Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

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

8 reviews

crownoflaurel's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Colonisation, and Child death

Moderate: Classism and Cultural appropriation

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Xenophobia, Mental illness, Medical content, Trafficking, and Stalking

kingsteph's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

---

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

lulugirl297's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

---

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

magosti1's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

2.0

Deeply disturbing true crime novel about a serial killer in Chicago while the worlds fair was being built. Too disturbing 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, Torture, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, and Kidnapping

headachesince03's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Abortion, Alcohol, Misogyny, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Colonisation, Racism, Terminal illness, Confinement, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Child death, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, and Murder

reddeddy's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Torture, Violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Child abuse, Gore, Child death, Death, Drug use, Body horror, Confinement, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, and Infidelity

Moderate: Abandonment, Abortion, Animal death, Blood, Terminal illness, Cultural appropriation, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Chronic illness, Classism, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, and Gun violence

renbot's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative mysterious slow-paced

4.5

An incredible journey where you truly care for the victories and failures of all of the characters

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, Torture, Suicide, Stalking, Mental illness, Medical content, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Chronic illness, Child death, and Confinement

Moderate: Suicide, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Infidelity, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Grief, and Gore

Minor: Cultural appropriation and Alcohol

Multiple women and children are murdered, some depictions are graphic, includes scenes of torture

cassieyorke's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

Erik Larson is one of the most talented popular historians of our age, and he has one tremendous strength and one glaring flaw. His strength is the breathtaking beauty he injects into every line he can, and his settings are often so realistic that he puts you in the past, whether you want to be or not. But his one glaring weakness is his tendency to get lost in the mundane, filling half of his books with things he himself might find interesting - like architecture or naval engineering - while coming up just short of making these things palatable for the average reader.

Still, White City is one book I'll happily give four stars, since it does such a fantastic job of sweeping you away to Gilded Age Chicago. It immerses you, familiarizes you with lovely details of daily life, introduces you to key players and average people alike, then leaving you to marvel at the unspeakable lost beauty of the World's Fair. He does the best that a twenty-first century author possibly can at conjuring a bit of that long-forgotten enchantment and romance, and I found myself putting the book down and dreaming a bit about what it would have been like at night. He gave me a glimpse of one of those spellbound moments long ago, and put me next to long-gone people when they were still drawing breath - or holding it, like I was. The fact that I had to wade through chapters of engineering and architectural details to get there felt a bit like Burnham must have - building this enchanting vision out of plain old steel and glass and finally getting to see it, just for a little while. Maybe that was the point; I'm not sure. If it was, I'd rather have had just a little more adventure getting there.

The sections about H.H. Holmes were more interesting, if horrifically disturbing. Most people enjoying this book have probably been true crime fans, hoping for a glimpse into the depraved mind of an early serial killer. Maybe they weren't quite as disturbed as I was, or didn't feel quite the same sympathy for his unfortunate victims. It speaks to Larson's talent as an author that he made those young women as real as anyone else, forcing you to care for them like any other living person. So those chapters were exceptionally well-written, if difficult to endure.

Larson has improved his craft since White City, like all authors do, and his later work shows more talent at making the mundane more interesting, blending it better with the substance of the overall book. Anyway, I did love this book and I'd happily recommend it to anyone who wanted to journey back in time to the Gilded Age, to see what life was like in the 1890s. Larson is second to none at transporting his readers back in time.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Stalking, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Pregnancy and Terminal illness