Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

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

23 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

beachbookbabe's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Mental illness, Child abuse, Death, Incest, and Murder

cinnaminskies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Violence, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Misogyny

Moderate: Rape, Hate crime, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Infidelity, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Mental illness

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

sellnow_hannah's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

A difficult book with themes including murder, rape, and incest. But a fascinating look into religious extremism and the history of Mormon fundamentalism. There are a lot of characters to keep track of and the storyline wasn’t linear which was sometimes confusing, but otherwise love Krakauer’s writing and found it to be a compelling read

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Blood, Gaslighting, Sexual assault, Gore, Murder, Death, Incest, Toxic relationship, Child death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Racism, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Animal death, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, and Pedophilia

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

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

maevebm's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

3.0

Somehow both nauseating and fascinating. Krakauer connected the history of the LDS church and origins of polygamy to the rise of Mormon fundamentalism and Brenda and her baby’s murder. 
What I felt the book lacked was empathy for the victims. Survivors of abuse had small voices and Krakauer spent an abundance of time talking about the perpetrators, in ways that seemed to glamorize at times. I think now in true crime literature, the focus has shifted to be more of a space to advocate for survivors and victims, so while I can appreciate the context of the time he wrote the book, I found it to be irritating.
Secondly, he relied heavily on quotes which, I felt, was lazy writing. Of course the quotes provided insight to the people and times he wrote about, but it was excessive.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Blood, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Drug use

horizonous's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Genocide, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Rape, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Drug abuse, Sexism, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Incest, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Cancer, Animal cruelty, and Domestic abuse