Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

If You Tell by Gregg Olsen

48 reviews

bookishwhims's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

5.0

This was perhaps one of the darkest  and most disturbing books I have ever read. What made this book even harder to stomach is that this isn't a work of fiction.
 If you are going into this account of the heinous crimes of Shelly Knotech with the expectation of getting answers as to "why" a person does something like this or what turned her into a person who could do these things, you will be disappointed. The goal of this book is to tell the story of her victims and perhaps her longest-suffering victims, her daughters. This is the story of three sisters' horrific abuse at the hands of the person(s) meant to love and protect them most in the world. I'm not  leaving this book with all the answers I'd like nor am I leaving feeling as though justice was achieved, but that is true with most crimes. 
This book and this story, I fear, is going to stick with me for a very long time.

*Check tw*
*audiobook*

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

your_geekygf's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

2.0

This book is a true story but it is unbelievable. It is graphic, sad and frustrating. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer and Rape

jessikkaha's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

It’s hard to give this book such a high rating for the difficult content it contained. But the retelling of this story and how it brought to light stories of abuse was very well written. Sending so much positive energy and peace to the girls. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

nuuamuikkunen's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

2.75

Tykkään siitä miten Gregg Olsen kirjottaa tositapahtumista kuin ne ois fiktiota. Mutta se misogynian ja fat shaming oli ihan överiä tässä kirjassa! Et naiset haluaa vaan olla äitejä ja jos lihot 10 kiloa oot ihan kamalan läski. Yök.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Kidnapping, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, and Medical content

cardlikecredit's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

4.5

This book was intense. Well written so that it flowed more like a narrative than just straight non-fiction. Keeps you hooked until the very end. Read with caution though, the details are really tough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Fatphobia, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Excrement and Death of parent

priscillarobock's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

maddness22's review against another edition

dark sad fast-paced

0.25

I do not respect this book in the slightest. It's an attempt to capitalize on one family's horrible tragedy during the height of the true crime fascination. This is poorly written without any substance to the cruelty it outlines. There's no additional psychological insight into the mother's sadistic nature, no actual mention of the "bonds of sisterhood" until the final 10% of the book and even then it's a rather weak grab, and the timeline of events is written in the worst and most confusing manner. This was literally just composed for shock value and really only lists the acts of crimes committed by the narcissistic and sadistic mother and her pathetic husband. 

If it was meant as a warning for Shelly's release or even as a toolkit for others to recognize how severe abuse can be so subtle in its nature to integrate so fully in a victim's life, the message could've been conveyed with about 200 less pages and repetitive drawn out torture scenes. However, these lessons are barely conveyed successfully anyways. The writing is vague, confusing, and the author truly uses the word "niggled" un-ironically at one point. Like? Seriously? That's not even a real word and it sounds childish at best. 

Skip this shock value torture nonsense. Just know their mother was vile and we need to believe in victims. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

csmoke85's review against another edition

dark emotional sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

serenaann's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Self harm, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

vbarker91's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gaslighting

Minor: Cancer, Homophobia, Rape, and Terminal illness