Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

90 reviews

librarymouse's review against another edition

challenging informative sad medium-paced

4.5

This is a sincere and well-researched account of the lives of the five women killed by Jack the ripper. Hallie Rubenhold ensures their legacies with her diligent research and her focus on the lives of the women, over their gruesome and mythologized deaths. In contextualizing the sexual climate of the Victorian era, Rubenhold offers a vivid image of the nuanced worlds these women lived in, often so different from the straight laced Victorian England canonized today.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Dementia, Miscarriage, Sexism, Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Grief, Infidelity, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Forced institutionalization

Minor: Incest

emilo's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Sexism

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Child death

Minor: Murder, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Slavery

anibee19's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny

Moderate: Violence

Minor: Sexual violence, Alcoholism, and Domestic abuse

oceanwriter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

Behind Jack the Ripper is the lives of his victims. Given the illusiveness of this particular killer, the women he slayed tend to be swept aside. This book gives them a voice.

Each section of the book discusses each woman: Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Kate, and Mary Jane. We learn about their lives leading up to their murders rather than the murder themselves. Along with the story of their lives, the author provides a detailed history of life in England at the time. 

I was initially surprised by the fact Jack the Ripper was hardly mentioned, but I think I ultimately enjoyed the book more because of it. It was incredibly insightful and put a lot of things in perspective. I will say that this was about 60% general history and 40% the five women. While interesting, this did cause the narration to drag at times. It’s worth wading through the slow bits. There is a lot to take in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Child death, and Miscarriage

Minor: Trafficking

pedanther's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Classism

Moderate: Murder, Alcoholism, Suicide, Child death, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Grief, and Infidelity

Minor: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Terminal illness

carlaah1984's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Alcoholism, Sexism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Body horror, Child death, and Gaslighting

A well-researched and engaging look at working-class women in victorian times, highly informative about the lives and realities of the victims and the humanizing storytelling they all deserved—great conclusion to tie into modernity.

nieva098's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Addiction, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Child death, and Grief

Minor: Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Classism, Medical trauma, and Sexism

isleofwoman's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, Domestic abuse, and Murder

Minor: Trafficking

louisemcaw's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Murder, and Miscarriage

lizclark81's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

3.75

Well-researched and written for a mass market audience, Rubenhold's stories really humanize these women without victim blaming them. Personally I struggled with the vignettes about Victorian London (not my favorite historical period) but the details did serve to portray the world in which the women lived. A solid historical non-fiction book that showcased how little has changed for female vicitims of violence, especially those living in poverty.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Domestic abuse, Classism, Medical trauma, and Alcoholism