Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Woman They Could Not Silence: One Woman, Her Incredible Fight for Freedom, and the Men Who Tried to Make Her Disappear by Kate Moore

28 reviews

beth_s98's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.25

I did not get through the third chapter the first time I tried to read this one, mostly because I was not in the right headspace. However, on my second attempt, I devoured this book. The subject matter is very heavy at times, although it is also a story of resilience. 

Reading it almost feels like reading a novel, and it felt very well researched, with lots of evidence beyond just the main plot of the story. I thought the pacing and the way the story was divided really worked. Around the middle of the story it got hard to put down, I was so interested! 

There were a few things I felt were a little repetitive, but usually I could follow the justification. Overall I think this book was both very informative and very accessible, which means if you’re someone looking to get into reading more nonfiction, I think this could be a great place to start. 

I do want to stress that the topics of violence against women/mental patients, the total control of coverture, and the legal cases are throughout the whole book, and can get hard to read. I definitely had to take breaks as I was reading for my own mental health. Please take the content warnings seriously!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Eating disorder and Domestic abuse

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.25

This book was great. However, I really wanted to like it even more - I wanted to give it five stars. Ultimately I didn’t because occasionally it would devolve into histrionics. The story was so powerful that literary flourishes were unnecessary and distracting. 

That said, Wow. What a book. How is it that Elizabeth Packard is not a household name? She was extraordinary. Committed to an insane asylum because her husband found her outspokenness troublesome, she worked for three years to be freed, then worked the rest of her life to achieve equality for women, safety for mental patients, and the right of a mother to have custody of her children. 

The author relies on diaries, letters, newspapers, and trial transcripts. Everything she writes has been thoroughly researched. Her work here is exceptional. 

Having found Radium Girls equally important, I hope that Kate Moore continues to write. Her works are essential to understanding the history of the ordinary American in the late 18th - early 19th centuries. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Confinement, Excrement, Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Bullying, Death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Classism, Physical abuse, Torture, Medical trauma, Racism, Sexism, and Violence

katiemack's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

I’m not sure what to rate this. The story itself is compelling; Elizabeth’s writing is so sharp and perceptive, and she’s an incredibly brave and intelligent figure in history. Kate Moore’s writing, though, gets too bogged down by small details and novelistic flourishes—I admire the amount of research she did for this book, but there’s only so much I can read about the weather or the amount of time Elizabeth spent on sewing.

This book did make me want to read Elizabeth’s works, though, which are apparently all available on hoopla (shameless library plug). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Confinement, and Domestic abuse

ohlala_kaylala's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Emotional abuse, and Misogyny

Moderate: Blood, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Confinement, and Domestic abuse

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

overall, i really enjoyed this book but it lost a star due to the length. i think it would have really benefitted off of being edited down quite a bit because it became very drawn out

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, Racism, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Torture, Ableism, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual harassment, and Alcoholism

mrsdarcylynn's review against another edition

5.0

What a wild story! This book is so important to read, especially when understanding the evolution of women’s rights, mental health history, and legal processes surrounding “dependents”. This story was hard to stomach, but well worth the listen! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Toxic relationship, Ableism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, and Misogyny

znvisser's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

3.5

This was an interesting, inspiring and infuriating story at the same time and I am thankful for Kate Moore for narrating it. I do love narrative nonfiction so I lost myself in this story very quickly, but unfortunately I did find out as quickly that the applied style of storytelling was actually not my cup of tea.

In one of the many tidbits after the actual story the author elaborates on how she intentionally added "reveals for dramatic purposes".  I wish she didn't, because those were my biggest annoyance about this book; the reveal method made me distrusting of her as a storyteller, ruining my reading experience at times. I don't mind myself a surprise or twist, but I do mind reading for tens of pages and made believe explicitly one way, only to be consequently patronized with a "the joke's on you because meanwhile everything else was different!" That's just a waste of words and there certainly are more elegant ways to achieve mystery or suspense. In fact in this case, I think the plot was entertaining enough in itself and didn't require the manipulation applied at all. 

Elizabeth was a very interesting character, both intellectually and socially, but I couldn't understand how those two things interacted. How did such a brilliant woman keep making the mistake of trusting the same villains again and again? Afterwards I'm still curious if that paradox was a narrative choice as well, or her actual character. Because I do believe Moore did her research elaborately, I may have to believe the latter. All in all, in between the manipulating I did enjoy reading this story and getting an insight in this piece of history I had no prior knowledge of. Radium Girls has also been on my radar, and I've seen reviewers with similar objections to this book appreciating that one nevertheless (but also some same complaints), so we'll see if I might still pick that up in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Excrement, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

b3thanamy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, and Mental illness

matcha_cat's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Grief, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Moderate: Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Violence

Minor: Excrement, Death, and Gaslighting

carriewnettles's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Religious bigotry

Minor: Misogyny