Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

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

9 reviews

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

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

nicoleannreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Racism, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Incest, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal death

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

zakcebulski's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.25

This book... holy fucking hell.
I picked this book to read while I was on a trip to Utah, because it seemed timely and appropriate. This book absolutely infuriated me to the point where I had to stop reading it for sometimes hours at a time.
Under the Banner of Heaven is broken up in to two distinct sections- the first is the history of the Mormon religion- starting with Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Nauvoo, Illinois, and the eventual arrival of the Mormons in Salt Lake City, Utah.
It uses these events to show the ripples that these people's actions had decades and decades later in the form of the splinter sect of the LDS- the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- the FLDS- who are, in my estimation- true villains of Americana.

Now, I have recently been infected with the bug of interest into world religions, and Mormonism is an absolutely fascinating one. I think that this stems primarily from the fact that it is such a storied, and bloody history.
Joseph Smith is, to me, one of the most brilliant minds of his time, and, a man who was intentionally so, one of the most impactful people in American history. Now, this is absolutely not to say that I am supportive of Joseph Smith- on the contrary, I think that the ripples cast out from his life and death have been negative. But, to say that he is anything short of brilliant, I think, undermines the impact that he has had.
Joseph Smith was able to not only create a complete religion based off of Christianity- but he was also able to get hundreds of hundreds of people to believe in it.
I thought that the birth of the Mormon faith was absolutely fascinating to read about, and to learn of the constant attempts by the United States government to eradicate this religion. I felt that the parallels between this religion and the birth of Christianity in general were absolutely awe-inspiring- the irony of Joseph Smith's assassination closely mirroring the legend of the Crucifixion of Christ is not lost on me.
Learning about the constant imagined and genuine persecution of the Mormons by anti-Mormon groups called to mind the existence of early Christians- it was fascinating to learn about.

I can't truly think about another time wherein I was so incensed about an event as I was about the Mountain Meadows Massacre- where Mormons and Native Indians ambushed a group of Gentiles (non-Mormons) solely for the fact that they wanted revenge for the death of their prophet. This is absolutely vile and it is something that goes in to proving how so many religious people are just so hypocritical.

The second half of this book deals with more modern times- with the Lafferty brothers. Now, these fucking pricks are a group of six brothers who are all devoutly Mormon. However, they like to practice what is referred to in the book and in the religion as "plural marriage" aka polygamy. Now, Joseph Smith was a big fan of polygamy (I will not refer to it as plural marriage) to the point wherein it is speculated that he used a fellow Mormon's name to write a pamphlet about the virtues of polygamy, and then printed it with his own press. This act had far reaching ramifications from being the reason for the eventual assassination of JS, to Brigham Young being instilled as the second Prophet of the Mormon church, to being the reason for the splintering of the LDS as a whole.

The FLDS is a branch of the Mormon church which focuses on adhering to the teachings of Joseph Smith, and not to the modern-LDS church which outlawed things like polygamy in the 1890s, accepted black people, and other "radical" (to the FLDS) changes.
This branch of Mormonism is inherently racist, sexist, and fucking disgusting, in my view, as their polygamist acts tend to skew to taking very young wives. It is discussed that many of the wives are underage, some of them are just becoming teenagers.
This is the world that the Lafferty brothers grow in and are educated to believe in. Now, the story focuses on all of these pieces of shit, but, it really dials in focus more to two of the brothers- Dan and Ron.
These two morons are some of the most deplorable jackasses I have ever had the displeasure of learning that I share the Earth with.
Not only do they renounce their citizenship from the U.S. saying that they only serve God, they also give back their social security cards, their driver's licenses and stop obeying speed limits and paying taxes, but, also quit their jobs and start following a guy named Bob Crossfield- the "Prophet Onias" which brings them in to the FLDS.
These jackasses then proceed to try and force their wives to be accepting of polygamy- which is a practice which I am personally against- and which many of them are against as well.
This leads us to be introduced to one of the bravest people that I have read about recently- Brenda Lafferty who is the wife of Allen Lafferty- the youngest of the brothers.
Brenda is strong willed, educated and well-spoken, which makes her someone that the Lafferty brothers cannot just shout down by quoting scripture to her. This, as well, makes her a target for the wrath of the Lafferty brothers who see her as a heel and a threat to their way of life. As such, Ron, who is a tragic character because he starts off as a good man who is quickly and totally perverted by the FLDS teachings.
Ron has a revelation wherein he deems it the "Removal Revelation"- he is "ordered" by God to kill Brenda, Brenda's baby, and two other individuals.
Unfortunately for her, Brenda and her baby are the ones who are sought out and are killed in a very, very brutal fashion. This is upsetting, stomach churning, and repugnant to the core.
After this, Dan and Ron go on the run for a little while before being arrested, tried, and convicted of their crimes.
I think that this book is a fantastic jumping off point for people who want to begin exploring the world of corrosive religious beliefs, group think, and the dangers of not thinking for one's own self.
I think that Krakauer does an exceptional job of creating a coherent story, illustrating the characters and showing the history where the story takes place. Not many people could have written a story that takes place 140 years apart, but so effortlessly captures how the ripples of the past form the tsunami of the present.

I also thought it was goddamn terrifying and fascinating to read this book because Warren fucking Jeffs was just ascending to power after the death of his father Rulon Jeffs. This is horrifying if you know the history of Jeffs' pedophilia which he was hunted down by the FBI for and finally arrested in 2011. This is like knowing there will be a crash but being unable to stop it. It is so heartbreaking to know that Jeffs would commit profane acts under the guise of being the end times prophet.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the basics of the Mormon beliefs and the many splinter groups that came off of it. 
This book is upsetting, this book is heartbreaking and potentially traumatizing, but, I think that it is extremely beneficial to those who are interested in this sect of Christianity. I think that Krakauer should be praised for the work that he did here in illuminating, with no sugarcoating, the reality of the birth of Mormonism and the effects of which we are still feeling today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Murder, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual violence

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging informative fast-paced

4.0

The murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty we're horrendous. This book does a lot of work to explain how religions like Mormonism, especially radicalized fundamentalist Mormonism, can warp the world views of it's followers, shaping some into devout followers who are used and abused in the name of God by those in power and to create powerful, often delusional believers who are willing to kill, rape, and defile anyone from family members to strangers for the sake of their personal perception of God's will.
In the author's notes at the end of this book, Jon Krakauer addresses the path his writing process took. While his end product was not what he initially intended it to be, it was enriched by the research he'd done on the history of Mormonism. Having grown up in an area with a few Mormons, but not enough for them to be the dominant social group, I'd just lumped them into the group of people from religions I was not a part of. This peek at their storied history, historic and continued racism, historic and continued sexual violence and pedophilia, and the lengths to which the current church goes to hide the past from followers gives a suspicious tilt to the religion's intentions.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Blood, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Violence, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Racism, Racial slurs, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexual 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: Blood, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Violence

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

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Incest, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Blood, Bullying, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, and Classism