Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang

31 reviews

_meeg's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Gun violence, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, and War

bleedingphoenix's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Incredibly important book that everyone should read (if you can stomch the topic). It was hard to read and I had to take several week long breaks because the book was so shocking and depressing. But that is exactly the reason why everyone should read this book. The author, Iris Chang, did an incredibly job researching for this book. She collected many eyewitness reports, things no one had even heard of before. For example, she was the reason, why the world learnt about wwhat happened to John Rabe, the so-called Buddha of Nanjing, a person who saved thousands of people and ended up living in poverty. 
The world was about to forget what had actually taken place in Nanjing in 1938/9, how horrific those the actions of the Japanese soldiers actually had been and how mich the Chinese population had suffered. The goal of the Japanese Government is to forget the atrocities they did in China (and Korea, etc.) and is doing a really good job of it with the help of the US, as economic interests weigh more than justice apparently. You cannot overstate how important Chang's work has been and I'm thankful and inspired by her work. Her book has been one of the very few way the victims of the rape of Nanjing have been given some justice. 
Please, if you have the time, read this book and then tell everyone you know about what you've learnt. 
RIP Iris Chang

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Rape, War, Colonisation, Death, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Physical abuse, Racism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, Child abuse, Child death, Gun violence, Violence, Gore, Grief, and Hate crime

ehmannky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.75

Like a lot of people, my knowledge of World War II in the Pacific is not particularly comprehensive and my awareness of what Japanese imperialism and war crimes was limited to a hazy understanding of "they were bad." But I don't think I could have fathomed the depths of suffering that occurred during the Rape of Nanking. Cheng does a really good job summarizing the forces behind the massacre, going into details about the brutal acts (which even when reported on using what I felt was pretty neutral language is just wildly horrific to read), and the global collusion between world governments (including China's!) about why this is so understudied and unknown. 

I didn't love the audiobook narrator for this, but listening to her read at, like, 1.25x speed was just fine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Blood, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Rape, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Colonisation, Genocide, Child death, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Sexual violence, Torture, and War

kshertz's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.5

I knew next to nothing about this historical event going in. I learned so much. It’s a very brutal and difficult book to read but a very important one. Definitely think it’s something people should talk about more. I definitely think we should be holding Japan accountable as well. It also makes you reflect on the US and their own “Holocaust”’as well. Extremely well researched and very necessary info for people to have. It’s not a stretch to say the author put themselves in danger deciding to write this book. I appreciated the opportunity to learn and grow and will pass this info on. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Genocide, War, Body shaming, Death of parent, Gore, Rape, Torture, Body horror, Colonisation, Death, Sexual assault, Suicide, Antisemitism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

knlipke's review against another edition

It has nothing to do with how the book was written!!!! I found myself disgusted with the very true, real life events that happened to these poor people of Nanking that I couldn’t read on for the sake of my mental health. I will pick it up again one day

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Incest, Kidnapping, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Torture, Body horror, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual assault, and War

aaraia's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Extremely well-written. VERY intense and heartbreaking. Trigger warnings galore, but worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, War, Violence, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Murder, Genocide, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Death, and Blood

carolinacortes's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Genocide, Death, Colonisation, Animal death, Blood, War, Xenophobia, Torture, Suicide, Sexual violence, Rape, Murder, and Grief

ashlightgrayson's review

dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This was such an informative piece of journalism that encompassed all necessary background information required to thoroughly understand the topic even if you have no previous knowledge. Iris Chang walks you through the long history between China and Japan prior to the Nanking massacre. This helps give context to the events that occurred during the massacre. This book also makes it easy to connect the events occurring in other regions of the world at that time to the massacre. It allows for the narrative history feel cohesive and relative to other events happening simultaneously. Nothing in history exists in a vacuum and I was happy to see that Chang was able to elaborate on this point in her writing. There is a plethora of useful sources provided in the book as well for further research. Chang proposes her own opinions within the narrative history, but always with support from sources that she cites thoroughly. She also clarifies which parts of the history she had limited sources for. Additionally, she reveals some of her own bias as she explains her own family's history pertaining to the massacre. The way Chang weaves the narrative helps to create both sympathy for the victims of the massacre, and allow for nuance for the perpetrators without absolving them of their culpability.

As I was reading through this piece it felt like I was mourning the loss of Iris Chang simultaneously. She died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2004 and reading this just made me think about what a great loss that was to the journalism community (in addition to her family and loved ones). I would have loved to see her continued contributions to the acknowledgement of Chinese and Asian history. To this day I think there is still a gap in understanding Asian history in the West. I will definitely be reading her other works. This book is one of the best nonfiction books I've read this year and it still holds up today. This has definitely reignited my interest in Asian history. Can't wait to read more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death, Child death, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, War, Torture, Body horror, Sexual harassment, Violence, Murder, Medical trauma, Incest, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Rape, Suicide, and Blood

skusaroo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

The true story of the worst thing to ever happen... until the following decade.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Racism, Colonisation, Pedophilia, Violence, Child death, Torture, Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Murder, Police brutality, War, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Rape, Suicide, Slavery, Racial slurs, Pregnancy, Incest, Genocide, Death of parent, Gun violence, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Child abuse, and Cannibalism

Don't read this if you're easily upset by the worst things humans can do to other humans. 40,000 to 300,000 civilians murdered in SIX WEEKS and in a manner that would make the directors of gore films blush.

snaggy95's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Death, Blood, Sexual violence, Body horror, War, Violence, Pedophilia, Murder, Torture, Suicide, Rape, Hate crime, Gun violence, Gore, and Genocide