Reviews tagging 'Forced institutionalization'

Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History by Tori Telfer

5 reviews

cosmicpanda's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Misogyny, Abandonment, Child death, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Infidelity, and Miscarriage

daniellekat's review against another edition

dark funny informative fast-paced

2.75

The conclusion actually improved my feelings on this book. I initially thought this was very repetitive and focused a little too heavily on historical tales, but apparently that was by design. I appreciate that the author took a minute to recognize the racial biases present, but wish Telfer spent a little more time editing to make this less Eurocentric. The language was easy to read and navigate (at times a little gruesome but not overly explicit). Cutting a couple chapters would have improved the overall work given how similar a few were. I loved the artwork but thought the organization of the book (or lack thereof) was bizarre. Solid effort but not an author I'd gravitate to again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Death, Torture, Murder, and Child death

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Mental illness, and Classism

Minor: Gun violence

Poison

percys_panda_pillow_pet's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

4.75

I really enjoyed reading this book. The author has such a good voice and really takes the time to develop each story and historical figure accordingly. Even with the dark material within the book, the author had some good witty lines and tongue-in-cheek banter with the reader that I actually laughed a few times. However, the funny tone did not stop the author from exploring the horrifying knowledge of what some of these women did. 

I liked the format of each section, dividing each woman/or group of women into their own parts, and then dividing more into short briefs of childhood, adulthood, first kill, etc. I think it really helped me fly through the book pace-wise. I also found the insight into female serial killers interesting and how the author analyzed how historically society has viewed women killers, just basing their actions off of their gender rather than anything else. 

The book starts off really strong with one of the most gruesome killers in the book, Erzsebet Bathory. I was about to eat lunch when I started reading and I quickly realized that I might have to wait a bit due to the horrifying imagery in this chapter. However, I feel as though that was not the best figure for the author to start the book on. Sure it really grabs your attention, but afterward there are only a few other really gruesome killers and I didn't feel like any of them really stood up to Bathory's legend. A common way of killing for women is poison, and a lot of the women in this book use poison. I understand statistically that that is how things will end up when writing about female killers, however, after each poisoner it just felt repetitive from a reader's point of view, which is not what you want to keep your reader engaged. 

Though the book is titled Lady Killers, the introduction talks about female serial killer statistics. This and the first couple stories, led me to believe that this was about female serial killers. However, there are a few figures that just don't feel like they fit the bill of what the others did. Even though Bathory had accomplices, she did a lot of damage on her own and I don't think that what she did was comparable to singling out Kate Bender from the Bender family, as the whole family took part in the killings and had a system. One of the figures only had one confirmed kill, with other kills a possibility but not a certainty. I just feel like I was misled a little bit, as though perhaps the author could've been clearer about what makes a serial killer or whether or not some figures were confirmed serial killers. 

Overall, I did really enjoy the book and these were only some minor gripes I had. I definitely would recommend this book if you enjoy reading about true crime, especially historical true crime. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Death of parent, Vomit, Violence, Excrement, Child death, Blood, Pregnancy, Torture, Gore, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abortion, Cannibalism, Animal death, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol, Trafficking, Forced institutionalization, Alcoholism, Confinement, and Colonisation

Minor: Incest and Rape

sarahaf712's review

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Abortion, Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Incest

yeojinqueen's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative slow-paced

4.25

Wish there had been more variety it was mostly poisonings with arsenic so some of the stories faded away in my head 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pregnancy, Torture, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence