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Reviews tagging 'Rape'
The Nuns of Sant'ambrogio: The True Story of a Convent in Scandal by Hubert Wolf
2 reviews
mafiabadgers's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
2.0
Hubert Wolf has been fortunate enough to come across some fascinating archival material, and then attempted to inject a bit of true crime flair, usually to the book's detriment as a work of history. For example: the book initially establishes uncertainty about the veracity of Katherina von Hohenzollern's accusations, suggesting they could possibly be "simply the fantasy of a highly strung aristocrat". This suggestion is allowed to persist for near upon 200 pages, until Wolf finally deigns to reveal that, yes, she was poisoned, yes, everyone knew it, and yes, several other nuns died shortly thereafter in suspicious circumstances, which were later revealed to be murder. As an approach, this may appeal to mystery fans, but it makes for an unhelpfully structured book.
Wolf is unfortunately a professor of ecclesiastical history, and it shows. He takes great delight in periodically sequestering pages to explain—for example—the precise procedures and levels of authority of everyone involved in a Roman Inquisition trial, even when this has little bearing on the incident at hand. By the 19th C., they didn't even use torture! I also would have like to see more than just a perfunctory paragraph on the implications of these events for contemporary conceptions of female homosexuality; I thought Judith C. Brown's Immodest Acts did a much better job of exploring its chosen incidents and their implications, while clocking in at just over 200 pages.
When The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio is good, it's intriguing, memorable, and a great case study. When it's bad, it's utterly tedious.
Wolf is unfortunately a professor of ecclesiastical history, and it shows. He takes great delight in periodically sequestering pages to explain—for example—the precise procedures and levels of authority of everyone involved in a Roman Inquisition trial, even when this has little bearing on the incident at hand. By the 19th C., they didn't even use torture! I also would have like to see more than just a perfunctory paragraph on the implications of these events for contemporary conceptions of female homosexuality; I thought Judith C. Brown's Immodest Acts did a much better job of exploring its chosen incidents and their implications, while clocking in at just over 200 pages.
When The Nuns of Sant'Ambrogio is good, it's intriguing, memorable, and a great case study. When it's bad, it's utterly tedious.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault and Rape
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
theadventurousbookreader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Rape
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