Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

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

23 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.

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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

estebantheperson's review

hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

sonjaswanson's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

5.0

I am not a fan of non-fiction, and I loved this book. Didn’t feel like a non-fiction book at all. It was a wild ride that left my jaw on the floor.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Self harm, Vomit, and Pedophilia

hnelson510's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

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).

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Cursing, and Gaslighting

samarakroeger's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.75

I saw this book on my bookshelf today while I was packing, and on a whim checked to see if the audiobook was available on libby.  Ended up immediately listening to it without putting it down once, fully captivated in the (completely true) spy thriller pacing of the book.  The corruption and coverups run so much deeper throughout the entire political and media landscape than I ever dared think.  Ronan not only brought very important allegations of sexual misconduct into the public consciousness on behalf of silenced women, he also proceeded to lift the veil on systemic issues within NBC and other news organizations.  

Of course, five years after #metoo, I knew where the story would end up, but that did not detract from my engagement with the plot.  It is also very important for us to see how difficult it was to break the Harvey Weinstein story within NBC, the very real threats made against journalists, and how enmeshed all top execs (across industries) are in this big cabal to keep victims silenced.

I did wish Ronan Farrow did not attempt to do accents for all the quotes - they were mediocre and distracting.  He comes off as a bit self-righteous at times, but honestly, I kind of think he deserves to be.

One of the most engagingly written pieces of investigative journalism I've read.  I do read around 30% nonfiction, and Farrow wrote this in a way that I think fiction readers would not find intimidating.  To all the readers out there scared by nonfiction: pick this up.  You won't regret it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, and Self harm

mahra's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

5 ⭐️ Such an important book, written by a very impressive human being. Everyone should read this. Ronan Farrow's performance in the audiobook is also amazing (and funny, at times, surprisingly). 

You think you know this story, and I assure you that you do not. 

What amazes the most about this book is that, yes, it is about Ronan Farrow's experiences, but somehow he's able to not make it about himself, but about the victims. He is able to factually give the results of his investigation, to recount things that happened from his point of view, to tell us the way he truly felt, and to relay the victims' stories with so much care and so much empathy.

Incredible read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Sexual violence

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.

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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

kveldt's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Rape, and Physical abuse

maddiet425's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Rape, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Violence, Stalking, Physical abuse, Misogyny, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Incest, Alcohol, and Suicide attempt