Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Counting the Cost by Derek Dillard, Craig Borlase, Jill Duggar

8 reviews

chanatova's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective relaxing medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Sexism, Terminal illness, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Murder

vireogirl's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Alcohol

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

   A memoir from one of the Duggar children and her journey from a child on reality TV to adulthood.
    I feel like she went WAY too easy on her parents. She might not want to go too hard on them because of legal proceedings and her relationship with her siblings. But her parents completely brainwashed her, and she overlooked much of that in this book. As well as not getting much into how IBL is a cult, she mentioned it but didn't get into it much.
    This book was a bit surface-level. I hope she's able to work through more therapy. It was quite rage-inducing, at the Duggar parents and the church book. Her Dad is the worst! He's an expert manipulator. 

Narrator Rating: 3 stars
  I like that she read her memoir, but her voice was easy to get bored by.

 Extra ratings:  Fluff-NA  Heartfelt-3/5   Helpful-2/5    Horror-NA   Inspiration-NA   
Love aka Romance-NA  Mystery-NA    Predictability-NA  Spice-NA   Suspense-NA   Tear- 2.5/5  Thrill-NA   Humor-NA

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Incest, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Death, Gun violence, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Transphobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

littleredwinter's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

Slowly and steadily Jill Duggar and her ghostwriter weave together a narrative that will be heart-wrenchingly familiar to those with experience in high control religion. It’s a look behind the curtain at the Duggars specifically and a commentary on the broader impact of the IBLP, high control religion, and children as content. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Cancer, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

Jill talks in depth about violence she witnessed when living in El Salvador and the trauma she endured because of the media coverage of her brother Josh’s pedophilia and past sexual abuse of his sisters, Jill also describes her difficult first and second pregnancies and her three emergency c-sections in graphic detail

dealingwithdragons's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense fast-paced

5.0

This is an excellent book about two people who are still going through the process of deconstructing harmful beliefs they were raised with. I'd like to see Derek apologize publicly to Jazz Jennings, and I'd like to see both Jill and Derek examine their beliefs about and behavior toward the LGBTQ community as carefully as they have examined their beliefs about women wearing pants and drinking alcohol.

With all of that said, this is extremely well written and is a necessary read for anyone seeking to understand what it can be like to leave a fundamentalist cult and an unhealthy family dynamic. It's also an interesting portrait of a man, Jim Bob Duggar, who starts with fundamentalist beliefs and is further transformed and sucked into the cult by wealth, praise, and fame.

Some prior knowledge about the Duggar family and the Institute for Basic Life Principles is helpful to understand the scope of what Jill is speaking about. I'd recommend the Leaving Eden podcast and the Hulu documentary "Shiny Happy People" to anyone looking for introductory information about either topic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Colonisation

Minor: Infidelity and Pandemic/Epidemic

Jill goes into great detail describing her father's emotional abuse and gaslighting, including controlling behavior and shaming her for what she wears. Jill also describes the traumatic birth of her second son in great detail - both she and her son survive, but it is harrowing. She does not describe details of her brother's sexual assaults on her and her sisters, but she does go into detail about the fallout and the public shame she and her sisters were put through as a result of Intouch magazine illegally leaking report documents about the abuse. If you haven't heard, her brother Josh was also convicted of possession of child sex abuse material and is currently in prison. Jill and Derek were missionaries for several years, which is colonization, and they do not examine this with a critical eye in the book.

kelleywithanextrae's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Body shaming, Cancer, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

debbilynn42's review against another edition

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy

rat_girly's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

4.0

I found this memoir really insightful and reflective. I have almost no prior knowledge of the Duggar family, but finished the book feeling proud of Jill for all her growth and progress she’s made. Some parts were glossed over - like the Tweets from Derick which I later found out were transphobic - which was disappointing but not surprising. However, I feel hopeful that Jill has the played a massive part in breaking the cycle of abuse and manipulation for her children and their future generations to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Incest, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, and Colonisation

Minor: Death, Miscarriage, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Alcohol