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Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
39 reviews
abi_sarah's review against another edition
4.0
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.
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
bookshelfhannah's review
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
bdingz's review against another edition
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Trafficking, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide
Minor: Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, and Murder
notlikethebeer's review
4.0
Reading The Five is really difficult. At each decision each woman makes, you want to cry out, to warn them off. As well, reading about the challenges they faced is incredibly hard when knowing where their stories will ultimately play out.
I do think I'm a bit conflicted about the way that the deaths themselves were approached. It was the underlying aim to provide agency and narrative, rather than focusing on their deaths, and so it's understandable that the actual deaths were somewhat glossed over. At the same time, those deaths are (tragically, horrifically, awfully) what made the women known to us today. More importantly, those deaths were part of their stories. I wonder whether removing the women from the narratives of their deaths is, in a way, another way of removing agency? I don't know.
I would also probably have appreciated a bit more reflexivity. There was some of this, but I think it could have been expanded upon further. It's not a coincidence or accident that the women continue to be known as sex workers: there is so much room for exploring the function of this. Similarly, so much of what was featured in this book was conjecture: "would" and "should" were used so much. It would have been useful I think to explore how many gaps there are, and what we can understand of this. And, whilst Jack the Ripper was intentionally not the focus of this book, I wonder what we can make of the assumption that there could only have been one killer, what that might mean. Then again: what is an important book if not one that provokes further questions?
Graphic: Sexual violence and Murder
richardw2024's review
3.5
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism
will_cat_books's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Classism
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking
mahmabaer's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail
tlholmes's review
5.0
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
5.0
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
laurareadsbig's review
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, and Sexual violence
Moderate: Child death, Infidelity, and Murder