Reviews tagging 'Child death'

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

80 reviews

bring_me_a_book's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

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

pagesfromhome's review against another edition

dark informative slow-paced

2.75

This was my first dive into Erik Larson's writing, and while I loved his style (lots of details that really put you in a moment), I think this fell a little bit flat for me. It felt like he just wanted to write a book about the World's Fair, but decided to throw in the story of H.H. Holmes to make it a bit more interesting. From what the book tells, there's essentially no connection between Holmes and the Fair, so pushing them into a book together doesn't make sense.

That said, I loved the sections about the fair and genuinely wish that had been the entirety of the book rather than being pulled between the two different stories. Even though there are times when Larson dives into characters with no real conclusion on them until the last part of the book, he does such a vivid job of building them that you kind of forgive it. All in all, not a waste of a read, but I doubt I'll be reading it again or thinking too much about it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Kidnapping

dobermaier's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Cultural appropriation, Racism, and Child death

Minor: Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

bookycnidaria's review against another edition

dark funny informative sad slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Dementia, Child abuse, Racism, Child death, Murder, and Mental illness

psdarlin's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

---

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

alicelalicon's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Toxic relationship, Child death, Death, and Murder

annabunce's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.0

Meh. I probably should have just read the wikipedia article about H.H. Holmes. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Gore, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Stalking, Murder, Child death, Medical content, Death, Death of parent, Blood, and Drug abuse

stacylaughs's review against another edition

dark informative inspiring tense fast-paced

5.0

---

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

---

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

sometimes_samantha_reads's review

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

4.5

I recently got a new job and I have an hour commute one way. I'm not usually able to do audiobooks because I get distracted and I was wary of trying to follow a story while also driving, but it turns out listening to an audiobook in the car is great. 

My sister in law recommended this to me. I'm not usually into true crime, but if its paced like this and narrated by Tony Goldwyn, I'm all for it! The parallel stories of Burnahm and Holmes was fascinating and I learned so much. The story was chilling but I kept listening to satisfy the morbid curiosity. I learned that Holmes is supposedly buried less than 30 minutes from where I live, which is wild.

I think I'll try to seek out more audiobooks. I quite liked Tony Goldwyn's narration so I think I'll start there.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Medical content

Moderate: Gaslighting, Grief, Child abuse, and Gun violence