Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

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

41 reviews

isleofwoman's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, Confinement, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Self harm

emilyferrise's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

3.0

I’m trying to read more nonfiction, so my rating could be a reflection of this book not being in one of my preferred genres. However, I loved the content of this book- the history of women’s rights and how mental illness diagnoses were handled in the mid 1800s. The subject, Mrs. Packard, is very likeable and the author does a great job presenting the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Mental illness

Moderate: Physical abuse and Emotional abuse

Minor: Suicide

wordsofclover's review against another edition

hopeful informative sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, and Physical abuse

megnut's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.25

An incredible story... but (as warning) with many warnings of the sexism & misogyny that controlled women's lives then and still affect us today. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Misogyny, Bullying, Confinement, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Torture

Moderate: Suicide

ocoury23's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

*Review based on experiencing the book as an audiobook 

This book was incredible to listen to and learn from, but also was incredibly long. Elizabeth Packard was a name I had never heard before, but her story is inspiring and I would highly recommend this for book for any adult-level readers (due to the sensitive content that is discussed). Truthfully, my main drawback to this was the length - I’m not sure if I would be able to work my way through this again without taking my time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Physical abuse, Blood, Mental illness, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Excrement and Suicide

cmbohn's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Ableism, Confinement, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, and Forced institutionalization

Minor: Slavery, Eating disorder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Excrement

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

sarahmarie094's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Mental illness

racheldallaire's review against another edition

emotional informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Mental illness, and Suicide

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

5.0

I feel like everyone needs to read this book. We owe so much to this woman. I am both inspired and buoyed by this woman and appalled and disgusted even further by weak men. The amount of research the author must’ve done is impressive, but even more so is the way she wrote this story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Grief, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Abandonment, Bullying, Confinement, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Torture