Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin by Megan Rosenbloom

8 reviews

percy_march's review

informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

Overall, this was a pretty good read. It definitely got better as the book progressed, but I did become very invested in and entertained by the stories told by Rosenbloom. We got the French Revolution, we got body-snatchers, we got death positivity, antique book loving, and discussions of body materiality.

What really pissed me off though is her dismissal of any other viewpoints on anthropodermic bibliopegy. She would use any topic to bring up how books containing human remains shouldn't be re-intered and stayed remarkably impartial - uncharacteristically so - when bringing up NAGPRA and repatriation. It was very... "neo-liberal millennial" style of speaking on the issues of historic racism, sexism, and medical abuse. 

Also, if you try to go for the audiobook - the narrator kept doing accents for people she was quoting/referencing, and it was too much. It really, really needed to stop.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Racism, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, Murder, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Sexual violence and Terminal illness

In-depth discussion of the process of tanning leather

rtaire's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Body horror and Murder

Minor: Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Antisemitism, and Classism

scarlett4's review

dark informative slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Racism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, and Classism

aegagrus's review

3.75

Dark Archives begins with a seemingly niche focus -- books bound in human skin -- and successfully covers a lot of ground -- medicine, history, psychology, ethics, law, artistry, craft, archiving, collecting. The amount of work Rosenbloom put into Dark Archives is immediately evident. Her book reflects a wide array of fieldwork -- visits to tanneries and med schools, conversations with eminent collectors, novel scientific testing, intensive rummaging in museums and archives. It also reflects considerable thoughtfulness. Rosenbloom has clearly tried very hard to treat the stories she's telling seriously, treating the dead and the living alike with empathy and curiosity. Her most interesting reflections arise from that commitment; for instance, she wonders at length about the clinical gaze, about the status and responsibilities of physicians, about the relevance of gender, race, and class to our notions of doctors and doctoring. In a genuinely moving (if somewhat tangential) epilogue, Rosenbloom muses about her own death and her mother's own tragic interaction with the medical establishment.

The personal angle so central to Dark Archives certainly ties everything together fairly neatly, along with lending real credibility to Rosenbloom as an expert librarian and bibliophile. On the other hand, the highly conversational personal asides were often the points at which I was least satisfied with the book as a whole. A roughly chronological narrative about Megan Rosenbloom and her journey into and through the world of human-bound books and the lessons they hold could have been very successful. A more expansive and thematically-organized book could have been equally successful, taking full advantage of the rich interdisciplinary knowledge Rosenbloom is drawing upon. Instead, Rosenbloom has attempted something of a middle ground between these approaches. She is not wholly unsuccessful at striking this balance, but it does produce a book which is, from time to time, dissatisfying in its multifarious structure and direction. This objection is not to be overstated, however: wherever a reader's interest in the subject derives, Dark Archives has much to offer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Medical content

Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, Racism, and Classism

Minor: Sexual violence

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Racism, Blood, Antisemitism, Medical content, Medical trauma, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Suicide, and War

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

Descriptions of the Holocaust and other acts taken/beliefs espoused by the Nazi Party throughout WWII era. Descriptions of tanning process and related topics, of both animal and human skin. Discussion of medical ethics and violations thereof, including desecration of corpses. Mostly allegorical mentions of sexual violence/rape.

horrorandscience's review

dark informative mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Misogyny, Racism, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Antisemitism

cryptidkay's review

dark informative relaxing medium-paced

4.5

Normally, the only NF books I read are "thrilling" true crime ones (I'm aware it's a problem... you should see my netflix suggestions...). I saw this book referenced in The Madman's Library: The Strangest Books, Manuscripts and Other Literary Curiosities from History and, due to the macabre subject, knew it'd be the next nf title I read. I put it on hold at the library and profited!

50 pages in I'd had a page of notes, my own copy in the mail, and several imaginary conversations I'd like to have with the author. Librarian to librarian conversations.

The book and author's death-positive look at the practice of anthropodermic bibliopegy is fantastic. Rosenbloom matches my awe and fascination with these books while acknowledging the issues surrounding their conservation, curation, and creation; the classist origins of the practice and the medical field that made it popular, how the nazis were never actually involved (Whaaaat?), and how we as a contemporary society can deal with death better.

Rosenbloom's work is easy to read and easy to follow. My only wish is that this be republished as an illustrated edition so the reader can see some of the specimens and examples (especially of the beautiful reading rooms) she references in the text.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal death, Body horror, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Murder, and War

This book is explicitly about books bound in human skin. Often the skin is not taken with a person's consent and is taken by a person (usually a medical "professional") in a place of power. Also there's a whole chapter on concentration camps and WWII.

capitola's review

dark informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

An excellent read, equally valuable for its insights into the world of rare book librarianship and death positivity as for the history of Western medicine and bookbinding.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Medical content

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Animal death, Chronic illness, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, and Murder