Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
20 reviews
tiernanhunter's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Violence, Abandonment, Abortion, Child abuse, Child death, Infertility, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Trafficking, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, War, Classism, Death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Sexual harassment, Blood, Grief, Infidelity, Addiction, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Terminal illness, and Mental illness
jacs63's review
5.0
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.
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Child death, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Physical abuse, Excrement, Misogyny, Medical content, Alcohol, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Stalking, Terminal illness, Violence, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic
emilo's review
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism and Sexism
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Misogyny, Mental illness, Drug abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Death, Death of parent, and Child death
Minor: Murder, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Slavery
pedanther's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Classism
Moderate: Murder, Alcoholism, Suicide, Child death, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Trafficking, Physical abuse, Grief, and Infidelity
Minor: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Antisemitism, Mental illness, Abandonment, Forced institutionalization, Rape, and Terminal illness
amelia_douglas's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Trafficking, Death, Alcoholism, and Addiction
Moderate: Medical content, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Medical trauma, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Sexual assault and Miscarriage
abby_can_read's review
4.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Classism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Death, Addiction, Misogyny, and Violence
Moderate: Sexism, Sexual violence, Child death, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Grief
Minor: Mental illness and Chronic illness
violetturtledove's review
5.0
Graphic: Addiction and Alcoholism
Moderate: Classism, Death of parent, Mental illness, Sexism, Domestic abuse, Grief, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
Minor: Child death, Trafficking, and Physical abuse
laurosaurs's review against another edition
4.25
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Murder, Alcoholism, and Mental illness
vixenreader's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Body shaming, Mental illness, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Child death, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Grief, Trafficking, Gun violence, Infidelity, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Rape
Minor: Racism, Gore, and Xenophobia
There is a lot of talk about the abuse within the workhouses and dissolving of familial dynamics.geraldinerowe's review against another edition
5.0
I've read two criticisms of this book. Firstly that it's all conjecture. It's not, it's just very well researched. I suspect much of the detail comes from newspaper reports of the character witnesses' statements at the victims' inquests (I'm afraid I'm not a great reader of footnotes, but the author does reference her sources in detail). Newspaper coverage of trials and the like were very detailed at that time and reported almost word for word (although the author must have had a job filtering out the more sensational reporting). The other criticism I've heard is that, by putting so much emphasis on the fact that most of the victims, contrary to popular belief, were not prostitutes, the author was part of that section of society which believes sex workers' lives are less valuable or not worthy of saving. I agree that most of the book does have this feel, but it's clearly not what the author believes, as her conclusion makes clear.
This is THE book to read about the Whitechapel Murders (unless, of course, you just want to get off on reading about violence against women, which most Ripper books seem to pander to). Looking at the victims not only gives them the much overdue respect they deserve, but also shows us that their murderer was far more likely to have been one of the frequenters of the doss houses in the Flower and Dean Street area than a royal, a surgeon or a mysterious American.
I don't believe in an afterlife, but if I'm wrong I hope the five unfortunate women we meet in this book are finally finding some comfort by having their stories told so sympathetically. Five stars.
Moderate: Alcoholism
Minor: Trafficking, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Domestic abuse, Death, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Chronic illness, Child death, and Misogyny