Reviews tagging 'Rape'

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

96 reviews

kelsie_s's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Trafficking, and Religious bigotry

bat11692's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

3.5

3.5 ⭐️ This book was an informative deep dive into the history of the church of Latter Day Saints. I think it sort of misrepresents itself by being marketed as a true crime book. True, it does focus on the murders committed by the fundamentalist LDS Lafferty brothers. But the majority of the book is the genesis of Mormonism, which I’m interested in, but maybe not to this extent. All in all, a shocking and enjoyable book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, and Murder

barbarella85's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Domestic abuse

amsswim's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

4.25

I was aware of much of the information in this book, but the author does a good job of collecting a lot of information and tying it back to his main topic. The whole book revolves around a murder in the 80s but we cover much of the history of the Latter Day Saints and the various branches (mostly fundementalist) of the church.

It always strikes me how incredibly American the Morman church and beliefs are, as well as the incredible violence within their history and beliefs. 

Anyone interested in religious fanaticism should read this one. Also there is a Hulu series out now, so maybe will watch that too. There have been some major developments since its publishing, so that also offered an interesting perspective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Colonisation

mirificmoxie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, and Violence

Minor: Child abuse, Racism, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

daishaspencer's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

This book captured my attention right away as someone with family ties to the Mormon church. John’s writing isn’t linear, but that of a season journalist which he is. If you have a fascination with Mormonism, religious extremes, and the domino effect that it has this is the book for you. It can be challenging to follow the timeline and different people this book follows, so don’t pick this up as casual read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Suicide attempt

jacksonhager's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

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

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

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

lomur98's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Murder

Moderate: Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, and Stalking

Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

knunderb's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5

Krakaur has some clear bias against religion, but he keeps it in check and provides an in-depth account of not only the murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty, but also of the history of the Mormon church. This book could have been extremely dry, but it was easy to read. Krakaur does a good job of drawing the reader into the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Racism