Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

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

16 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

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Incest, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gore, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Rape, Racial slurs, Child death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Homophobia, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

jazzreads's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Under the Banner of Heaven is a deeply disturbing examination of the history of the Mormon Church. As hard as it is to read, this book is incredibly well written and well researched. If you’re interested in learning about Mormonism, its place in American history, or just cults in general, you’ll get a lot of this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Rape, Religious bigotry, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Murder, Child abuse, Gore, Incest, Violence, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Sexual violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Mental illness, Mass/school shootings, Drug use, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Gun violence, and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Torture, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, and Racism

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

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

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

innae's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.0

This book has a fair share of the history of the Mormon religion, as well as an intriguing look at a murder that occurred due to belief in some of the Mormon tenets.   There were also many places where facts were repeated (some of it is scripture from the Book of Mormon, and some of it is historical), like the author was afraid we wouldn't remember things from chapter to chapter.  Also it bounces back between the past and the present - so stuff about Joseph Smith, and then about Brigyam Young, and also about the Laffertys and the murder.   I was interested in the court room stuff, where religion was put on trial - are all those that believe in religious doctrines insane?  hmmm.    An interesting listen.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Incest, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Racism, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Pregnancy

maysiebe's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Misogyny, Homophobia, Incest, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

firstknight's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Racial slurs, Sexual harassment, Death, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Child death, Hate crime, and Murder

Moderate: Miscarriage, Self harm, Drug use, Gun violence, Genocide, and Drug abuse

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