Reviews tagging 'Pedophilia'

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

74 reviews

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

lmshearer's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

As the author admits, this is not the book he set out to write, and it's not the book I expected to read. The first section seemed more set up for a true crime story than an extensive retelling of the history of the Mormon church. I learned quite a bit about Mormonism and its fraught history with fundamentalism but found the first and last sections (Sections I and IV) to be the most interesting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Murder, Sexual assault, Incest, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Pedophilia

sarahfharbour's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Rape and Pedophilia

barelyconcealed's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative sad fast-paced

3.75

 This is a re-read, though the first time I've listened to the audiobook.

When I was working retail I went through a pretty deep Krakauer phase and I remember this as being one of my favorites. I personally think it holds up pretty well, but I don't really have an attachment to Mormonism - either negative or positive.

It is interesting to go through and research some of the people who are mentioned only by name throughout this book, where their stories were yet unfinished. In some cases there doesn't appear to be any real conclusion to be drawn yet (I may have missed it, but I can't find any closure to the case of Kenyon Blackmore).

The decision to bounce between the astonishingly disturbing Lafferty case and the skeletons in the closet of the Mormon church is an interesting one - it definitely creates a parallel between these two elements. But it's a necessary one for discussing the specific form of religious fervor that the Lafferty's fell into - who they are is decidedly shaped by the history of the church.

There's a point made early in this book that I think often gets overlooked in discussion about it that Mormonism suffers from having its history so accessible as one of the only prominent modern religions - we know Joseph Smith was a real man in a way that is harder to confirm with other religious figures. We know his history in a way we cannot know other religious figures history.

I think this book is worth a read, especially if you're interested in true crime writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Religious bigotry, Violence, Child death, and Murder

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, and Racism

Religious trauma.

willascanlon's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

3.0

I’m not sure how to rate this book bc it was so well written and compelling but very much not for me. A lot of the content was insane and a bit triggering but then other parts were so slow and historically dense. I think if you like historical pieces and have carefully looked over the content warnings then it could be a better read. But definitely look into the themes in the book before reading it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Domestic abuse

melaniekarin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

This is a meticulously researched and astonishing book connecting years of Mormon history to a horrific murder committed by fundamentalists in the 1980s. Though it’s 20 years old it still feels prescient.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Violence, Incest, Death, Child death, Child abuse, and Blood

Moderate: Colonisation, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Rape, Racism, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Infidelity, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

joanasimao's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Pedophilia

schmitzy_'s review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Misogyny, Child death, Murder, Gaslighting, and Incest

Moderate: Racism

andizor's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.25

Krakauer dives into the history of Mormonism, prompted by the brutal slaying of a young mother and child at the hands of fundamentalist Mormons. I admittedly didn't know much about Mormonism before reading this book - just the magic underwear, the giant temple, weird stuff about planets (which didn't come up here btw), and some polygamy. The origins of Mormonism are fascinating and Krakauer does a good job of presenting the information objectively. This book is almost twenty years old, but the themes still ring true. It's especially interesting to look at these white Mormon men who all think they're the "one mighty and strong" in our current cultural climate where white men are disillusioned with the way things are - feeling that they are no longer (but were they ever really?) exceptional and worthy of special treatment. Contrast the incel movement with these men who take plural wives, some of them their own step daughters, some as young as 13. The very idea that a religion could develop in the 19th century and still be alive and kicking today is fascinating, especially when there is a lot of information out there about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and their semi-sordid lives. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, and Violence