Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow

13 reviews

librarymouse's review

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

5.0

The pacing of this book made it engaging despite the gravity of the information being discussed. Farrow is straightforward with his explanation of his own history with the issue of sexual assault, growing up in the shadow of what Woody Allen, their father, did to his sister Dylan, and the media shit storm that ensued. Intwining his own story, growing as a person and apologizing to his sister for the role he played in the covering up of her own trauma, kept this story grounded and away from the sensationalized scandalous text it could have become. In 2024, it is especially interesting and upsetting to see the intentional disruption of American news news to destroy information and skew political outcomes as done by Israel's government-backed Black Cube.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Grief, Sexism, Sexual violence, Infidelity, Stalking, Sexual content, Alcohol, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Violence, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Gun violence

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Homophobia, Pedophilia, and Trafficking

xread_write_repeatx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Bullying, Sexual violence, and Rape

Moderate: Self harm, Alcoholism, and Toxic relationship

yikeslou's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

firstly i devoured this book in three sittings. i could not put it down. farrow writes like he's talking to you and i found it extremely easy to read in terms of sentence structure. the content was another matter entirely.

all i want to say is that farrow expertly shows the reader his process of compiling very painful stories with so much care to keep what's important at the center, realistically showing the toll it took on him without censoring his missteps or centering himself in a story that isn't really his. i respect him deeply for this and i can't recommend this book highly enough if you want to know more about how weinstein was brought down and why it took so damn long.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexism, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Bullying

this book contains explicit details about harvey weinstein's predatory behavior and sexual assault of many women, as well as the SA committed by other powerful men close to weinstein or farrow.

aserra's review

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

4.25

An incredibly important, thorough, riveting book. Farrow displays a high standard for journalism that I think is not observed often anymore. Engaging writing style. Strong morals--Farrow doesn't just say that he wants the focus to be on exposing this horror in the interest of stopping it, he shows it.

What keeps the book from a solid 5, for me, is a layout choice; it could have been very helpful, I think, to have a list/glossary of the people in the book somewhere, perhaps before or after the bibliography. There's a lot of names, and I, personally, struggled to keep track of everyone (which also augments the repugnance of what is uncovered--so many people impacted, so many people complicit).

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Cursing, and Gaslighting

heather_freshparchment's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual violence, Rape, and Misogyny

Moderate: Child abuse, Bullying, Panic attacks/disorders, and Gaslighting

Minor: Infidelity

plethora's review

challenging informative tense medium-paced

3.0

It is clear throughout this book that Ronan Farrow respects and has great admiration for survivors, and the profession of journalism alike. I credit him for his work bringing these stories to light, and for his perseverance through the events described in this book. It is a monstrous feat in itself to unravel the web of conspiracy spun between these institutions in the first place, let alone to then make it make sense for the reader. A world that allows this

sexual commodification of its female workforce

after all, is hard to make sense of. 

There are innumerable players involved in these events, and I found it difficult to keep track of everyone's roles. I'm sure this is at least in part by design, if not by the author than by the institutions themselves. I would have benefitted from an organizational chart in many cases. The fragmented telling of this story, while more digestible in its format (and perhaps an indication of the varied articles, segments, and posts that started it all), felt like a choice rather than a necessity. There were times I wished these pieces were brought together differently for a more cohesive work. In terms of the structure, there were times timeline was favoured over subject matter, though this was inconsistent. It was a story in 59 parts. Sorry, 5 parts, 59 chapters, and subdivided further from there. Digestible, mentally helpful, a bit unearned. 

All in all, this is an important read. Farrow wasn't afraid to drive the point home in many passages in a way that felt like some small justice in itself during such reeling events. The spark of resistance brought some comfort. He called it like it was in a way that is reminiscent of Chanel Miller. Calling a spade a spade, calling people on their bullshit, staring the message between the lines in the eyes, and yelling it back at them. Engraving it on the record. 

It feels good knowing there's someone like Ronan Farrow helping to bear the weight of this crushing patriarchy for us all. 

Shoutout

McHugh. Best dad ever.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Misogyny, Sexism, Bullying, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual content

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcohol and Grief

cfell's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexism, Infidelity, Bullying, Rape, and Sexual assault

angelasosh's review against another edition

dark informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Ronan Farrow details his reporting on the Harvey Weinstein scandal with care and honesty. His dedication to publish this story despite the backlash, coverups, and conspiracies is admirable and something I hope other reporters aspire to. He handles the sensitive topic of sexual abuse and assault with care while also not shying away from the details of what actually happened. He is also clear about his sources and I believe he vetted everything he possibly could to maintain integrity in his reporting. Would def recommend this to anybody and everybody. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicide, and Violence

mscalls's review

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense fast-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Vomit, Violence, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Panic attacks/disorders, Misogyny, Medical trauma, Medical content, Infidelity, Grief, Gaslighting, and Emotional abuse

missytwrites's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

Man, this was good but so dark. Sometimes I had to put it down to have a cry, but it was fantastic. It is full-on, so if you find sexual assault triggering you might want to sit this one out. Or take a breather. Very good, excited to read Ronan's next book! 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, and Misogyny

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Physical abuse, and Sexism