Reviews tagging 'Incest'

A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome by Emma Southon

3 reviews

mynameisinigomontoya's review

dark funny informative medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Minor: Domestic abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Death, and Slavery

yaboywillyshakes's review

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

2.25

While there are a handful of chapters where the author evokes the humanity of ancient murder victims and makes a decent argument about the way that murder is constructed as a concept by societies, her absolute disdain for the topic of Rome makes the first half of the book very hard to read. The later chapters are too full of somewhat childish pop culture references (largely Harry Potter, which also gives me pause for other reasons) to make the book relevant to larger audiences, and I was not impressed with the level of research in the last chapter specifically. It felt like the author was cherry picking information to support her own ends, and it felt very shallow in comparison with the preceding chapters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Slavery, Suicide, Incest, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, and Torture

It's about ancient Rome and murder, so perhaps the content warnings should be assumed, but the author sometimes shoehorns topics into places where I did not expect them, I wish I had been warned.

vicious's review

dark funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I was super excited for this book having read and thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Southon's Agrippina book a few months ago, and I was not disappointed. Southon writes as if she were sitting across from you in a bar, telling you about Roman history over a few beers and some greasy fries. Her writing is engaging, fun, and interesting. I've never been one for Roman history, but she ignites an interest inside of me purely because she makes learning about it so fun.

This book is about the complicated definition of murder from a Roman standpoint, comparing it to a modern viewpoint to realistically put into perspective just how different today's world culture is from that of ancient Rome. It's very fascinating. If you're into true crime and/or Roman history, you will love it. If you, like me, are not into either, you may still take a liking to it as I have. If only all history books were written in such a fun and engaging manner maybe more people would be interested in history as a whole.

There are some hefty trigger warnings to take into account with this book as it does detail some brutal and gory deaths. Also, definitely keep a placeholder on the footnotes; they can be a joy to read and often provide additional information.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Murder, Suicide attempt, Violence, Slavery, and Suicide

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Torture, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Incest, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, and Pedophilia