Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson

35 reviews

wheelygoodreads's review against another edition

challenging dark sad slow-paced

1.75

I almost put this book down multiple times, as it's very slow to get going, and even then only half of the story, the serial killer portion, was really keeping me engaged. 

Many parts seemed to drag on, no helped by the formatting—this book really could have used shorter chapters, rather than longer sections. Getting through this felt like work.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Racism, Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

glorifiedloveletters's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

3.0

This is basically a book about the Chicago World's Fair with a longform essay about a serial killer smooshed between chapters. Both have some interesting moments, but the writing is also a bit overwrought and speculative for my tastes in nonfiction. There are some assumptions about different people's mannerisms and inner thoughts that he could not possibly know, most of which do not add anything substantial to the narrative. The overall effect is just an ok book. I learned a few things.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Racism

sharonus's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Kidnapping and Grief

audra_etta's review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious slow-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Gore and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Suicide

reddeddy's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism

librarymouse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.75

The literary descriptions and firsthand accounts of the fair, and the effort and love put into it's design and creation made me wish I could have attended. The detailed descriptions of Holmes' murders and his disarmingly charming personality made me glad that I was born over a full century after 1893. I like greatly enjoyed The Devil in the White City, the second half was a far easier read than the first. I'm not sure if I've retained as much of the information about the fair's designers and the events that took place while it was open as I wanted to. While interesting, the section about the initial design process and the political lobbying that took place in order to get the fair to occur in Chicago read similarly to a textbook, in stark contrast with the narrative way the rest of the history was told. Overall, an informative and interesting read. I would use enjoyable to describe the writing, but not the content.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Xenophobia

k_overt's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.0

The devil in the white city is like most classic literature, informative and uses big words. I had to read this book for an English class and it was one of the books that kept my attention. However at some points the plot was being dragged out unnecessarily for drama. If you want a book that describes historical events in serious detail, and goes into detail about people’s personal relationships of the time then this is the book for you. However, Sometimes it seems like Larson  manipulates certain pieces of history to fit his context.  For example he makes assumptions about how people ‘might’ have been feeling at the time or why they made the these decisions. This is bound to happen in a non fiction novel because they need to keep the reader engaged. If you want a book that is word for word historical facts, then this book is 80% for you. The beginning is slow because he has to introduce the characters and context so the reader can understand. However this also shows weakness in Larsons writing. One of the reasons I like an author is their ability to give information in a way that doesn’t cause the reader to become disinterested or confused. I don’t like the way Larson paces part one. However in a non fiction writing this form of writing can be seen as a strength. But for a reader like me I had a difficult time focusing on some parts that of the novel. Things that I liked was Larson ability to order events in a way that wasn’t confusing. The way the chapters are ordered based on what is happening is great, and when looking back it makes more sense. Overall the book is okay, and helps the reader learn about historical events in an entertaining way. I hope they make this book into a mini series so that they can truly understand not only the historical information, but also to transfer Larsons unique way of writing onto the big screen. I would recommend this book to someone interested in learning more about history. This book covers the worlds fair as well as the United states first known serial killer. In the past years many people have become interested in true crime and crime of passion. This book is a great for giving the audience a glimpse into the mind of a psychopath.  However you might be feeling unsatisfied when the book ends. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, and Murder

lyssierose09's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Medical content, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Torture, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Gaslighting

Minor: Gun violence, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

cupofbooksreviews's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

I have given The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson two out of five stars ⭐️⭐️

A dark and devious book filled with architecture and killings. A mixture of two I never thought I would read in the same book.

This book started off quite strong for me; learning about an architect called Daniel H. Burnham and a serial killer called H.H. Holmes. I find non-fiction books fascinating especially when based around true crime events, although that meant that there were a lot of brutal attacks that happened to a lot of people.

I found this book started to repeat itself quite a lot, especially during the chapters that surround Daniel Burnham and the architecture of the Chicago World Fair. I appreciated that the information was important and relevant however, due to the repeated information I started to become quite bored of Daniel Burnham’s story. 

As I became less intrigued by this book, I ended up reading this book for a fair few weeks which dragged out the experience. I had hoped there was more information regarding H.H. Holmes rather than Daniel Burnham.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Abortion, Murder, and Alcohol

brittishliterature's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, and Murder