Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

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

64 reviews

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

amelia_douglas's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

bthkly's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

5.0

As a history teacher I sought out this book to help with subject knowledge surrounding the GCSE history course. I came away with a much more valuable reflection on the lives of women in the 19th century and the misconceptions we may hold about the past due to still present social attitudes. Opens your eyes to the reality of the case and refocuses attention on the people who should matter in the story of a killer - the victims. 

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Content Warnings

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

informative medium-paced

4.0

🎧
I enjoyed this book. It was well research and well written. 

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Content Warnings

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

figmentfan89's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Classism, Addiction, and Alcoholism

funsizesteffi1104's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This was the first book I have read that has solely focused on the people and not on the crime/murder. It was very emotional and hard to read at times reading what the characters faced knowing how they would die.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism

Moderate: Trafficking, Child death, Miscarriage, Death, Murder, and Child abuse

kb_sherman's review against another edition

informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Child death, Alcoholism, Death, Addiction, Murder, and Suicide

shelbyslifer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.75

This has to be the best book to date on this case that has transfixed the world for over a century. Instead of information on the crimes that are infamous by now, Rubenhold instead focuses on the LIFE of these women and bringing them the humanity that they deserve. These women deserve the truth to their stories; not just for their tragic ends to be gawked at and Rubenhold highlights this PERFECTLY. 

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Content Warnings

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

lavenderlilacs1912's review against another edition

informative sad tense fast-paced

4.75

A new, refreshing look into the Jack the Ripper case, one that doesn't focus on the elusive, and still unidentified killer, but on his victims and their stories. Indeed, the author doesn't even focus or even mention the grisly details of their murders, but on their lives and the circumstances that led them to the now infamous Whitechapel district. The care and respect she shows for Mary Ann "Polly" Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elisabeth Stride, Catherine "Kate" Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly gives them back their dignity and their humanity with all their strengths and weaknesses and I felt for them in a way no other account of the Ripper murders ever inspired. 

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Abandonment, and Death

Minor: Trafficking

annamorgan27's review against another edition

dark emotional informative slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

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