Reviews tagging 'Blood'

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

38 reviews

allys_shelf's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Grief, Misogyny, Child death, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, and Incest

Moderate: Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Pregnancy, Death, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Gun violence, Incest, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Child death, and Drug use

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

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

    A look into Mormonism, its history, and the current day as of the writing, especially into the Fundamentalist sects, polygamy, and the crimes committed by members. 
    Obviously, Warren Jeffs has been arrested since this writing so that part was out of date, and I wish the book had an updated chapter.
    One annoying thing about this addition is that the "this book is continued on disc x" and "disc x" parts hadn't been removed from the digital audiobook! I'm SURE Random House has the money to take that stuff out. And it ruined the flow of the book. 
     Overall, it was a very informative book that will teach you things you probably don't know. There were things I didn't know, and I've listened to multiple deep-dive podcasts on Mormonism. It was a decent true crime/religion book, and the narrator wasn't bad! 

   Extra ratings: Fluff - NA Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful-1/5 Horror -NA  Inspiration -0/5 Love aka Romance- NA  Mystery - NA   Predictability - NA  Spice - NA   Suspense - NA   Tear- 4/5 Thrill - NA   Humor-0/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Blood, Murder, Child death, Violence, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Incest, Racism, and Rape

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

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

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

alwayslol's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

Well crafted and interesting if you're interested in Mormon history and a true crime story. My interest waned off and on with this book because it couldn't seem to figure out what it wanted to be. It gave a fairly objective, informative, and balanced history of the LDS church and some of the cultish and extreme offshoots of it, as well as specific profiles of a few people and groups in particular who committed extreme acts in the name of god (or God, depending on your POV). All religions have their extreme groups and offshoots, and I didn't feel like this was anti-Mormon. I'm of the opinion that all religious stories are kind of wacky (angel comes and rapes a virgin who then gives birth to a Messiah, guy sits under a tree and reaches "enlightenment", Dude has an angel point out a spot to dig up some gold tablets, etc.) yet religions can be a source of wisdom and comfort to many.
This book is thought provoking at times. One of the recurring themes in the book is the question of "revelations" from god, and when multiple people declare that they have received "communication" who's to say what is really communication from god. Most of the 4,000 or so religions claim to be the one and only path to eternal salvation, a better life in the future, a beautiful afterlife, and other rewards. Another theme is the law of the land versus religions. If the law of the land is part of the religion, and you feel you are being persecuted by the religion (like the 13 year old girls who get married off to their 85 year old uncle/stepfather/brother-in-law in places like Colorado City), asking for help from the law is useless. But if the law is not religious, and the law cracks down on religious beliefs such as polygamy, is this persecution?  I generally recommend this book and will look for some of Krakauer's others that might be more interesting. Just don't expect a tight focus on one genre type. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Blood

eegred's review against another edition

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Blood, Sexual violence, Sexism, Incest, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Xenophobia, Stalking, and Kidnapping

Minor: Animal cruelty