Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold

24 reviews

abi_sarah's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

4.0

An expertly written documentary of the lives of the women killed by Jack the Ripper. The amount of research that went into writing this book is clear from the offset and the writing is engaging, emotional and empathetic. You really start to grow attached to the women and feel a profound sadness and heartfelt sympathies for the way society dictated that they lived their lives and subsequently the end that met them. 

Hallie Rubenhold really sets the scene of Victorian London and effortlessly introduces each of the victims with the societal norms and prejudices which forced them - in most cases - to live largely unhappy lives. She describes what it’s like to live in workhouses and what little privacy there is for those who live in them - perhaps explaining why now we value privacy so much as a society.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Alcohol

Minor: Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Grief, and Pregnancy

nickydubs3's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Chronic illness, and Violence

jessi_lou95's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Sexism, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Chronic illness, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, and Fire/Fire injury

jhbandcats's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

What a tragic and depressing, albeit illuminating, book about the horrors of poverty in the late 19th C. We’ve all been told that Jack the Ripper killed prostitutes. This study shows how these morally superior judgments have come to inform everything we know about the case. 

The author focuses on the women, only referring to Jack the Ripper as their murderer. She has done extensive research to find out who these women were and what their lives were like, such that they ended up dead in the gutter. All these women came from working class families but because they were born female, the deck was stacked against them. The smallest setback could literally ruin someone’s life. 

By viewing these women with compassion instead of condemnation, we can see who they really were. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

tlholmes's review

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

5.0

Women’s history, non fiction 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

thinkingcatss's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

tiernanhunter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

jacs63's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This is a stunning book for so many reasons. 
It gives a face, a name and a voice, to the 5 victims of JtR. 
We so often only hear about the perpetrator, and not the victims. 
The book discusses the fact that thru the falsehood and misinformation spread by the Metropolitan Police and journalists at the time, it was convenient for us all to think that JtR only killed prostitutes. 
Only 2 of the 5 were actually known to be sex workers. 
There is no evidence that the other 3 were sex workers at all, but I for one believed the misinformation that was spread. 
One thing that all 5 women shared was that they are all alcoholics. 
I wonder why?? 
Maybe because cheap alcohol was the only thing that dulled the pain, if only for a while, of the poverty; the hunger; the homelessness; the early death of family members, including their own spouses or their own babies/ children; the death sentence that they were given if their spouse died and left them, and their children, destitute; their treatment as a woman with no legal rights; the living hell that was the 'Workhouse'; the lack of education for woman; the disease; the filth and vermin; the lack of medicines; the lack of clean water and sanitation; the violence; the lack of hope, respect and dignity etc etc etc. 
Basically the treatment of women/girls in the 1800's. 

It's full of interesting and informative historical facts about what life, and death, was like, for women in particular, in the Victorian 1800's. 

It's sad and horrific and devastating. It's a book that won't leave me for a while, I don't think. 
Probably not a book to read if you are depressed or feeling melancholic.

We will never know who JtR was. 
But we can know who his victims were. 
These women were daughters; sisters; wives; lovers; mothers; friends. 
May they never be forgotten. 
RIP and love, Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Kate and Mary Jane.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

pedanther's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Suicide, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, and Pregnancy

Minor: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Rape, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Abandonment

abby_can_read's review

informative medium-paced

4.0

🎧
I enjoyed this book. It was well research and well written. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Grief

Minor: Chronic illness and Mental illness