Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

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

32 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

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

errie's review

informative

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, War, Xenophobia, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Sexual violence, Mass/school shootings, Mental illness, Slavery, Suicide, Pedophilia, Torture, Violence, and Physical abuse

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

spicewitch's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Rape, Suicide, Body horror, Gaslighting, Gore, Incest, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Genocide, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Suicide attempt

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

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

anhedonia_n_anomie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Violence, Body horror, Hate crime, Child abuse, Colonisation, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, War, and Murder

Moderate: Incest

yerulp's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Misogyny, Mental illness, Slavery, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Hate crime, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Sexual assault, War, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Xenophobia, Gore, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Body horror, Child death, Grief, Kidnapping, Medical content, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Sexism, Blood, Classism, Deportation, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Trafficking

Every content warning under the sun