Reviews tagging 'Murder'

The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang

64 reviews

dmathuna's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

I don’t even know what to say about a book that covers such topics. I’ll start by saying that it’s short enough at around 230 pages and aims to give an overview of such a wide ranging event that it can’t seriously detail much but what is told in here is extremely harrowing to read and then to comprehend that these acts were all done by humans to other humans. 

The sheer barbarity and brutality shown to the Chinese inhabitants of Nanjing  is staggering and each page you uncover a new horror you previously thought incomprehensible. The detailing of how widespread the systematic rape of all women regardless of age, pregnancy, occupation churned my stomach in a way I don’t think has ever happened to me. I am absolutely forever changed by the contents of this book and it will never leave me for the rest of my life..

The fact that elements of Japanese society still can’t accept that this event occurred much less that their soldiers carried it out with explicit knowledge by their government leaders is tragic and should be a crime akin to denial of the holocaust. I can only hope that since the time the book was published that attitudes there have started to change. More than 300,000 people were murdered by the occupation and we did them a disservice by not remembering this event more. 

At the time of me writing this review Iris Chang would have been 56.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Death, Colonisation, War, Sexual violence, Xenophobia, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Murder, Genocide, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Miscarriage

violetblue's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Child death, Death, Grief, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Genocide, and Violence

tb23's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Rape

birddie's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This is the hardest book l've ever read. It's sad I'm 24 years old and this is the first and only time l've heard of this. It's even more sad that the stories and crimes in this book aren't even unique. This is something that's happening in our world right now. We don't learn about our history any more and that's why it repeats itself...

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Chronic illness, Drug use, Incest, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Gore, Rape, Bullying, Colonisation, Gaslighting, Medical content, Physical abuse, Violence, Cannibalism, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Child death, Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Racial slurs, Racism, Self harm, Addiction, Antisemitism, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Trafficking, and War

felicityjoy's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Genocide, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Racism, Suicide, War, Blood, Violence, Trafficking, Child abuse, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, and Torture

aemshoff's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Gun violence, Genocide, Rape, Murder, Gore, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, and Physical abuse

klacebo's review against another edition

dark informative sad fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Racism, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Colonisation, War, Rape, Torture, Child death, Gun violence, Incest, Violence, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide

caidyn's review against another edition

dark emotional informative fast-paced

4.5

An upsetting read that highlights just one atrocity in China that the occupying Japanese committed. Very well researched and just so sad.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Genocide, Murder, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Body horror, Child abuse, and Death

angemelb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Such a difficult read,  so many tragic events to have happened to the Chinese people outlined in this book.  I struggled through certain sections and needed to reflect many times.  Iris Chang's writing style was compelling,  easy to work through and insightful.  One of those books that will stay with me for ages. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Hate crime, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Grief, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and War

waima_03's review

challenging dark emotional informative

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Death, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, War, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Child death, Suicide, Torture, Body horror, and Sexual assault