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Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
90 reviews
amelia_douglas's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Trafficking, Death, Alcoholism, and Addiction
Moderate: Medical content, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual assault and Miscarriage
isabellaeastwood's review against another edition
3.5
The reader is able to imagine their lives and its provides such an insight into 19th Century Whitechapel. The research is great, and the book flows so well. Even when she has to put caveats, the flow of the story remains intact. There will be times when there was limitations in research or assumptions made using secondary sources. Often Rubenhold has to put her historian hat on and question the newspapers and the inquests written during those times. This is not historical fiction, this is an attempt at writing the history using sources, facts and expertise.
The book is split into five main parts, retelling the life's of the five victims. By the third I was tempted to give this 4/5 stars. I was thinking, 'this might be my first five star read that is fiction'. But alas, I got tired of the rhetoric. I know that when writing essays you have to have 'Point, Evidence, Explain', but constantly reminding the reader that not all of these women were prostitutes got a bit tiring, 'show, don't tell'.
However, this book is very important and I cannot wait to read her other books
"It is only by bringing these women back to life that we can silence the Ripper and what he represents. By permitting them to speak, by attempting to understand their experiences and see their humanity, we can restore to them the respect and compassion to which they are entitled. The victims of Jack the Ripper were never 'just prostitutes'; they were daughters, wives, mothers, sisters and lovers. They were women."
⭐⭐⭐ for story 4/5 ⭐ for the history retelling.
Minor: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Body horror, and Death
magibeth's review
4.25
Graphic: Misogyny, Alcoholism, Murder, Death, and Classism
Moderate: Miscarriage, Child death, Medical trauma, Grief, Domestic abuse, Infertility, and Death of parent
kmsander4's review against another edition
3.0
Now, we know their stories, their pasts, their lives. They were more than victims. They were mothers, daughters, sisters, lovers. They were women. They were - and will forever be - remembered for who they were and not the man who murdered them.
Graphic: Murder, Death, Violence, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Sexual violence, and Child death
bthkly's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Trafficking, Miscarriage, Child death, and Pregnancy
abby_can_read's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed this book. It was well research and well written.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Misogyny, Violence, Death, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcohol, Domestic abuse, and Murder
Moderate: Grief, Child death, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, and Sexual violence
Minor: Chronic illness and Mental illness
shelbyslifer's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Abandonment, Miscarriage, Terminal illness, Alcohol, Murder, Sexism, Child death, Classism, Death, Misogyny, Child abuse, Addiction, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Antisemitism and Trafficking
revived_reading's review against another edition
5.0
This book opens your eyes not only to the lives of these 5 women, but to the lives of many, many women in the Victorian era.
Hallie Rubenhold truly gave back these women their stories and their lives. She gave them the respect they were never given. She gave them justice.
Graphic: Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Alcoholism, Grief, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Abandonment
Moderate: Terminal illness, Suicide, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Infidelity, Child death, and Domestic abuse
lavenderlilacs1912's review against another edition
4.75
Central to Rubenhold's book is the argument that the cultural depictions of these five murdered women as "prostitutes" is mistaken and even downright false. Indeed, she argues that of the five women, only two were had ever conclusively engaged in prostitution. Throughout the book, she paints portraits of women who struggled with abuse, addiction, illness, and above all poverty. That poverty, and it's resulting homelessness led to their misclassifications, because in the morally unforgiving and strict Victorian era, the police, media, and the mostly middle to upper class public they catered to could not possibly have conceived them to be anything else.
It's a compelling argument. I'm inclined to agree with it, although I would have liked to see a better organization of the book's thesis. Above all, it's a moving and sad account of the lives of Mary Ann, Annie, Elizabeth, Kate, and Mary Jane; daughters, wives, mothers, friends, and above all human beings, who did not deserve to be murdered regardless of their circumstances.
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Death
Minor: Trafficking
annamorgan27's review against another edition
3.5
Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Infidelity, Misogyny, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Pregnancy, Child death, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Murder, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Trafficking, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Violence