Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Cokolwiek powiesz, nic nie mów. Zbrodnia i pamięć w Irlandii Północnej by Patrick Radden Keefe

8 reviews

lipliplip's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

travisppe's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

Very interesting narrative, almost reads like a novel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Child abuse, Confinement, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Deportation, Eating disorder, Injury/Injury detail, Mass/school shootings, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Medical content, Murder, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Torture, Violence, and War

plumpatio's review against another edition

informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

 A compelling narrative about historical events which I know very little about, I was grateful for the audiobook (read by an Irish narrator, which drew me in). I would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys narrative nonfiction with multi-faceted storytelling, but caution that the book is long. I'm not sure I would have finished it so quickly without the audiobook, the only downside of which is the lack of footnotes and images 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gun violence, Torture, Kidnapping, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Stalking, Eating disorder, Addiction, Suicide, Police brutality, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Religious bigotry, Murder, Death, and Alcoholism

A significant portion of the book centers around what are now considered war crimes including

force feeding and "disappearing" people (i.e., murdering people and hiding their bodies)

. There are also discriptions of counterintelligence methods utilized during the conflict.

proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

2.0

Patrick Radden Keefe tar avstamp i bortförandet av 38-åriga änkan Jean McConville i december 1972. Hennes tio barn återstår henne aldrig. Att det var IRA som låg bakom hennes försvinnande var tydligt, men vad hade Jean egentligen gjort? Keefe redogör sedan för stora delar av IRA:s historia och terror, i den mån han kunnat gräva fram uppgifter.

Vi får lära känna flera personer och det är inte lätt att hålla reda på alla, eller vem som är vem. För mig blir systrarna Dolours och Marian Price mest minnesvärda. Deras engagemang i Provisoriska IRA, "provos", beskrivs detaljerat, men även deras liv efteråt. Gerry Adams och Brendan Hughes är två andra huvudpersoner, där Adams ständigt förnekat sin inblandning i IRA. Denna våldsamma konflikt mellan den protestantiska, lojalistiska sidan respektive den katolska, republikanska sidan pågick mestadels under 1960-1990-talen, men har efterverkningar än idag. 

Eftersom det här är en slags reportagebok så har den inget rakt händelseförlopp och många gånger känner jag bara att namn, grupperingar och årtal snurrar runt i mitt huvud. Det finns definitivt intressanta och till och med spännande delar, men för det mesta är jag förvirrad eller bortkollrad. Har lyssnat på den här boken och tror jag hade uppskattat den mer om jag läst den. Det är en bokcirkel-bok, så det ska bli intressant att höra vad de andra tycker om ett par dagar.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Torture

Moderate: Mental illness and Alcohol

library_bee's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Gore, Gun violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Eating disorder, and Murder

Minor: Suicide, Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

kaynan1314's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Murder, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Drug use, Excrement, Violence, War, Gun violence, Police brutality, and Physical abuse

laurenfro22's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5

Solid text about the memories of folks in the Troubles and the surrounding political, social, and economic landscapes. Made more interesting from my personal history in Belfast and current work at Boston College. The writing is clippy, keeping you moving back and forth in time from perspective to perspective so it doesn’t feel dense and slogging like some other books about this era. Certainly puts events and decisions into perspective laying out the information for readers to explore and understand better. 

“The bogs of Ireland are a landscape that remembers everything that has happened in and to it.” (265) 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Death, Gun violence, Murder, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Suicide, and War

laurenparham's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

2.75

I think this book was just not for me—it’s informative about some key events but does little to contextualize the IRA’s actions in response to the state violence that drove The Troubles. If the goal is to explore how people become radicalized to commit political violence, I think it’s important to present that trajectory with more than a few cursory mentions of the oppression that led to it. I understand that would be a massive undertaking but anything less feels irresponsible, especially given how uneducated most Americans are about The Troubles and how, for many, a book like this would be their first introduction. There is no justification for what happened to Jean McConville, and I don’t think there has to be any whataboutism regarding that—it was tragic and violent and caused lifelong suffering and devastation for her family. But I do think that the British government and the loyalists earn some portion of the blame as an oppressive and exploitative force that perpetuated violence and radicalization. I do wonder why many people are so squeamish at the idea of interpersonal or paramilitary violence but sanction the same actions carried out by people acting on behalf of the state as somehow more valid and justified and less violent.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Colonisation, Death, Eating disorder, Drug abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and War