Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann

18 reviews

miggyfool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Murder, Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Genocide, Grief, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Gore, Gun violence, Medical content, Sexism, Torture, Xenophobia, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, and Violence

bookwormcat's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Toxic relationship, Murder, Misogyny, Racism, Racial slurs, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Child death, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, and Death

omair's review

dark informative sad medium-paced

4.0

WARNING TO THOSE READING THIS BECAUSE OF THE FILM ADAPTATION:
After all of the hype and excitement I had for the film adaptation, I knew I had to read the source material as soon as possible. I had thought I would take to the book far more than the film, which I did thoroughly like, because I went into the film expecting more police procedural and less story of love

and betrayal

.

Yet as I read this book, I found myself agreeing more and more with the decisions the film made. This is not a slight against the book, but further praise for the film. The purposes of the film and the book are not one and the same, and so it is vital to anyone that, like me, is coming to read because/after the film to understand before they begin.

REVIEW THE BOOK INDEPENDENT OF THE FILM (which is what I intend to do)

Killers is as informative of a book as I could've imagined considering the personal story the primary focus is on. The book is overflowing with descriptors that will make you feel sorrow and anger, leave you wondering what humanity is and why it is missing. While only covering a handful of incidences, the cold factual presentation will leave you reeling, as if sensing how small a fraction the sample is compared to the population. All totaled, the official death count may

only be a couple dozen

but Grann will easily convince you that there were hundreds more victims during the Reign of Terror, and he may well be right.

If you can make it through the pain and sadness, there is a beautiful story here of a people's survival. The heart to endure and rally is as much a light as the era is an inky darkness. The book may focus on Thomas White, his team of agents, and their investigation that finally tore down the veil behind which the atrocities hid, but the real heroes are the Osage people.

For as strong as the book is in its cold, clearly well-researched, tone, I also found this to be a slight undoing. The voice can feel rather impersonal at times, leaving the reader as a student of history rather than immersed in the moment. This is why I agree with the decisions made for the film adaptation. Maybe I would feel differently not having known the details from the film first, I can never know for sure. But the progression of the book, and some of the detours along the way, played loose with risking a reader to set the book down only to never return and finish.

Ultimately, I will recommend this read to anyone with an interest in the Reign of Terror, interest in the era, an interest in the realities of White American Exceptionalism, or a morbid curiosity of a casual genocide. Sticking through some of the uneven pacing is well worth it for the resulting reverence of the Osage, and Mollie in particular, all carrying inside of them something no man could ever kill.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Hate crime, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Grief, and Violence

Moderate: Physical abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Racial slurs, Chronic illness, Blood, Cultural appropriation, Toxic relationship, Colonisation, Classism, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, and Confinement

Minor: Misogyny, Kidnapping, Medical content, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Animal death, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Child death, and Cultural appropriation

nrogers_1030's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense

5.0

It's one of those books you don't want to read because you know it's sad, but you know you need to. The injustice that the Osage people suffered is unimaginable. This book shines a light on Oklahoma's dark past.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Genocide, Racism, Misogyny, Alcohol, Gun violence, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

dxnatelli's review

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Violence, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Death, Blood, Grief, Racism, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Gun violence, Death of parent, Hate crime, Gore, Domestic abuse, Colonisation, and Child death

Moderate: Infidelity, Stalking, Body horror, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Police brutality, and Medical trauma

Minor: Pregnancy, Suicide, Racial slurs, Sexual violence, Abandonment, and Car accident

vixenreader's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.25

A non-fiction book that moves with the urgency of a murder-mystery, this account of a forgotten injustice will boil your blood, especially since the crimes were saturated with racism against the Osage First Nations. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Xenophobia, Colonisation, Medical trauma, Genocide, Toxic friendship, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Blood, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gun violence, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, and Violence

Moderate: Medical content, Child death, Infidelity, Ableism, Stalking, Fire/Fire injury, and Car accident

Minor: Pregnancy, Misogyny, Police brutality, and Physical abuse

Be warned that there is a graphic bombing episode, medical content involving diabetes, covering up crime scenes, frequent poisoning, financial abuse, policies preventing First Nations from accessing their accounts, court scenes, and mention of “burning human flesh” from an electric chair.

randisworld's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

This is an incredible story about how greed of white immigrants caused the deaths of so many Osage people. It’s a disgusting honestly but a very necessary read. There is so much hidden in American history and I am thankful that this story came to light. My only criticism was in the structure. The 2nd section, to me, could have just been a separate book. Trying to integrate the founding of the FBI into this didn’t work for me. So I gave it 4 stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Toxic relationship, and Hate crime

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Alcohol, Child death, and Suicide

The behavior of these men is truly disgusting. I was happy to see that Wikipedia has them characterized as serial killers. That’s exactly what it was.

hellbender's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Racism, Car accident, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Racial slurs

jhbandcats's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

5.0

David Grann is one of our greatest nonfiction authors alive. Every topic he chooses is brought to life no matter how many years have passed since the events took place. His writing is smooth and unobtrusive, describing the past in a matter-of-fact, approachable way. If history books had been like this in high school, we’d all have gone on to be scholars. 

Killers of the Flower Moon is an especially difficult book to read, not because of the writing but because the subject is so painful. Grann documents how literally hundreds of Osage were murdered for riches in the early 20th C. As American Indians, their lives were worth less than that of dogs. An entire corrupt and venal society was arrayed against them. Well aware they were systematically being murdered, they had no recourse. The authorities, both political and legal, were complicit in the murders. No one would help save them from eradication. 

This is an excellent telling of a dark and shameful time in our history. If only this much attention had been paid a hundred years ago some of the Osage who were murdered might have lived. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Gore, Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Abandonment, Blood, and Child death

tiffyd's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Colonisation, Grief, Murder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racial slurs, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Addiction, Alcohol, and Drug abuse

Minor: Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Blood, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Misogyny, and Gaslighting