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casadilla12's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.75
catbrigand's review against another edition
5.0
I loved, loved, loved this book. Meticulously researched and beautifully written. The author’s intent is to restore dignity to the victims of a murderer. Their deaths feature not at all, and she doesn’t stoop to include photos of their bodies (which is the first thing you’ll see on Wikipedia). What makes this book so desperately sad and compelling is that if just one thing had turned out differently in any of their lives, they might never have ended up in Whitechapel. What if her husband had loved her, or she hadn’t taken the tremendously brave but socially ruinous step of leaving him? What if she hadn’t been an alcoholic? What if she hadn’t contracted a disease? What if her parents hadn’t died? What if someone had offered her a way out?
notlikethebeer's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
As someone deeply interested in critical true crime, feminism, and denied victimhoods, this has been on my to-read list for ages - and I would say that, for the most part, it delivered! Prior to reading this, I knew next to nothing about Jack the Ripper, other than that he killed sex workers. Evidently, that's just not true, as this book so excellently explained. I really appreciated getting to know each of the women, learning about the facets of their lives in a way that victims are so often denied. I'm not much of a historian, so I also really appreciated the extent to which the author contextualised and explained the features of the time.
Reading The Five is really difficult. At each decision each woman makes, you want to cry out, to warn them off. As well, reading about the challenges they faced is incredibly hard when knowing where their stories will ultimately play out.
I do think I'm a bit conflicted about the way that the deaths themselves were approached. It was the underlying aim to provide agency and narrative, rather than focusing on their deaths, and so it's understandable that the actual deaths were somewhat glossed over. At the same time, those deaths are (tragically, horrifically, awfully) what made the women known to us today. More importantly, those deaths were part of their stories. I wonder whether removing the women from the narratives of their deaths is, in a way, another way of removing agency? I don't know.
I would also probably have appreciated a bit more reflexivity. There was some of this, but I think it could have been expanded upon further. It's not a coincidence or accident that the women continue to be known as sex workers: there is so much room for exploring the function of this. Similarly, so much of what was featured in this book was conjecture: "would" and "should" were used so much. It would have been useful I think to explore how many gaps there are, and what we can understand of this. And, whilst Jack the Ripper was intentionally not the focus of this book, I wonder what we can make of the assumption that there could only have been one killer, what that might mean. Then again: what is an important book if not one that provokes further questions?
Reading The Five is really difficult. At each decision each woman makes, you want to cry out, to warn them off. As well, reading about the challenges they faced is incredibly hard when knowing where their stories will ultimately play out.
I do think I'm a bit conflicted about the way that the deaths themselves were approached. It was the underlying aim to provide agency and narrative, rather than focusing on their deaths, and so it's understandable that the actual deaths were somewhat glossed over. At the same time, those deaths are (tragically, horrifically, awfully) what made the women known to us today. More importantly, those deaths were part of their stories. I wonder whether removing the women from the narratives of their deaths is, in a way, another way of removing agency? I don't know.
I would also probably have appreciated a bit more reflexivity. There was some of this, but I think it could have been expanded upon further. It's not a coincidence or accident that the women continue to be known as sex workers: there is so much room for exploring the function of this. Similarly, so much of what was featured in this book was conjecture: "would" and "should" were used so much. It would have been useful I think to explore how many gaps there are, and what we can understand of this. And, whilst Jack the Ripper was intentionally not the focus of this book, I wonder what we can make of the assumption that there could only have been one killer, what that might mean. Then again: what is an important book if not one that provokes further questions?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence and Murder
mbenzz's review against another edition
I won't rate this book because I'm DNF'ing it so early (at 7%), but this was waaaaaay too dry for me. What I read was very well done, and while I'm not usually a fan of nonfiction, I was hoping this one would hold my attention, but it did not. At this point, I know myself well enough to know this just wouldn't have gotten better for me, so I'm moving on.
celtic67's review against another edition
4.0
A good historical biography of the five women killed by Jack the Ripper, It shows by the investigation into their backgrounds they were not, as commonly thought, prostitutes. Down on their luck maybe, under certain influences but they were placed in a circumstances, to a large extent out with their control, that maybe lead to their killings. Poverty! Knowing what we know about police procedures and investigation of the time, the lack of forensics and DNA and the fact that the victims were women, down on their luck probably lead to the fact that as far as we know a culprit was never found for these crimes. A timely book that gives voice to largely and dismissed women. Women whose only crime is the fact they're women! I urge you to read this book.
maatkare_j's review
5.0
I find Jack the Ripper boring (he’s so overdone), but this book was FASCINATING - probably because it’s not about him. A well-researched, well-written biography of women whose lives were way more interesting than their deaths. I’m recommending it to any and all true-crime aficionados.