Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson

39 reviews

margolovie89's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Death, and Medical content

a_meanderer's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Trafficking, Violence, Torture, Medical content, Murder, Blood, and Child death

sandysawmill's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

I’ve started this book several times and it finally clicked. Such an interesting dive into a piece of chicago and architectural history, as well as one of the first serial killers in the US. My favorite parts were about early unions and capitalists and the parallels to today; the description of new inventions that came out at the fair such as the Ferris wheel and shredded wheat; and the history of urban architecture and city planning like how the first skyscrapers were created and how much architecture can shape people’s lives and dreams. Architecture as “frozen music.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Torture, Murder, Blood, and Mental illness

bring_me_a_book's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Body horror, Death, Child death, Deadnaming, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, and Torture

psdarlin's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Child death, Mental illness, Colonisation, Death, Racial slurs, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Stalking, Suicide, Violence, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Sexism, Medical content, Chronic illness, and Homophobia

cheypreston's review against another edition

dark informative tense slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Sexual violence, Murder, Violence, Sexual assault, and Medical trauma

cameojane's review

dark medium-paced

2.5

This book was just too dark for me. I really enjoy Erik Larson's books. Not a big fan of this one though. I did enjoy the portions about the World's Fair. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, and Gaslighting

eliya's review against another edition

dark funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

this took me f o r e v e r to read 
i started on sept 7th and MAN did it slow me down. took me 11h 46m to read and i was not very motivated to read it, but once you get in the groove it reads like gossip. 

some people don’t recommend doing the audiobook and reading at the same time but i honestly do recommend it. there are some differences in the wording, some paragraphs added or taken out here and there, but it felt like i got the full recounting. 

the author is very clever in the way he kind of leaves little foreshadowing clues - toward the end i think i was a little over the “that was… until” type of wording from him though. omnipresent in the most educated way lol. felt very much like i was living it // a work of fiction rather than an amalgamation of random facts here and there. 

really enjoyed learning about the chicago fair, crazy how many things were just accepted because of the time. i would not have like to be apart of that time lol. 

i made so many notes reading this lol there were so many fun facts that felt so important i’m glad - really glad - i read this but MAN i’m also glad it’s over 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Torture, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Xenophobia, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Sexual content and Terminal illness

stacylaughs's review

dark informative inspiring tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Torture

Moderate: Violence, Confinement, Child death, and Kidnapping

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic and Alcoholism

abbimmorgan's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

2.5

This is such an interesting concept and it’s hard to believe the story is true. But, I thought I’d like this book a lot more. The premise should make for a 5/5 book and this just didn’t do it for me. At times I felt rather bored, surprisingly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Child death

Moderate: Torture