Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum

6 reviews

kir1072's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Genocide, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Deportation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cursing, Suicide, Antisemitism, and War

astropova's review

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

4.75

This was a difficult read, but a necessary one. I knew about the Holodomor in general, but this book has so many harrowingly specific stories and accounts. I'll never forget it.

"The first lesson which is becoming an integral part of Ukrainian consciousness is that Russia has never had and never will have any other interest in Ukraine beyond the total destruction of the Ukrainian nation."

It always was, and currently is, the plan. And if there's one thing I have learned, it's that the spirit of the Ukrainian people is indomitable. The fight will go on. Glory to Ukraine. Слава Україні!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide and Grief

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Cannibalism

frantically's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25

This was such an important read for me and I learned so much about Ukrainian history and especially about how the USSR interacted with other countries during the 20th century. 

I'm German, so I'm used to seeing only one rhetoric (one that acknowledges the USSR had issues but none as bad as Germany) and this was a really interesting different perspective. 

The way Applebaum uses her sources is something I can only aspire to as a history student. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Torture, Cannibalism, and Death of parent

Moderate: Xenophobia and War

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

sandybrady's review against another edition

challenging dark sad fast-paced

4.5

This book is about a famine. There is not much joy to be found here, but there is a lot of hard truths.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Rape, Death of parent, and War

srm's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Child death, Torture, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, and Antisemitism

annikalula's review against another edition

4.5

I usually don't go for books like this but read it for my Abitur (German high school diploma) as I did a project on the Holodomor and its presentation in media. And BOY this was a tough read!!!! I can say quite confidently that I did not enjoy reading this book. Firstly it is a brick of a book filled with information to its last page which makes it quite hard and exhausting to read and secondly deals with awful contents. However Anne Applebaum did her research so well and actually managed to portray the complex historic events in a relatively accessible way. I've also read a variety of other books on the Holodomor and have to say that it was my favorite- also because it was only published quite recently and contents more accurate information than other books.
However this book is SO important!!! Before reading it I've never heard of the Holodomor let alone its brutality. While working in my project and telling people about it I did not come across a single person who knew what the Holodomor was, I even had to explain it to my history teacher. 
So I hope this book gets even more attention that it already got as the Holodomor probably one of the biggest crimes of the 20th century and the education about it is beyond problematic. Please read it!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail