Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

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

23 reviews

kayesomething's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Genocide, Gore, Body horror, Child death, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Torture, and War

Moderate: Pregnancy, Confinement, and Xenophobia

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.

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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

grimmoire's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Suicide, Cannibalism, Drug use, Gore, Incest, Rape, Trafficking, Violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, and Torture

gaeliloveweiss's review

dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Sexism, Torture, War, Racism, Body horror, Colonisation, Gun violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Suicide, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Genocide, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Cannibalism, Death, and Child death

wellreadandhalfdead's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Sexual violence, Incest, Trafficking, Racism, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Genocide, Rape, Torture, Murder, War, Violence, Slavery, Medical trauma, and Kidnapping

e_gracereads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.75

Should be required reading in any and all world history courses, military history courses, and quite frankly, history in general. Tough and emotional, but straightforward and informative. Devastating in its details, but a powerful read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Xenophobia, Suicide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Sexual harassment, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, War, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Child death, Genocide, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, and Violence

computerwhiz's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Body horror, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Confinement, Blood, and Torture

Minor: Suicide and Mental illness

christine_beatrice's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Torture, Colonisation, Sexual violence, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Kidnapping, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Cannibalism, Body horror, Blood, Slavery, Gore, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Drug abuse, Child abuse, and Child death

bleedingphoenix's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Incredibly important book that everyone should read (if you can stomch the topic). It was hard to read and I had to take several week long breaks because the book was so shocking and depressing. But that is exactly the reason why everyone should read this book. The author, Iris Chang, did an incredibly job researching for this book. She collected many eyewitness reports, things no one had even heard of before. For example, she was the reason, why the world learnt about wwhat happened to John Rabe, the so-called Buddha of Nanjing, a person who saved thousands of people and ended up living in poverty. 
The world was about to forget what had actually taken place in Nanjing in 1938/9, how horrific those the actions of the Japanese soldiers actually had been and how mich the Chinese population had suffered. The goal of the Japanese Government is to forget the atrocities they did in China (and Korea, etc.) and is doing a really good job of it with the help of the US, as economic interests weigh more than justice apparently. You cannot overstate how important Chang's work has been and I'm thankful and inspired by her work. Her book has been one of the very few way the victims of the rape of Nanjing have been given some justice. 
Please, if you have the time, read this book and then tell everyone you know about what you've learnt. 
RIP Iris Chang

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, War, Colonisation, Death, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Racism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Violence, Gore, Grief, and Hate crime

errie's review against another edition

informative

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, War, Xenophobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicide, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, and Physical abuse