Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Remembering Satan: A Tragic Case of Recovered Memory by Lawrence Wright

6 reviews

mformato's review

dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

2.0

 This book made me angry. First I was angry at the thought of a father molesting his daughters. But as the story progressed I just got more angry at how horribly this investigation was handled and at the rampant satanic cult propaganda.

I didn't grow up in the 80s, I wasn't even born then. But just the idea that all across America hundreds, if not thousands, of people lead these secret blood cults where they murdered babies (WHERE TF WERE THESE BABIES COMING FROM?! HOW DID NOBODY NOTICE ANY MISSING BABIES OR PREGNANT WOMEN?! It is such BS) and raped women and children sickens me. Not because of the heinous acts that are being claimed, but the fact the people are so stupid to think that shit actually happened and that "trauma repressed the memories of those invovled"?? Come on.

I have no idea what happened to the Ingram women, but I highly doubt any of their stories of ritualistic abuse is true. Somehow they are fucked in the head enough to create these stories and I do feel bad if they ever actually did experience any sexual assault but goddamn, how the hell did anyone believe them?

I also disliked how the book was written. So much little details were given like an omniscient narrator in a fiction novel.

Shoutout to Dr. Richard Ofshe for being the only creditable person in this whole mess.

I wouldn't want to recommend this book, but I am curious what people who have actually studied psychology (especially in relation to memories and/or criminal investigations) have to say about this. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Murder, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

no1coelocanthfan's review

dark emotional reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Abortion

emory's review

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

Very insightful read on a cultural phenomenon that, as someone who was born after it's conclusion and canonization as a nationwide misstep, I have only just recently learned about. I do wish certain topics had been given more discussion, or alternate theories introduced; namely in regards to why the daughters of this man would have made such accusations if there were no truth to them at all. A few different causes were proposed (including a wholesale endorsement of the Oedipus complex theory, which I find a bit distasteful), but I feel as if this point was almost entirely passed over. Additionally, I think some postulation on why the identities of the accusers and those accused followed specific trends would strengthen the narrative; just saying women are starting witch hunts against their male family members left a bad taste in my mouth. There was almost no reference to the role misogyny almost certainly played within these events. The lack of this kind of analysis especially stood out as the author took us through the ways that the dynamics and authority of the church influenced Ingram's false memories; with the place women are given in the hierarchy within Christian fundamentalist sects, I feel like some consideration into the effects of this would've been a good addition to the breakdown of this event.

I did not know that the concept of repression itself was so contentious; I had assumed only hypnosis-based recovered memories were what was under fire at the time. The examination of this method of psychological understanding was very concise and thought-provoking. 

The writing was at once intelligent and easy to follow. The amount of care and research put into creating this account are very apparent. 

On a very personal note, even if most of these accounts of abuse appear to have been entirely fabricated false memories or wholesale lies originating from a comedy of investigative errors, quite a few of them did leave me shaken and disgusted. At a certain point I had to start skimming or skipping them entirely, as they contained a level of detail I couldn't stomach. Adds to the completelt bizarre feeling that this whole event is steeped in.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Excrement, Cannibalism, Abortion, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Antisemitism

While the book is deconstructing these accounts of abuse as false memories or fantastical stories, they are still deeply upsetting to imagine, and quite a few are presented in their entirety. Very difficult to read.

martynabrzana's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Abortion, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

velarin's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

3.25

My problem with this book is the topic. It isn’t badly written yet I didn’t enjoy reading it in the slightest. I would probably read a book on US “satanic panic” and the parts dealing with the reasons for it and its history were the ones I found the most interesting. But anything concerning Ingrams’ case? Hard no. All the disgusting details

that turn out to not matter in the grand scheme of things,

were just too much for me. 

If the focus of the book was to study the reaction of the public (which, as it often does, immediately jumped on the train of taking sides, glamorization and parapsychology) rather than shaky theories on repressing and fabricating memories, I’d rate it higher. 

Also - way too much of Freud. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual assault

boothsm's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense fast-paced

3.0

I'm not sure if I'd recommend this book to anyone who was not already interested into this type of psychology/non-fiction. It's a very dark read but gives an interesting perspective on the 'Satanic Panic'. I just finished it but if I'm being truly honest, even though I know it is technically a good book, I didn't really enjoy reading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Infidelity