Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

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

82 reviews

foxmulders's review against another edition

dark informative tense medium-paced

4.0

im not sure there was any explicitly new info here but ronans voice is very strong so this was still a powerful read. the audiobook performance is a bit weird bc there are all these heavy and serious discussions but he drops his voice to be more feminine and it sounds a bit silly and mocking sometimes but i dont think it was intended to be

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librarymouse's review

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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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flijn's review

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dark emotional informative medium-paced

5.0

Blown away by this book.
Although it can read as an investigative thriller, it never lets you forget this is about real people, real injustice, real trauma. It made me mad and sad and even then Jonathan's lines made me laugh.

I'm in awe of the scope of this book, how it not only unravels Weinsteins crimes but also the systemic silence. You might lose faith in humanity because of the many, many men in this story who put their ego and desire and greed over others' safety, dignity, and wellbeing; and by the people who enabled them. But that does not do this book justice. Because it also highlights the courage, determination, selflessness, empathy and professionalism of so many others. The women who came forward, the journalists fighting to give them a voice, the significant others standing by them. And that alone makes this book worth the read.

Apart from this, the plotting of the book itself is great: weaving first-person reporting in with harrowing accounts of winesses and victims, accounting almost in real time a battle uphill to publish, while subtly pointing to stories and twists to come in the last third of the book, where the particular story about Weinstein gains a chilling context. I'm not American and not very with it when it comes to all the media personalities, so sometimes the many names made my head swim. No matter, the important ones become very clear.
Just superb work, not only at reporting, but also capturing the impact of the experiences and crafting a comprehensive, detailed narrative.

Interesting, by the way, how the second part of Rachel Maddow's interview with Ronan is still not to be found on MSNBC's YouTube channel.

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