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Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
126 reviews
walkie_check's review against another edition
4.5
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment
srandall's review against another edition
5.0
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
vasha's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, and Misogyny
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Minor: Mental illness, Sexual violence, and Grief
louiseisabed's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Moderate: Murder
jordangddrd's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism
qqjj's review against another edition
3.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Sexual violence, Stalking, and Murder
dckathleen's review against another edition
4.5
This book is a biography of the canonical five victims. It traces their lives with as much information as is available and contextualizes it by explaining what it was like to be a poor woman in Victorian London. In some cases we learn about how these women grew up and then about their adult lives. We learn about marriages and children and glimpses of happiness. We read about how working people hovered over an abyss of dire poverty at all times, where an illness or turn of circumstances could take a family from a safe apartment to a workhouse or homelessness in the blink of an eye. Once they were in that position it was nearly impossible to get out.
Several of these women were alcoholics, a few did engage in sex work, but several did not, they were dismissed as prostitutes after their murders because they were women in the poorest parts of London. Several had children. There's very little concrete information on one woman, but even in her case the author gives us an idea of what her life might have been like.
The author doesn't describe their deaths at all nor does she speculate about the killer. This book is about the women.
I found this to be a compassionate book and even beyond these particular women I feel like I have a better understanding of the incredibly tenuous lives of poor families in this time.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, and Classism
rach59r's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Sexism and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Death of parent, and Classism
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Violence, and Classism
epeolatri's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism
Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
j_squaredd's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Sexism, and Alcohol