laurenm26's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
4.0
leasummer's review against another edition
4.0
This is really interesting. It focuses completely on the women murdered, not on the murders or murderer. The research that went into this is thorough and in-depth, very impressive.
mary846's review against another edition
4.0
In many ways this was a fascinating and gripping book. It spent no time at all dwelling on the actual murders (I had to google them) but was a vivid reminder that the victims were women who lived and loved, knew happiness and sorrow, and were victims of Victorian society - as well as of Jack the Ripper.
I was astonished at the amount of detail that was available on most of the women - from birth to death! (The exception being Mary Jane Kelly, of whom extremely little is known and who almost certainly had changed her identity on numerous occasions.)
That being said, the writing was often a bit florid and more suited to a fictional account than non-fiction one and an inordinate number of sentences began with ‘it’s probable’, ‘she might have’, ‘she possibly thought’. As another reviewer said ‘The assumptions about their motivations and decisions based on no more than census data drove me crazy’! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3118312059
Another annoying point was the amount of time she spent proving that three of these women could not even be called prostitutes which, to the modern reader, seems jarring. Any woman who was separated from her husband in Victorian England and living on (or near) the streets was considered sexually immoral and therefore of little value, but, hopefully!, we feel different these days.
I was astonished at the amount of detail that was available on most of the women - from birth to death! (The exception being Mary Jane Kelly, of whom extremely little is known and who almost certainly had changed her identity on numerous occasions.)
That being said, the writing was often a bit florid and more suited to a fictional account than non-fiction one and an inordinate number of sentences began with ‘it’s probable’, ‘she might have’, ‘she possibly thought’. As another reviewer said ‘The assumptions about their motivations and decisions based on no more than census data drove me crazy’! https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3118312059
Another annoying point was the amount of time she spent proving that three of these women could not even be called prostitutes which, to the modern reader, seems jarring. Any woman who was separated from her husband in Victorian England and living on (or near) the streets was considered sexually immoral and therefore of little value, but, hopefully!, we feel different these days.
laurenjpegler's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most engaging and addictive nonfiction reads I’ve picked up.
Rubenhold, unlike many other researchers on Jack the Ripper, has taken a step back from the actual murders and created a narrative for the five women who were brutality murdered in the streets (and one in her bed) of London. She does not wish to romanticise the murders. Instead, she humanises these women by giving us a historical timeline of their lives, starting at their birth through to their childhood, ending on how they ended up in London.
She smashes the idea that Jack the Ripper was a killer of prostitutes. It is not actually known what the profession of AT LEAST three of these women were, and there is no concrete evidence to suggest they were actually prostitutes, it was just easy to label them that.
Rubenhold challenges the Victorian prejudices against women who weren’t the ideal woman, whilst trying to understand why we, as a modern world, still romanticise Jack the Ripper instead of acknowledging him as as murderous misogynist. We have created a legend for him, leaving his five victims to be forgotten about, at most being remembered as “prostitutes”.
So good.
Rubenhold, unlike many other researchers on Jack the Ripper, has taken a step back from the actual murders and created a narrative for the five women who were brutality murdered in the streets (and one in her bed) of London. She does not wish to romanticise the murders. Instead, she humanises these women by giving us a historical timeline of their lives, starting at their birth through to their childhood, ending on how they ended up in London.
She smashes the idea that Jack the Ripper was a killer of prostitutes. It is not actually known what the profession of AT LEAST three of these women were, and there is no concrete evidence to suggest they were actually prostitutes, it was just easy to label them that.
Rubenhold challenges the Victorian prejudices against women who weren’t the ideal woman, whilst trying to understand why we, as a modern world, still romanticise Jack the Ripper instead of acknowledging him as as murderous misogynist. We have created a legend for him, leaving his five victims to be forgotten about, at most being remembered as “prostitutes”.
So good.
kcoccia's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed it. I thought it was going to be more historical fiction like but it read more like a biography of 5 women. I do wonder how they know specific things about the women... or is it just speculation?
Things that ran through my mind:
1. The amount of children people had back then just blows my mind. 1 pregnancy after the other and then you die... good lord.
2. Every woman ended up in the predicament she was in because she "liked to drink" or was a full blown alcoholic.... how do you know this?
3. So many assumptions about everything. It was very entertaining and it's clearly a very popular book but why write a book about these women's lives if you're just making assumptions about the majority of their lives.
4. The lives of women have really come a long way.
Things that ran through my mind:
1. The amount of children people had back then just blows my mind. 1 pregnancy after the other and then you die... good lord.
2. Every woman ended up in the predicament she was in because she "liked to drink" or was a full blown alcoholic.... how do you know this?
3. So many assumptions about everything. It was very entertaining and it's clearly a very popular book but why write a book about these women's lives if you're just making assumptions about the majority of their lives.
4. The lives of women have really come a long way.