Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

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

19 reviews

laurenleigh's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

Thanks @greta.Humphrey for the rec! This book was wild. I knew the basic storyline of Joseph Smith and the birth of Mormonism, but there was SO much I didn’t know. Fair warning, there are a number of sad, bloody, gruesome details in this book. Krakauer is not just focused on the history of Mormonism, but on all the ways the religion has been used as a justification for violence, both past and present. I was most interested to learn about the differences between the current day mainstream LDS church and the fundamentalist offshoots. It might be easy to read this book and condemn or judge any current Mormons, but seemingly no religion is removed from violent pasts or present extremists. Not that any of that is excusable of course. My main problem with the text was its structure (too much chronological hopping for me), but I also understand Krakauer’s reasonings for writing it so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Xenophobia, Rape, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Mental illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Incest, Homophobia, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

tinybluepixel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, and Incest

Moderate: Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Drug use, Grief, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping

bootsmom3's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Medical content, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Gore, Gaslighting, Self harm, Death, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child abuse, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual violence, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, Incest, Infidelity, and Mental illness

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Miscarriage

samarakroeger's review

challenging dark informative slow-paced

4.75

read in conjunction with watching the show as it came out. It was interesting to see how the book was adapted to be told in a different format - and I’m glad they did adapt the narrative frame to suit the media style. The book includes a much more detailed history of the LDS Church than the show can cover, so I’m glad I read the book at the same time for context. The show’s “flashbacks” were not nearly as effective as the rest of the show, in my opinion. 

I am absolutely terrified of true crime and had previously read the prologue and been so freaked out I set the book aside. I’m so glad I came back to it because most of the book isn’t directly about that horrific double murder case, but instead dives into the history of the founding of the LDS Church and more recent history pertaining to Fundamentalist sects and their devotion to polygamy. All of it will make you uneasy, because violence, pedophilia, and child rape are difficult topics to read about. 

I think this is Krakauer at his best. He is a very consistently solid author for me throughout the four books of his I’ve read so far. 

If you are fascinated by how people can possibly believe in ludicrous-sounding religions, this is a great book for you. My fascination and curiosity with the LDS Church has been further nurtured by this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Genocide, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Homophobia, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexism

jonezzzing's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Sexism, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Murder, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Violence, Incest, Misogyny, and Rape

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Pregnancy

amandas_bookshelf's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Death, Child death, Racism, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Rape

dayo321pru's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

3.5

it took me about 3 weeks to read through it. it's sort of dense and most of it is historical (80-20, historical to true crime). it is very well written but i didn't like it too much.
also there are a lot of parts that were hard to read (disturbing content, examples in content warnings).  
regardless, it was good to see a new perspective and learn a new bit of history. i just couldn't empathize with anyone in the book and that's my favorite part of reading; i like understanding a character and feeling what they feel and that didn't happen here for me. this is the first non-fiction i've really read through and maybe it's just not my thing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Violence, Child death, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Racism

Minor: Islamophobia, Miscarriage, Homophobia, and Kidnapping

alylentz's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

A difficult read on all kinds of levels! Really tough on an emotional level to read about the rampant abuse and pedophilia in fundamental Mormonism, but necessary--I'm sure that I'm not alone in that I hadn't thought of polygamy as anything beyond a weird kind of cultural joke because my main exposure to it is things like Sister Wives, but this was a real eye-opener. Had to push through the in-depth sections on the origins and history of Mormonism, though I understand why they were important to include. I picked it up in anticipation of the show and am interested to see how they'll tackle some of these far-reaching questions and discussions. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gun violence, Incest, Homophobia, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

melanna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

I put this book on my reading list because it was suggested for a reading prompt (i don’t even remember what it was, I’ll find it when I look it up)

I’m notorious for not knowing what books are about before I start them. 

The last book I read by this author was about his trip up Mount Everest. The cover I saw of this book had some rocks on it so I thought it might be about one of his other escapades. 

Turns out it’s about the history of the Mormon church (as viewed by an outsider). It’s an interesting overview of the history. I quite enjoyed it. It went through the good the bad and the ugly and it’s amazing to me how many people can still cling to beliefs of such a young religion. 

I have a few friends that I will be interested to hear their thoughts. (You know who you are!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Religious bigotry, and Sexism