Reviews tagging 'Death'

We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian

12 reviews

oworthyfool's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Forced institutionalization, Domestic abuse, Pandemic/Epidemic, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Self harm, Classism, Cultural appropriation, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Car accident, Medical content, Mental illness, Racism, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Ableism, Miscarriage, Cultural appropriation, and Homophobia

sjanke2's review

challenging dark informative sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Car accident, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Grief, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Death, Gaslighting, and Suicide

kailey_reads's review

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, and Racism

Minor: Drug use, Pregnancy, Murder, and Physical abuse

imstephtacular's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Medical content, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Mental illness, Classism, Toxic relationship, and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Murder, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Ableism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Alcohol, Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Physical abuse

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Miscarriage, Gun violence, and Racial slurs

whit_knee's review

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, and Death of parent

careinthelibrary's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racism, Emotional abuse, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Mental illness, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Child death, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Classism, and Murder

Moderate: Confinement, Lesbophobia, Toxic relationship, and Homophobia

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

librarymouse's review

dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

4.0

This book is a thoughtful and informative exploration of the pitfalls of the American child welfare system, focusing on the extreme result of placing six children unjustly removed from their loving homes in the care of Jennifer and Sarah Hart. Asgarian explores the extreme and ingrained racism in the child welfare system, exploring the impact of it on the families of the children murdered by the Harts, their dedicated efforts to get them back and living with relatives, the judicial system that purposefully squandered their efforts, and the loopholes that allowed the Harts to adopt six children while being investigated for abuse and assault allegations.

In the epilogue of this book, Asgarian addresses her own tumultuous childhood, noting that because of her family's race and economic status, she never had to fear being removed from the support system made up of friends and relatives while she was in an abusive nuclear family. The generational impact of the removal of black children from loving, if imperfect homes, is still echoing through the families and the children who survive the startling volley of abuse hurled at them in institutions, foster homes, and group homes. Asgarian shines a light on this impact, probing readers to be aware of this world and its machinations.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Self harm, and Murder

Minor: Lesbophobia and Police brutality

kshertz's review

dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

It’s definitely an informative read but it’s just really heavy. I feel like I went into it thinking I was just gonna hear about this one story of this one family and they are talked about a lot but this author really goes into the systems that create a family like this and while I find that to be super important it wasn’t as interesting. But I did learn a lot of information that I can use as a teacher when thinking about CPS and the bigger systems that play that cause harmful situation is for students. Definitely recommend if you’re in the mood for something really heavy.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Violence, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Child death, Lesbophobia, Torture, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, Car accident, and Medical trauma

meganrose91's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Forced institutionalization and Drug abuse

caseythereader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

 - WE WERE ONCE A FAMILY is investigative journalism at its best: a book that brings you the untold side of the story and uncovers corruption and neglect far beyond what you thought possible, while maintaining the full humanity of the families at the center of the story.
- This is one of the most enraging books I’ve ever read. It’s the story of people and systems that we sweep under the rug and ignore, because our society has preemptively deemed them as not worth saving.
- Asgarian is quite blunt in her conclusions: none of this had to happen, none of this should have happened, none of this need ever happen again in the future if we wake up and begin to treat everyone as a human worthy of love and care, and if we work to tear down the flawed and failed systems that allowed it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Addiction, Blood, Car accident, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Racism, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Medical content, Mental illness, Pregnancy, Violence, and Murder