Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

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

74 reviews

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

wise_tamarin's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.75

 So overall, the book seeks to explain the backdrop of the Lafferty murders which occurred on July 24 1984. It faithfully presents all the relevant events and doctrines which would provide the crucial context for the motives behind the murders. Like how one might seek to explain the actions of modern day Muslims in the backdrop of the Prophet’s actions in Mecca and Medina — this work explores the actions and beliefs of certain fanatic fundamentalists by exploring the birth and evolution of the Mormon religion.

The author believes that understanding the Lafferty murders fully requires one to understand the evolution of the Mormon Church’s doctrines over the years. He provides short narratives on the lives and sayings of the various Prophets — Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Uncle Rulon etc. to tell us the role of the controversial Polygamy revelation in the lives of the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints. 

It tries a bit to explore the psychological foundations behind the murders as well, but I would say it didn’t delve much deeper into this aspect. That is, the book claims that it is trying to explore the nature of religious belief — but I do not think it has explored it well enough. 

It does not go much deep into the question of why these beliefs hold so much value to the believers in the first place, why sensible people choose to believe or what patterns there are in these beliefs. Thus it comes off as a juvenile atheistic perspective on the matter. In the end, Krakauer, like various other atheists, puts all the religions into the same box. He says that they all say that every other religion is wrong — belying his ignorance of the Eastern faiths. 

Coming out of reading this book, I am more informed on the matter of the Mormon faith, but don’t have any increased insight regarding the nature of religious belief. However, I would say that the dry, impassionate data points presented in this book are definitely trying to point to it and might help me make some valuable connections later. I do not regret reading this book at all, and would definitely recommend it for anyone trying to get an idea about Mormon history and it’s fundamentalist stripe. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Pedophilia

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

jamiejanae_6's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Sexual assault

didnot_finish's review against another edition

informative sad slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Pedophilia, and Rape

laurelmb's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Pedophilia, Suicide attempt, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Incest, Child abuse, Suicide, Sexual violence, Death, Racism, and Murder

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

sonygaystation's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child death, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Adult/minor relationship