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jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
I have a true appreciation for the author's research and her delivery of the topic. There are 5 portions of this book each covering one of the five women killed by Jack the Ripper. The book says little or nothing about Jack the Ripper but instead focuses on his victims and the general assumption by the media that they were all prostitutes. Take home message: life for lower class women was difficult in Victorian London especially if they didn't have a husband or a home.
lorraineaf's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
4.0
this story at its bare bones is a narration of the canonical 5 victims of jack the ripper: Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane but to me I took a lot more from this.
hallie rubenhold does a fantastic job of going through each of the women’s lives and citing her sources without it getting boring. you know and understand the assumptions she makes based on information she is using and tells you where she got the information from.
even more, this book talks about how women are villainized even when they are the victims. how in order to sensationalize or uplift the literal serial killer journalists and historical narrative lumps all the victims into one category and shifts the blame onto them to make them feel nameless or just a part of a number. human beings dying is never just a number, each person had a family, hopes, dreams, and people who cared about them: no matter what media or those in power to control the narrative try to say.
hallie rubenhold does a fantastic job of going through each of the women’s lives and citing her sources without it getting boring. you know and understand the assumptions she makes based on information she is using and tells you where she got the information from.
even more, this book talks about how women are villainized even when they are the victims. how in order to sensationalize or uplift the literal serial killer journalists and historical narrative lumps all the victims into one category and shifts the blame onto them to make them feel nameless or just a part of a number. human beings dying is never just a number, each person had a family, hopes, dreams, and people who cared about them: no matter what media or those in power to control the narrative try to say.
shannondanter's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
4.0
juliealmeida's review against another edition
5.0
I thought I knew all there was to know about the murders never realizing how much the victims lives had been depreciated.
I’m glad this book exists and that is focuses on these women’s lives and not their death. The way they are remembered due to their murder is definitely unjust. I also love the small glimpse of what life looked like for the people who were struggling to get by in that era. I highly recommend this book.
I’m glad this book exists and that is focuses on these women’s lives and not their death. The way they are remembered due to their murder is definitely unjust. I also love the small glimpse of what life looked like for the people who were struggling to get by in that era. I highly recommend this book.
iissysmith's review against another edition
4.0
‘The victims of Jack the Ripper were never ‘just prostitutes’; they were daughters, wives, mothers, sisters and lovers. They were women. They were human beings, and surely that, in itself, is enough’
dilchh's review against another edition
4.0
It strikes me odd that Jack the Ripper became so famous for killing what I presume as a small number of victims, compared to other serial killers. Is it because he's never caught and so the mystery and his fame thickened and increased? That may be so, but it also strikes me as odd that we rarely talked about his victims; reducing them merely as prostitutes. This book has opened my interest and eyes to the canonical five victims of the ever famous Jack the Ripper and it did not disappoint.
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To put it simply, the stories of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper are obviously tragic if not heartbreaking. I would say it's both actually. Through this book, the author brought me to the personal lives of the five canonical victims; from their early lives to the day that they are no more. And one other thread that times all five together, apart from being Jack the Ripper's victim, is society's constraints towards women in the Victorian era.
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It's frustrating and also eye opening to read their stories and it made me felt that we're going to be talking about Jack the Ripper, might as well we talk about the victims to. And if you can spend time trying to know and understand Jack the Ripper, you should make the same effort for the victims.
___
To put it simply, the stories of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper are obviously tragic if not heartbreaking. I would say it's both actually. Through this book, the author brought me to the personal lives of the five canonical victims; from their early lives to the day that they are no more. And one other thread that times all five together, apart from being Jack the Ripper's victim, is society's constraints towards women in the Victorian era.
___
It's frustrating and also eye opening to read their stories and it made me felt that we're going to be talking about Jack the Ripper, might as well we talk about the victims to. And if you can spend time trying to know and understand Jack the Ripper, you should make the same effort for the victims.