Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich

30 reviews

molotovsun's review against another edition

dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Child abuse, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Eating disorder, Incest, and Rape

auteaandtales's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Violence

lepremieraccroc's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

bmessierlegendre's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.75

Ce livre m’attendait dans ma bibliothèque depuis plusieurs mois, parce que j’appréhendais vraiment sa lecture. L’autrice nous guide à travers sa réflexion sur la peine de mort par un témoignage très très personnel, plein d’empathie et de remise en question de ses propres points de vue, soulignant le fait que rien n’est complètement blanc ou noir. Sujet très difficile, troublant même, mais tellement bien écrit. J’ai été fascinée, j’ai lu les 500 pages en juste un peu plus d’une journée, comme en apnée.
*Trigger warning: On parle dans ce livre de pédophilie, avec des passages et des témoignages très détaillés qui peuvent être choquants. Je trouve que c’est fait par contre avec beaucoup de respect, et ce n’est pas du tout sensationnaliste.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

jennivardier's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Car accident, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Grief, Incest, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence

megansnextread's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

5.0

⚠️ TW/CW: Child Sexual Abuse, Murder⚠️

 

The Fact of a Body: A Murder and a Memoir by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich (2017)

 

"The past already has its hold on me. There’s nothing to do but face it." What a difficult and necessary book to read. This nonfiction book follows two paths. One written by the author, Alex, who was molested as a child by her grandfather and then grows up to work for a law firm that defends a child molester and murderer, Ricky Langley. The other part of this book follows Ricky Langley and the terrible day in which he took the life of a six year old boy, Jeremy in Louisiana. And Langley's struggle with controlling his urges, trying to seek help in prison, in mental health clinics and doctors, and ultimately going back to his old ways. 

 

Child abuse will and is hard to read about but I found this book so cathartic to read from the author's perspective. I knew what the after effects of child abuse could have on an adult but I had no idea to what extent. This trauma as a child can effect not only future relationships but your education, your world views, and careers. For so long I was so angry at the parents who knew of this abuse by the grandfather and as lawyers, did nothing about it. It was buried deep into their minds so much so that only the author was the one to act on the memories. Reading about Langley and his childhood and terrible acts were difficult also to read. But it was so scary to see how this murder could have been prevented at so many points! Langley with the right resources and support might have turned his life around and the death of Jeremy could have been prevented.

 

This book also helped me to see how molestation can affect not just families, but communities, laws, memories, neighborhoods, and mental and physical health. So go into this book knowing it is hard to read but do not turn away from it because it is important to understand the lengths trauma can reach.

 

Please seek out other trigger warnings in this book. I am not an expert on them and know I would miss a few of them. Storygraph offers great trigger warnings provided by readers for individual books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

clairefallon's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

5.0

What’s most remarkable about this book is how fluidly Marzano-Lesnevich synthesizes impossibly broad swaths of information into coherent narrative. The massive undertaking of research that was required to make this text happen is nothing short of spectacular, but perhaps most striking is the balance struck between analysis and emotion, between facts and the life that happens inside them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, and Murder

thebookadvocate's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Medical content, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Domestic abuse and Drug use

jbellomy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Death, Eating disorder, Incest, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Medical content, Suicide, Grief, and Confinement

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism

babayagaofficial's review against another edition

dark reflective

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Incest, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, Gun violence, and Child death