Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

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

19 reviews

epeolatri's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

I have never heard anything about the women killed by jack the ripper before this book. It was very well informed and I’m so glad I read it. As the author said, it is important to remember these women as human beings and not just victims of a famous man. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Addiction, Sexism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Violence, Classism, Death, Alcoholism, Child death, Alcohol, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content

gattolinos_nerdy_nook's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

I love learning about history, and listening to this book is no exception. 
I found myself lost in the past listening to each woman's life and how much hardship she had to go through, and at the same time getting a glimpse into the 19th century London.
Learning more about the everyday living of the working class, opposed to the high society that has been better documented and preserved over the years, was a new outlook on what the 19th century expected of society and what support was offered to them.

I found myself talking to anyone who would listen to me about this book, and would recommend it to anyone who likes learning about the 19th century history.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual content, Death, Pregnancy, Violence, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Infertility, Physical abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, and Murder

98romantic's review against another edition

challenging informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75

So wonderful to see somebody attempt to reframe the Jack the Ripper story to be about the victims, rather than sensationalising the killers. Really cool information. I found it kind of long winded at points, and was more interested in some women over others, but it was great overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexual content, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Confinement and Abandonment

maddalenacesco's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75

victorian age perpetuating the task of making women hate themselves <3.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Medical content

mwreadings's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

5.0

Brilliant book, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the victims of Jack the Riper. It is a bit slow in places as it is a factual history book. The bits J found dry were the parts about finance and spending however it was interwoven and entirely relevant so it’s still worth reading. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Violence

rhiannonxgrace's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad

5.0

What an incredible book. I really enjoy Rubenhold’s writing style and find her to be an easy read, which can’t be said about all historians! This was a rough read, and more than once I had to pause and step away for a little while simply due to the content. But I am so glad I read this. It’s so important to move the focus back on to the womens’ lives and show them as fully fledged people, something that is often discarded when it comes to the Whitechapel murders.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Trafficking, and Violence

rosalind's review against another edition

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective sad slow-paced

4.0

Hardgoing in places and I can’t lie, I’m glad I’ve finished it at last. But I have to give it 4 stars rather than 3 on the strength of the conclusion alone. It feels like a really significant piece of work, a powerful exercise in empathy and, as Rubenhold puts it in the interview included at the back, ‘alchemy or reimagination.’ I hope the Five spirits feel honoured; God rest them, and God forgive us.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Police brutality, Sexism, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Death of parent, Hate crime, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, and Toxic relationship

daisymaytwizell's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

I love Rubenhold's whole manifesto for this piece, and she accomplishes it in spades. Rubenhold gives these women the best eulogy possible after what is clearly intensive research, and avoids any sort of sensationalism around the stories.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Murder, Body horror, and Child death

Minor: Sexual content, Trafficking, and Toxic relationship

While this is a book around the Jack the Ripper victims, the focus is primarily on their lives before the murder - the murders themselves are not shown or described in detail, and the horrors of being poor in Victorian London are discussed sympathetically and by necessity.

erinjulia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Violence, Toxic relationship, Suicide, Terminal illness, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Infidelity, Infertility, Gore, Domestic abuse, Alcoholism, Addiction, Child death, and Death