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360 reviews for:
No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know about Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
Rachel Louise Snyder
4.52 AVERAGE
360 reviews for:
No Visible Bruises: What We Don't Know about Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
Rachel Louise Snyder
4.52 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
slow-paced
Very well written and researched. I appreciated how many stories and viewpoints the journalist kept in mind while writing this, and the three questions she frames the book through. The only complaint I have is that with so many references as the book went on they began to jumble together in my memory, but that wasn’t that big of a deal. Excellent non fiction pick that I would like a physical copy of to reference.
I've concluded that journalistic storytelling isn't my thing.
This book is focused on a subject that I'm interested in, however, the way it's set up and written just made me bored and slightly confused. The first part of this book starts by describing a family in great detail, throwing a bunch of names straight at you that got hard to keep track of. 1/4 of this book is dedicated to this one family that experienced domestic violence, and besides the facts of this particular case, not many other facts are given. Part 2 (which is where I stopped reading), switches to a whole different vibe, which once again took me out of the story and lost my interest.
I would rather have a book be more informative OR to be a deep dive into one particular case. Mixing both into one didn't give me what I wanted sadly. Besides what I already knew, "that domestic violence is bad and hidden", I didn't learn much else.
This book is focused on a subject that I'm interested in, however, the way it's set up and written just made me bored and slightly confused. The first part of this book starts by describing a family in great detail, throwing a bunch of names straight at you that got hard to keep track of. 1/4 of this book is dedicated to this one family that experienced domestic violence, and besides the facts of this particular case, not many other facts are given. Part 2 (which is where I stopped reading), switches to a whole different vibe, which once again took me out of the story and lost my interest.
I would rather have a book be more informative OR to be a deep dive into one particular case. Mixing both into one didn't give me what I wanted sadly. Besides what I already knew, "that domestic violence is bad and hidden", I didn't learn much else.
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
informative
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Intense, guttural journalism. Eye-opening.
This was a hard book to read at times, but it did a great job going into some of the nuance of domestic violence and turning some of our common misconceptions on their heads. For example - instead of asking why women stay with an abuser, she asks why men abuse their partners and delves into the precarious balance an abuser must maintain if she wants to stay alive. Instead of falling for the argument that abused women should have guns, she lays out evidence around how having a gun in the home makes the woman more likely to die from it and explores why our culture thinks violence should be answered with violence.
I learned a lot from this book - one of the most disheartening was that only in the last century or so have there been laws against domestic violence, and those early laws were rarely enforced. Even through the 60s and 70s punishment was minimal so long as the woman's injuries weren't permanent. The American Society Against the Cruelty of Animals predates laws against domestic violence, meaning animals were more protected than woman for a period of time. Also, shelters for pets outnumber DV shelters 3:1 in the 1990s. When this book was published in 2018, more than a dozen countries still don't have DV laws on the books and Russia decriminalized DV that doesn't result in bodily injury in 2017.
Other difficult facts include that 137 women every single day are killed by intimate partner violence globally. This doesn't include children, men, or others killed as many mass shootings start off as domestic killings (see: Sandy Hook, Orlando Pulse, First Baptist Church in TX, etc). To put this number in perspective, between 2000 and 2006, 3,200 American soldiers were killed. During that same period DV in the US claimed 10,600 lives (and is likely underestimated).
By re-telling the tales of individual people - often women, often posthumously, though there are a few stories about reformed men - and families Snyder brings the reader with her to the critical inflection points and shows how sometimes small ideas and changes can mean the difference between life and death. This was hard to put down and hard to read, but is an amazing source of understanding and knowledge.
I learned a lot from this book - one of the most disheartening was that only in the last century or so have there been laws against domestic violence, and those early laws were rarely enforced. Even through the 60s and 70s punishment was minimal so long as the woman's injuries weren't permanent. The American Society Against the Cruelty of Animals predates laws against domestic violence, meaning animals were more protected than woman for a period of time. Also, shelters for pets outnumber DV shelters 3:1 in the 1990s. When this book was published in 2018, more than a dozen countries still don't have DV laws on the books and Russia decriminalized DV that doesn't result in bodily injury in 2017.
Other difficult facts include that 137 women every single day are killed by intimate partner violence globally. This doesn't include children, men, or others killed as many mass shootings start off as domestic killings (see: Sandy Hook, Orlando Pulse, First Baptist Church in TX, etc). To put this number in perspective, between 2000 and 2006, 3,200 American soldiers were killed. During that same period DV in the US claimed 10,600 lives (and is likely underestimated).
By re-telling the tales of individual people - often women, often posthumously, though there are a few stories about reformed men - and families Snyder brings the reader with her to the critical inflection points and shows how sometimes small ideas and changes can mean the difference between life and death. This was hard to put down and hard to read, but is an amazing source of understanding and knowledge.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
While the authorial voice was a little much at times, this is really informative and necessary work about domestic violence. It’s well-organized and told.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Violence, Murder