Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Zeg niets: Moord en verraad in Noord-Ierland by Patrick Radden Keefe

108 reviews

mmccombs's review against another edition

informative reflective slow-paced

4.5

Patrick Radden Keefe is the example of how to do great investigative journalism that blends facts, personal narratives, and emotional nuance. It took a while for me to get fully invested in this one (as opposed to Empire of Pain, which I immediately couldn’t put down), but after I switched over to audio to mix it up, I loved how Keefe guided our view of the Troubles through the lens of individuals and how their stories intersected. He never placed value judgements on any one person’s actions, but didn’t shy away from showing the incredibly devastating impacts of violence on communities. I learned a lot from this one and feel I have a better grasp on what I now realize is a vastly more nuanced, cultural history that is felt today. 

“Who should be held accountable for a shared history of violence?”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Eating disorder, and Violence

aisha_r's review against another edition

emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

Very good pace. Lots to think about. Radden Keefe presents evidence and commentary very precice. Great book to start learning about "The Troubles" and the conflict in Northern Ireland. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Eating disorder

Minor: Addiction

stan2long's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.0

About longstanding conflicts in Ireland between Catholics and Protestants, and the push for independence from England. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

dtodd's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

A tense exploration of a murder that was part of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which provides a lot of background about the conflict too. At times it was a little slow, but the final third is extremely gripping, with a shocking final reveal. Radden Keefe is forensic with much-needed detail, though this sometimes slows down the central narrative. I’m grateful to have read Say Nothing in order to broaden my knowledge of the region, and would recommend it to others.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Violence

Moderate: Suicide and Torture

sonygaystation's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, War, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Body horror, Blood, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism, Medical content, Torture, and Addiction

Minor: Child abuse, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Excrement, Dementia, and Drug use

angelajzhu's review against another edition

challenging informative mysterious medium-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, and Eating disorder

_cararichardson's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad slow-paced

4.75

This book was extremely well done and thoughtfully researched. I got a lot of quotes from this one. It’s a fairly dense (not in a bad way) and was a fairly slow read for me, although that’s usually the case with non fiction. It’s a very complicated issue and I liked how Radden Keefe slowly unraveled the story  and it’s players. I didn’t know anything about the Troubles before going into this. I will say it took me a while to get a firm grasp on who supported what and what the different political groups stood for. At first I didn’t know how me or the author felt about the conflict, but as the narrative built I got a better understanding of the factors at play (what any great nonfiction book hopes to do!). Keefe managed to tow the line between sympathetic and scrutinizing. Overall, while this wasn’t an ~enjoyable~ read in the tropical sense, it was very heavy subject matter, I came away from this book with a lot to think about. Where should our ideals end, and how far should we be willing to go for our ideals?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Gun violence, Death, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Murder

Minor: Rape

atalea's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Addiction, Murder, Gaslighting, Police brutality, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, War, Violence, and Mass/school shootings

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Death, and Torture

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

Going into this my knowledge of the troubles was limited to Derry Girls and that small plot point in Criminal Minds, so to start I was a little confused (and I’m still not 100% confident) but overall was explained in an interesting and clear way. 

The audiobook gets a bonus 0.5 star (not included) because it is narrated by an Irish man and every time he said “poor” it added a week to my life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Eating disorder, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Self harm, Police brutality, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Death of parent, Hate crime, Suicide, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Mass/school shootings, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Blood, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, War, and Murder

meredith_peruzzi's review against another edition

challenging dark informative fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, War, Violence, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Torture, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, Murder, Death of parent, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Gaslighting and Alcoholism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Terminal illness