Reviews tagging 'Violence'

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell

11 reviews

cgreenstein's review against another edition

adventurous informative medium-paced

3.0

What I liked: very impressive research. The author did extensive legwork to make this book happen, as the subject's comparatively sparse personal paper trail required the author to gather data from all sorts of sources, including many that were obscure and minute, and to triangulate all of these disparate sources to tell the story of a woman whose life story is astoundingly courageous. Virginia Hall's story is cinematic in its intensity and scope, and there are countless vignettes of close calls and daring escapades.

What I have quibbles about: I listened to this as an audiobook, so maybe that's why I had trouble keeping the people straight, but I did have trouble keeping people straight. I also understand that people's personal stories don't have linear trajectories and that this particular woman left very few personal records behind, but this book really could have ended with WW2 and could've used a tighter focus on Virginia, as opposed to the adjacent figures whose stories are fascinating but are not relevant to this book. Part of doing research is gathering too much information and then cutting it ruthlessly so only the necessary remains (something I will freely admit I am very bad at), and this book didn't cut enough. Plus there were some weird word, phrasing, and commentary choices that felt dated, even though the book was published only 5 years ago. By the end of this, I didn't feel like I knew Virginia Hall as a person or had a good frame of reference for how extraordinary a person she was. Based on what the author says, Hall was incredibly impressive, but what exactly did her missions facilitate? How did her work enable bigger operations to succeed? What were her cells' survival rates in comparison to others? How did she never get arrested by the Gestapo even though she kept taking unnecessary risks? I wanted to know more about her view on things, her actions, her methods, etc., but much of the book consisted of stories about other figures whose exploits are more detailed, presumably because they left behind diaries or memoirs. 

Anyway, an interesting subject, and I wasn't zipping through the last hour to just get it over with the way I often am by the end of an audiobook. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

junglejelly's review against another edition

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

4.25

After hearing vaguely about Virginia Hall, I was so glad to have found this book.

It's incredibly detailed with Hall's years in occupied France, sometimes a little too detailed.

Most of the writing is incredibly captivating and Purnell does well to weave in the emotions. Other times it's quite dry.

Overall, a good read and would definitely recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Torture, Blood, Violence, Death, and Police brutality

Moderate: Drug abuse

Minor: Suicide, Cancer, Deportation, and Sexism

j_hornick's review

adventurous dark informative tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Torture, and War

clarabooksit's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Confinement, Murder, Sexism, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Grief, and Death of parent

mad_is_rad's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, War, and Violence

henrismum's review against another edition

adventurous informative inspiring slow-paced

3.0

Non-fiction
Audiobook (All of my entries on The Story Graph are audiobooks.)
Why I added this book to my TBR pile: I seem to read a lot on the subject of women and spies WWII. This book was probably suggested as a result of those books.
Will I read more by the author or about the subject? Probably Not Maybe Likely Most Likely Definitely
I have at least two more books on this subject in my list - Madame Fourcade's Secret War & They Fought Alone: The True Story of the Starr Brothers, British Secret Agents in Nazi-Occupied France.
The narrator was Juliet Stevenson. She has a pleasant voice, but the British take on the American accent is always funny to me; probably as funny as the American take on the British accent is when the British listen to an American audiobook.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Antisemitism, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexism, Genocide, War, and Violence

dukeofkel's review

adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Blood, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Violence, Xenophobia, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Antisemitism, Confinement, Death, Torture, Deportation, Drug use, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, and Sexual assault

breadwitchery's review

informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Violence, and Genocide

Moderate: Racism, Antisemitism, Misogyny, Ableism, Mental illness, Medical content, and Torture

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, and Racial slurs

ksuazo94's review

adventurous challenging informative inspiring tense slow-paced

3.0

What an inspiring story! I don't usually mind non-fiction, but I don't think the author did her subject justice. This woman was incredible, but her story is buried under boring and monotone writing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Death

kaiouelios's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Violence