Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

An Assassin in Utopia: The True Story of a Nineteenth-Century Sex Cult and a President's Murder by Susan Wels

3 reviews

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

1.25

informative fast-paced

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   Well, this book covered lesser-known history, however, it felt like a very perfunctory and dry look at everything. It was emotionless for the most part. They also covered entirely too much information in a book that was too short. I think this book could easily have been another hundred pages long.

    Overall, it was not great, it didn’t draw me in or make me care about what I was reading. 

Narrator Rating: 2.0 stars

  The narrator was grating or annoying. However, they spoke too quickly and were extremely easy to zone out listening to, just too boring. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infidelity, Mental illness, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual content, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Pregnancy

Minor: Slavery, Suicide, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, War

alexrobinsonsupergenius's review

4.0

informative medium-paced

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The title is a bit misleading as the “sex cult” doesn’t figure into it nearly as much as the subtitle would imply. Essentially, it’s the backstory of President Garfield’s assassination in 1881 and Charles Guiteau, the fool who shot him (for a brief time Guiteau had belonged to the Oneida commune, but they kicked him out for being insane). If you’re interested in learning about US politics from 1870-1881 check it out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Gun violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia

Minor: Infidelity, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War

librarymouse's review

3.0

informative medium-paced

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I didn't find this book particularly gripping, but by the time I was done pondering the section title "The Crucible of Garfield", I was 77% of the way through my digital copy and just decided to finish it. It's not a bad book by any means in reference to in its coverage of the lives and deaths of President Garfield and his assassin Charles J. Guiteau, and the lives and deaths of those friends, family, and acquaintences who played a major role in both. I take issue in how the author handled the sexual abuse rampant in the Oneida community. I understand that it wasn't the book's focus, but by only acknowledging the problematic nature of the family and sexual dynamics in the Oneida community in how it condoned the sexual abuse of young girls by powerful men in the community, only in subtext until the last chapters of the book made me as a reader feel as if the issue was being brushed aside and used only as a show piece to show the early signs of Guiteau's monstrous nature.
It is understandable that the author's intent is most likely to give an unbiased view of the events that took place, but in having the book end with a vignette of the last days of John Humphrey Noyes and his life with his last devoted followers, a large population of children included,  feels like a neat but unsatisfying and discomforting way of tying up an issue that necessitated further exploration. 
Not a bad read, overall.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Suicide, Pregnancy, Alcohol