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lada1's review against another edition
4.0
This is an absolutely rich and engrossing true lives book about the five victims of the infamous ‘Jack the Ripper’. As the author herself explains -it’s so easy to glamorise this brutal killer of innocents. Here we hear about the lives of his victims, written into history as prostitutes. In fact only one of his victims was actually a prostitute. Society judged them all the same based on the snobbish Victorian values that would see any poor unfortunate who is alone at night classed as a fallen woman. Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary Jane were all women who had loved and lost and for a variety of reasons found themselves in one of the poorest districts of 19thC London-Whitechapel. I found this absolutely fascinating and what I particularly loved about this book was this was the story of their lives. Their deaths barely warrant a line.
sueperlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
This was really interesting! Classified in the non fiction section, the author sets out to paint a vivid image of the five women murdered by Jack the Ripper, and prove they were misidentified as all prostitutes. Drawing the picture of Victorian London, doing genealogical searches on the families, and discovering photographs and images, Rubenhold draws conclusions about the women and their situations.
burtini's review
5.0
I found this book to be remarkable - I have always known how these 5 women died but never how they lived, never what they had to endure until the end. The women of the 19th century, particularly the working class, were silenced and used and punished for the sins of men. I’ve seen quite a few negatives of this book being that this book is a long answer to them not being prostitutes but I don’t agree, this book was about how they weren’t “just prostitutes”, they were so much more and how this label was used to punish and silence these women even further in a way that continues today with this sensationalised, romanticism of the Ripper in what the author calls, us largely walking over these women’s bodies to gawp at him.
This book affected me, I found myself ranting to friends and colleagues about the misogyny, double standards and neverending punishment of women, I felt ashamed I was so ignorant to the degree I didn’t know.
The author researched meticulously and never speaks for the victims, only making very clearly stated assumptions necessarily to bring the facts to life. She isn’t gratuitous, these women’s lives are discussed but their murder nor their death isn’t used for shock nor entertainment and JtR is not given his moment like he so often does.
The final chapter is remarkable and I won’t forget this book.
This book affected me, I found myself ranting to friends and colleagues about the misogyny, double standards and neverending punishment of women, I felt ashamed I was so ignorant to the degree I didn’t know.
The author researched meticulously and never speaks for the victims, only making very clearly stated assumptions necessarily to bring the facts to life. She isn’t gratuitous, these women’s lives are discussed but their murder nor their death isn’t used for shock nor entertainment and JtR is not given his moment like he so often does.
The final chapter is remarkable and I won’t forget this book.
rachbooknook's review against another edition
5.0
"What's your name?" Robinson demanded.
"Nothing," Kate slurred. (page 248)
A heartbreaking and necessary read. An in depth look into the lives of Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane -- the women murdered in the dead of night in London in the year 1888. Each of these women suffered from poverty, alcoholism, domestic violence, and homelessness. Often, it was their alcoholism that led them onto the streets and into the lodging houses on Whitechapel Road. After unhappy marriages and common-law relationships, the death of parents, husbands, siblings, and children, chronic illnesses that went misdiagnosed and untreated, years of backbreaking labor as servants or mothers, arrests for public drunkenness, and the fear of being left on their own during a time when a single woman wasn't seen as a real person, these five women's lives were cruelly ended by a man who almost certainly hated women.
Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane deserved so much more from life than they were given. I'm grateful that Rubenhold has told their stories and that I got to read them. With their stories now told, I pray that these women may finally rest in peace.
"Nothing," Kate slurred. (page 248)
A heartbreaking and necessary read. An in depth look into the lives of Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane -- the women murdered in the dead of night in London in the year 1888. Each of these women suffered from poverty, alcoholism, domestic violence, and homelessness. Often, it was their alcoholism that led them onto the streets and into the lodging houses on Whitechapel Road. After unhappy marriages and common-law relationships, the death of parents, husbands, siblings, and children, chronic illnesses that went misdiagnosed and untreated, years of backbreaking labor as servants or mothers, arrests for public drunkenness, and the fear of being left on their own during a time when a single woman wasn't seen as a real person, these five women's lives were cruelly ended by a man who almost certainly hated women.
Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine, and Mary Jane deserved so much more from life than they were given. I'm grateful that Rubenhold has told their stories and that I got to read them. With their stories now told, I pray that these women may finally rest in peace.
gorelenore's review against another edition
3.0
Review coming soon. Visit www.cover2coverblog.blogspot.com
ihatealexj's review against another edition
5.0
This book was impossible to put down. The exhaustive research that went into giving these victims their lives back is nothing short of admirable. Many of the reviews I read prior to reading the book admonished the author for claiming they were more sympathetic because they were not the sex workers contemporary sources claimed they were.
I did not find this to be case. While yes, the author does go out of her way to explain not all of the women were confirmed to participate in the sex trade, I never felt that she diminished the murders of the ones who were. How it came across to me was that she was correcting a long held rumor. Regardless of our stance on sex work in the modern day, Victorian era writers felt these women put themselves in harms way and were less deserving of sympathy because they were sex workers. That has long been the narrative and why Ripperology exists. The mystery of the murders identity means more to modern audiences than the tragedy of his victims because the era that birthed the Ripper deemed his victims as no great loss. Here, she is giving them their lives and their names back.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the history of ordinary people.
I did not find this to be case. While yes, the author does go out of her way to explain not all of the women were confirmed to participate in the sex trade, I never felt that she diminished the murders of the ones who were. How it came across to me was that she was correcting a long held rumor. Regardless of our stance on sex work in the modern day, Victorian era writers felt these women put themselves in harms way and were less deserving of sympathy because they were sex workers. That has long been the narrative and why Ripperology exists. The mystery of the murders identity means more to modern audiences than the tragedy of his victims because the era that birthed the Ripper deemed his victims as no great loss. Here, she is giving them their lives and their names back.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the history of ordinary people.
obsidian_blue's review against another edition
5.0
What a great book! I don't know what else to say except Rubenhold does such a great job of giving us a full picture of the five women who were murdered by Jack the Ripper. She goes in the order of the murders, with each section focusing on them from birth to death. She skips over their brutal murders and instead shows us how they lived, how they loved, and how many people were quick to blame these women and in some cases characterize them. Thank you Hallie Rubenhold for telling Polly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine, and Mary-Jane's stories.
"The Five" does something quite extraordinary, instead of splashing about in the sordid and terrible murders of the five women that Jack the Ripper killed in Whitechapel from April 1888 to November 1888 Rubenhold takes a hard look at the lives of the women in these cases. I can name several "Ripper" books out there where some historian or mystery writer tries to make a case why so and so was Jack the Ripper. The women are ignored except when the author wants to show photos of the deceased after being murdered or in mortuary photos. The women are treated as unimportant. Rubenhold rightly shines the light on the five women. In the case of Mary-Jane though, even though there's not a lot of historical data to go on, she does a great job of giving us a picture of her life and why no one really got a chance to know the real her.
Hallie does a great job in each section of telling the circumstances of the women's birth, information about the parents (if possible) and then how the women was raised. She also does an excellent job of portraying a dark and dirty London where women were treated as less than men. It took me about three days to finish this book because I didn't want to rush. Rubenhold obviously did a lot of research for this book and it shows. It also doesn't suffer from historian's disease with too much information thrown at you. She is able to make you feel you are right there as she tells you about these women, the men they married or loved, the children they bore, and their families. Also why some of them were unfairly maligned as prostitutes. I do have to say that I love Rubenhold's research into why so many statements were ignored or twisted by the police to paint some of these women as lesser women who no one should grieve.
The flow works wonderfully from beginning to end.
The setting of the book for the most part focused on London in the Victorian age. However, Rubenhold in the case of Elisabeth Gustafsdotter focuses on Sweden during the same time period. Rubenhold shows how little power a woman truly had in both countries during this time period. Reading about the marriage laws, how a woman was forced into the workhouse if she was unmarried/widowed and had no ways of supporting herself. Rubenhold even goes into several Contagious Diseases Acts that were passed in countries where the focus was on shaming and in some cases mutilating women. Being unmarried and pregnant the woman was blamed even if she was "forced" by the master of the house or someone else.
