Reviews tagging 'Mass/school shootings'

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe

21 reviews

sporadic_user's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

4.0

A powerful book about awful acts of violence, in a seemingly unending cycle of retribution. Keefe masterfully conveys the inner worlds and fierce beliefs of a suprisingly small cast actors in the troubles, illustrating the many changes throughout it's beginnings, height and end.

For those normally turned off by acciuntings of history, Keefes writing style will be a welcome, gripping narrative rendition of events.

In particular, the inner motivations of the depicted are so well articulated that it can become hard hold on to an objective view oneself. Much like these real people, you can get caught up in their personal views and their cycles of violence. You can get insight into how the peace process could be reviled by the very people who wanted to stop fighting themselves. You might even find yourself condemning the very people who ended the conflict, only to realize that this exact thinking is what kept the conflict alive.

This book can be hard to read because of its subject matter, but it thoroughly demystifies the origins, staying power and legacy of the troubles.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Classism

Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Suicide attempt

mimi_t22's review

challenging dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

Dua Lipa's book club for the win. I knew next to nothing of "The Troubles" and had very basic knowledge of the IRA and the whole thing. This book was so interesting, compelling & hooks you right from the beginning, it's a beautiful and horrific portrayal of what it means to be human. It really paints the picture of what it was to be a citizen in the island and how interconnected everything seems to be, and how the repercussions can still be felt today. Seriously gripping, entertainment and knowledgeable.  I don't give it five stars, mostly because it takes a long time to get through it. The names, places and  dates are very well laid out but I had to stop multiple times to  go back and check some of the notes and resources and so it took me a long time to read and process and sometimes even then I would get confused a bit, which totally makes sense because it's a complex story and also I get the stylistic choice of using an Irish accent for the audiobook but that def did not help me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and War

chelcie's review against another edition

dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and War

bigheadcam's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

An absolutely incredible, fascinating, and perfectly paced narrative nonfiction on the Troubles. Radden Keefe is very careful to specify that this book is not "historical" nonfiction because a lot of the information in this book is derived from oral accounts. He did his best to reconcile these accounts by corroborating them with more official records and reports, but the Troubles are not well documented and were a truly chaotic time.

Radden Keefe's writing is objective and informative while also remaining gripping and maintaining an excellent storytelling tone. I was consistently impressed with how well he kept every subject covered interesting, and how he manages to switch contexts without losing the reader or making it jarring.

Thanks to John Oliver for recommending this on Hot Ones. I'd happily do the same for anyone with an interest in history, radical ideologies, revolution, and modern struggles for independence as well as the cost of said struggles.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

spess's review against another edition

dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Eating disorder, and Excrement

lipliplip's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

nitar8's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Mental illness, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

atalea's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Violence, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and War

Moderate: Death, Suicide, Torture, and Death of parent

laurenkimoto's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

3.5

Going into this my knowledge of the troubles was limited to Derry Girls and that small plot point in Criminal Minds, so to start I was a little confused (and I’m still not 100% confident) but overall was explained in an interesting and clear way. 

The audiobook gets a bonus 0.5 star (not included) because it is narrated by an Irish man and every time he said “poor” it added a week to my life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

meredith_peruzzi's review against another edition

challenging dark informative fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism and Gaslighting

Minor: Terminal illness and Fire/Fire injury