Reviews tagging 'Violence'

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

40 reviews

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

mysterious_and_spooky's review against another edition

Bro, the author kept on waxing poetic about both the murderers and architects eyes being blue in every chapter, (author also has blue eyes soooo that might just be his own weird vanity too).  And also it was very much a white mans book, vibes were icky. Tldr: Vibes were weird, and I’m not interested in finishing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

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

rachelsheplak's review against another edition

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Gore, Child death, Blood, Abortion, Body horror, Gun violence, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, and Violence

kingsteph's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child death, Confinement, Murder, Violence, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Xenophobia, Abortion, Pregnancy, Rape, Child abuse, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Suicide, Medical content, and Animal death

kenley11's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Abortion, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Child death, Death, and Gore

lulugirl297's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Child death, Child abuse, Body horror, Abandonment, Violence, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Death, Toxic friendship, Suicide, and Confinement

amsswim's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

I'm so glad I finally read this, it has been on my TBR for years now.

I am already a big fan of non-fiction literature and historical reads, this combines the best of them both. This non-fiction book read like fiction in my opinion, making it quick to go by. The many intertwining stories were not difficult to keep track of and all interesting. This is for sure one of those reads that leaves you with a greater understanding of the time period (e.g. 1890s) as a whole, and puts into context the overlap of inventions, important figures, and other legendary events.

If you like historical fiction or non-fiction, true crime, or well written books, I recommend this read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Murder, Blood, Animal death, Violence, and Death

Minor: Medical content, Misogyny, Child abuse, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Sexism

samarakroeger's review

challenging dark informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

My SIXTH Erik Larson book in the span of one month. Dear god.

Anyways, this is probably his most well-known book (and was the hardest to get ahold of on libby). The two narrative threads were both interesting (something that was lacking in his most similar book to this, Thunderstruck). I sometimes got lost in the sea of names (looking at you, architects), but it didn’t detract from the story.  I honestly didn’t know much about the Chicago World’s Fair (or the murders). I would have liked to have known more about how the event changed America (it’s part of the title) and whether it inspired something similar in the future. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Trafficking, Violence, and Child death