The ending of the book showing what each women was carrying on her when she was murdered will break your heart a bit. And I loved Rubenhold doing her best to show how these women lived and how the way they were murdered should not be what defines their legacy.
"The Five" does something quite extraordinary, instead of splashing about in the sordid and terrible murders of the five women that Jack the Ripper killed in Whitechapel from April 1888 to November 1888 Rubenhold takes a hard look at the lives of the women in these cases. I can name several "Ripper" books out there where some historian or mystery writer tries to make a case why so and so was Jack the Ripper. The women are ignored except when the author wants to show photos of the deceased after being murdered or in mortuary photos. The women are treated as unimportant. Rubenhold rightly shines the light on the five women. In the case of Mary-Jane though, even though there's not a lot of historical data to go on, she does a great job of giving us a picture of her life and why no one really got a chance to know the real her.
Hallie does a great job in each section of telling the circumstances of the women's birth, information about the parents (if possible) and then how the women was raised. She also does an excellent job of portraying a dark and dirty London where women were treated as less than men. It took me about three days to finish this book because I didn't want to rush. Rubenhold obviously did a lot of research for this book and it shows. It also doesn't suffer from historian's disease with too much information thrown at you. She is able to make you feel you are right there as she tells you about these women, the men they married or loved, the children they bore, and their families. Also why some of them were unfairly maligned as prostitutes. I do have to say that I love Rubenhold's research into why so many statements were ignored or twisted by the police to paint some of these women as lesser women who no one should grieve.
"While the experience of homelessness in Victorian London was one of wretched misery for all who were forced to endure it, women like Polly, who found themselves without shelter, might also expect to become victims of sexual violence."
"However, before they had even listened to the full account, both the authorities and the press were certain of one thing: Polly Nichols was obviously out soliciting that night, because she, like every other woman, regardless of her age, who moved between the lodging houses, the casual wards, and the bed she made in a dingy corner of an alley, was a prostitute."
"Contrary to romanticized images of the Ripper’s victims, she never “walked the streets” in a low-cut bodice and rouged cheeks, casting provocative glances beneath the gas lamps. She never belonged to a brothel nor had a pimp. Neither is there any evidence that she was arrested or even cautioned for her behavior."
The flow works wonderfully from beginning to end.
The setting of the book for the most part focused on London in the Victorian age. However, Rubenhold in the case of Elisabeth Gustafsdotter focuses on Sweden during the same time period. Rubenhold shows how little power a woman truly had in both countries during this time period. Reading about the marriage laws, how a woman was forced into the workhouse if she was unmarried/widowed and had no ways of supporting herself. Rubenhold even goes into several Contagious Diseases Acts that were passed in countries where the focus was on shaming and in some cases mutilating women. Being unmarried and pregnant the woman was blamed even if she was "forced" by the master of the house or someone else.
"While a man could divorce his wife for a sexual liaison outside the marital bed, a woman had to prove her husband was guilty of adultery in addition to another crime, such as incest, rape, or cruelty. This Victorian double standard was enshrined in law, permitting a man to enjoy as many sexual dalliances as he wished, so long as he did not also rape the servants, have sex with his sister, and beat his wife too severely."
"Such relationships were regularly cited as being among the factors that drew women into lives of prostitution: “the housemaid of a pharmacist or a surgeon might be seduced by her master’s assistant; a lodging-house maid by a student, a commercial traveler or officer; . . . a hotel servant by a regular guest; a young clerk might seduce his parents’ servant-girl,” and so forth."
The ending of the book showing what each women was carrying on her when she was murdered will break your heart a bit. And I loved Rubenhold doing her best to show how these women lived and how the way they were murdered should not be what defines their legacy.
mklicks's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent. The hours of research by the author provide us with an in-depth and overarching view of the environment and societal norms these five women lived and died in. Finally the victims and not their killer get to have their life stories told, rather than sensationalized by their murders. This was a perfect book to round out women’s history month. I hope to read more by this meticulous researcher and detailed writer.