Reviews tagging 'Murder'

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

148 reviews

marypetrushko's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder and Rape

mellowhello's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

This book is a little hard to follow at times (at least for me because my working memory isn’t so good) with all of the intermarriage and polygamy and jumping back and forth in time, but it is a fascinating dive into the history of Mormonism and its consistent fracturing into schisms. Although the book is largely focused on Mormon fundamentalists rather than mainstream Mormons, it provides an in-depth background on the founding of the faith and the factors that led to Utah being Mormon central. Would highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about it, with a big CW for some graphic violence, pedophilia and SA. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Rape

balconyblackbird's review against another edition

dark funny informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Sexism, Murder, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Death, Child death, Blood, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Child abuse, and Body horror

cinnaminskies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Violence, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Misogyny

Moderate: Rape, Hate crime, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Infidelity, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Mental illness

tiredenglishteacher's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.75

Very informative exploration of one specific tragedy and how the history of the Mormon church fed into it. It was published in 2003 so there are some weird descriptions of women (nimbus of blond hair???) and a focus on certain individuals weight. Though it focuses on Mormon fundamentalism, I do think there is a lack of differentiation between the mainstream church and fundamentalists that leads to conflation that I don’t imagine is entirely accurate. Graphic description of the crime wasn’t needed for me to understand the atrocity. Also, audiobook weirdly repeated at times (2-3 sentences read twice back to back). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Murder

Moderate: Rape, Incest, and Sexual violence

pocketeds's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Suicide attempt, Violence, Blood, and Murder

oliviamich's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child death, Murder, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping, Adult/minor relationship, and Drug use

fiveredhens's review against another edition

dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

5.0

i think it's time to admit to myself i would read practically anything jon krakauer writes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Incest, and Colonisation

syddo's review

challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Murder, Rape, and Religious bigotry

jazzofmine's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This book earns five ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars from me! It’s definitely for someone interested in Mormon history, development of fundamental offshoots of Mormonism and deeper, philosophical thinking about the nature (and dangers) of religion. I would describe this as “gruesome, Mormon true crime” to any potential reader. 

The primary aim of the book is to explore these situations that beg us to ask “How could this happen” with substantial history and development of this religion. The author explores history and provides context in order to show how the LDS organization provided a conducive environment for radical, extremists to be bred and thrive. 

The example of the Lafferty brothers‘ murder of their sister in law and baby niece is reprehensible, but not isolated. And not an accident. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Blood, Murder, Rape, Incest, Sexism, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Very graphic, great read; informative