Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

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

10 reviews

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

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

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

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

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

maidmarianlib's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring sad slow-paced

5.0

Powerful biography of an individual woman but also a lot of context for women's history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Abandonment, Mental illness, Confinement, Torture, and Emotional abuse

charlotte_trimmer's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Classism, Emotional abuse, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Abandonment, Confinement, and Forced institutionalization

aiyam's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

Elizabeth Packard is one of my favorite feminists so I was extremely excited to find this book. Kate Moore absolutely did her story justice.

The book goes in-depth from the beginning of her first confinement to the end of her life, with all of her accomplishments as a free woman. I found the outsider's point of view interesting. Knowing what the doctor was writing in his files, what her friends were advocating for, and what her husband was doing back home was fascinating, especially as Packard herself didn't know any of it. That decision from the author really highlighted for me just how isolated and in the dark Packard was kept. 

Packard's story is one of injustice and anger, and I felt every emotion with her while reading this. If you call yourself a mental health advocate or a feminist then this story is an absolute must-read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Vomit, Violence, Sexism, Religious bigotry, and Confinement

Moderate: Abandonment

jamieleepilk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This book is the very true story of Elizabeth Packard, a woman who was sent to an asylum by her husband when she was growing in her independence and (god forbid) forming her own opinions on women's rights and religion.

This is one of those books that will 100% stay with me for a very long time. I finished it last night and was left dumbstruck at how phenomenal it was. Kate has written an epically researched book that grips you and is so compelling that you can't put it down regardless of the horrors you are reading about. The writing is so vivid, beautiful and heartbreaking at times it often reads as historical fiction and my god do you wish it was fiction all the stuff this incredible woman went through.
This book will make you rage, scream and want to through the book at the wall (sorry) in anger at what Elizabeth (and countless woman) went through merely for wanting more independence.
Even with the horrors that happen within these pages what shines through is Elizabeth's hope and strength no matter what was thrown her way, no matter how hopeless things looked she took it and formed her new plans. Whenever she was on a mission you can feel yourself willing through the years to do it, to succeed and cheering her all the way. A woman who went through so much hardships but can out the other side determined to make a difference so the married women of America wouldn't again have to suffer similar fates. Even with this happening 160years ago women today are still called "crazy" to cut them down to size and belittle them, mental health is still not taken seriously in many cases and women's illness' are brushed under the rug.
The quotes in the book taken from real life documents are incredible, showing Elizabeth's immense skill as writer, she was a force to be reckoned with.
As I say this book will stay with me for a long while after finishing it, the postscript was a gut punch and a striking example of why we still need to fight. I am in awe of Kate's work here, her sheer amount of research in incredible and her writing is so elegant. One of the best books I've read this year and I can't wait to recommend it to every single person I know. Breathtaking, I wish I could give more than 5 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment