion around religious fundamentalism, which includes

religiously-motivated murders and religiously-sanctioned child brides

knachknachjoke's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

A haunting, thorough exploration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, its history, and the dark implications of what actually investigating that history leads one to believe.

I would have considered myself somewhat knowledgeable on LDS church history before this read, but Krakhauer blew pretty much everything out of the water with how thorough his storytelling was. He discloses at the end his own perspective—that he hadn't intended for this to be anything other than an amicable exploration of Mormon history inspired by an admiration for his childhood friends' faiths—and the resonance I felt to his perspective was really startling.

I think my biggest takeaway from reading this, and I believe Krakhauer's from writing it, is just how frightening the two roads you can take after studying Mormonism's history are: either you discern it is one man's quest for sex and power, or you conclude that everything—polygamy, blood atonement, white supremacy, child abuse—is all true and all imperative to a right way of life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Child death, Gore, Incest, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, and Pregnancy

oliviamich's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child death, Murder, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug use

jazzreads's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Under the Banner of Heaven is a deeply disturbing examination of the history of the Mormon Church. As hard as it is to read, this book is incredibly well written and well researched. If you’re interested in learning about Mormonism, its place in American history, or just cults in general, you’ll get a lot of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Murder, Child abuse, Gore, Incest, Violence, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Mental illness, Mass/school shootings, Drug use, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, and Racism

allys_shelf's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Grief, Misogyny, Child death, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, and Incest

Moderate: Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Pregnancy, Death, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Gun violence, Incest, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Child death, and Drug use

pearlisarobot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Hate crime, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Alcohol, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

    A look into Mormonism, its history, and the current day as of the writing, especially into the Fundamentalist sects, polygamy, and the crimes committed by members. 
    Obviously, Warren Jeffs has been arrested since this writing so that part was out of date, and I wish the book had an updated chapter.
    One annoying thing about this addition is that the "this book is continued on disc x" and "disc x" parts hadn't been removed from the digital audiobook! I'm SURE Random House has the money to take that stuff out. And it ruined the flow of the book. 
     Overall, it was a very informative book that will teach you things you probably don't know. There were things I didn't know, and I've listened to multiple deep-dive podcasts on Mormonism. It was a decent true crime/religion book, and the narrator wasn't bad! 

   Extra ratings: Fluff - NA Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful-1/5 Horror -NA  Inspiration -0/5 Love aka Romance- NA  Mystery - NA   Predictability - NA  Spice - NA   Suspense - NA   Tear- 4/5 Thrill - NA   Humor-0/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Child death, Violence, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Incest, Racism, and Rape

tiernanhunter's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Violence, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

sadiejericho's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

3.5

Really disturbing and clearly deeply researched. Hard to stomach at times and also compelling. Took me years to finish but glad I read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Child abuse, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Torture, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Rape, Pedophilia, Murder, Incest, Homophobia, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Emotional abuse, Death, Blood, and Alcoholism

jlye's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and Incest