Reviews tagging 'Emotional 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

39 reviews

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

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

lizardflake's review against another edition

challenging informative sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Grief, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Misogyny, and Violence

katieluvs2read's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Confinement, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Suicide, Violence, and Toxic relationship

sofiasss's review against another edition

informative inspiring medium-paced

4.0

An inspirational feminist biography. 

I liked how the biography read as a novel. The writing was very gripping and took me on an emotional journey with Elizabeth. You really begin to understand the historical context and consider the different social perspectives. One of my favourite things about this book was how Kate Moore used historical sources for speech and seamlessly integrated her research.  

I think this book was a great commentary on the fundamental views on women based on the neurological differences between males and females and how this affects power. As a young women, it gave insight into the changes that have happened and the similarities that remain. It also provides insight into the importance of patients’ rights and how we as a society view people struggling with mental health, as well as the importance of evidence-based medicine. 

Kate Moore highlights how ‘a person’s powerlessness may lead to struggles with their mental health’. I find it fascinating how Elizabeth uses her faith to empower her, whilst others use it to suppress her. Her relationship with her faith was something that she used to push her past adversity. 

I really enjoyed reading this book and would highly recommend.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical content, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, and Mental illness

Minor: Blood, Suicide, Excrement, Sexism, War, Eating disorder, Abandonment, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

serendipitysbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

 
The Woman They Could Not Silence is a book that was almost guaranteed to raise my blood pressure given that it highlights the abuse of patriarchal power against women, and also the abuses suffered by mental health patients. It focuses on Elizabeth Packard who, in 1860, was admitted to an insane asylum by her husband and kept there for three years by the controlling, unethical Dr. McFarland, the asylum superintendent. Packard was not insane - she just dared to think independently, refused to bow to her husband’s commands and questioned the doctor’s practice. She was not the only perfectly sane woman held in such asylums, virtually powerless to gain their own release. The conditions and treatment within the institution were often barbaric with little care, kindness, or meaningful treatment for those with actual mental health issues. Instead they were often abused physically and emotionally. This book recounts the life of Elizabeth Packard, the events leading to her being committed, her experiences in the asylum, her efforts to gain her freedom, and then her tireless work to ensure better treatment and protection for mental health patients, to ensure that women could no longer be wrongfully confined, and for women’s rights generally.

The entitlement, audacity and amorality of some of the men in this book was just mind blowing. Like I said bad for my blood pressure. I did find the tone a little strident at times and I felt it a overly long and repetitive in places. However, this book does cover important topics that we should not forget. And lest we think the issue of men trying to control and belittle women by questioning their sanity the postscript includes many recent examples including then President Trump’s attacks on Nancy Pelosi which bore an uncanny resemblance to McFarland’s attacks of Packard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse