Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession by Rachel Monroe

18 reviews

catriona176's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

4.5

This is a nuanced and thoughtful examination of four real women and their relationships to crime, from very different angles. I tried to listen to this years ago but couldn’t get into it, but was inspired to revisit it as it was acknowledged in Penance by Eliza Clark which I loved. This time I sailed through it and would strongly recommend to anyone who’s found a guilty pleasure in true crime and wondered why.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Murder, Violence, and Gun violence

Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Hate crime

mynameisrebecca's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.0

This book doesn't live up to the promised title or introduction. Instead of looking at the four women's stories, it takes a deep dive into four crimes and leaves the women that are meant to be the focus as an afterthought. At times, the writing is dismissive to the women and larger audience of women who like true crime - treating them as airheads or stereotypes. It tends to veer off into stories about other topics such as prison reform which can make the book's cohesion lacking. However, there are many beautifully written quotes and the book is informative.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide attempt, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide

chilivanilli28's review against another edition

dark informative sad fast-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Death, and Murder

aileron's review against another edition

dark informative reflective fast-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Suicide attempt, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Racism

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.25

Narrator Rating: 4.5 stars

    A look into women's relationship with true crime from four perspectives. The author looks into four points of contact with true crime and obsession.
    This book had a lot of social commentary which I enjoyed and made me think about my relationship with true crime. Luckily for me, I don't seem to be obsessed. I listen to many podcasts but avoid rabbit holes and obsessive searches into cases. 
    Overall, it is a great reflection on women's relationship to true crime and how it affects women and society overall. 

   Extra ratings: Fluff - NA   Heartfelt- 4/5   Helpful-2/5   Horror -NA    Inspiration -0/5   Love aka Romance- NA    Mystery - NA   Predictability - NA    Spice - NA    Suspense - NA   Tear- 3.5/5   Thrill - NA     Humor-0/5 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Murder, Toxic relationship, Death, Blood, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicide, and Violence

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Gun violence, and Bullying

shadereads's review against another edition

challenging dark informative slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mass/school shootings, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Suicide

Minor: Cancer

sakisreads's review

challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.5

This came to my attention on BookTok I think (as many things do). With our rising obsession with darkness and gore, this was an apt read 😳

There are 4 ‘perspectives’ or ‘stories’ to be shared: the detective, the victim (faux friend?), the defender and the killer. The ways in which Rachel Monroe navigated this was intriguing and worthwhile I thought 👏🏼
There are definitely peaks and troughs in this book, but I suppose that was only expected.

All of the research leaning towards NOT sharing killers’ details and pictures was something I’d previously discussed with a colleague and was solidified by this book’s writing.

3.5 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ✨

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Body horror, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, and Suicide

stephen_reads's review against another edition

2.75

This fast-paced scattered narrative follows 4 distinct and unrelated women who were involved in true crime in some way.

Although the author tries to link the 4 narratives with an overarching moralistic message about women and their relationship to violent media, the book feels disjointed and haphazard.

The author also fails completely in her task to be objective. She even has a friendly relationship with one of the women, describing her in the acknowledgements as warm and generous, leading to her profile being uncritical and positive. This is the woman who married Damian Echols, one of the West Memphis 3, while he was awaiting execution on death row. Everything this woman says is taken at face value, her flaws and strange behaviour completely glossed over, any sense of ambiguity destroyed. It comes across as flat, disingenuous, and deceptive. The narrative doesn’t want to ask questions or be curious, it lacks objectivity, it’s frustrating. 

The conclusions drawn about the four women are vague. An attempt is made to discuss the whiteness of true crime fanaticism and the inherent racism of the community, but it never goes deep enough and intersectional victims are relegated firmly in the background.

A positive I can say about this book is that it’s fast-paced, the author has wit and writes fairly charmingly, if condescendingly at times. I easily finished it in an afternoon and didn’t consider it entirely wasted time. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Child death, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Murder

Moderate: Racism, Antisemitism, and Self harm

kemrick19's review against another edition

dark informative reflective fast-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Gun violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Torture, Death, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual violence, Gore, Mental illness, and Rape

ameliaflint's review against another edition

adventurous informative sad slow-paced

4.5

Really good! I commend this author for her masterful blending of these stories. This nonfiction is so much more compelling than what I am used to. The only thing was the story about the victim. She just didn't seem to fit with the other women. Something about her story threw me off.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder, Sexism, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Violence, Terminal illness, Suicide, Torture, and Stalking