Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang

16 reviews

purplepickle's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

This is an incredibly well written and researched book. I felt physically ill many times throughout the book, and I struggled to push through all the chapters. Anyone who is interested in history must read this book, as it is unfortunately a very much forgotten chapter of human history. I'm glad to be infinitely more educated on this event then I was previously. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Mental illness, Cannibalism, and Abandonment

birddie's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This is the hardest book l've ever read. It's sad I'm 24 years old and this is the first and only time l've heard of this. It's even more sad that the stories and crimes in this book aren't even unique. This is something that's happening in our world right now. We don't learn about our history any more and that's why it repeats itself...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Antisemitism, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

angemelb's review

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

Such a difficult read,  so many tragic events to have happened to the Chinese people outlined in this book.  I struggled through certain sections and needed to reflect many times.  Iris Chang's writing style was compelling,  easy to work through and insightful.  One of those books that will stay with me for ages. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and War

wellreadandhalfdead's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Gore, Incest, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

loveinafternoon's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense fast-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

bleedingphoenix's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

Incredibly important book that everyone should read (if you can stomch the topic). It was hard to read and I had to take several week long breaks because the book was so shocking and depressing. But that is exactly the reason why everyone should read this book. The author, Iris Chang, did an incredibly job researching for this book. She collected many eyewitness reports, things no one had even heard of before. For example, she was the reason, why the world learnt about wwhat happened to John Rabe, the so-called Buddha of Nanjing, a person who saved thousands of people and ended up living in poverty. 
The world was about to forget what had actually taken place in Nanjing in 1938/9, how horrific those the actions of the Japanese soldiers actually had been and how mich the Chinese population had suffered. The goal of the Japanese Government is to forget the atrocities they did in China (and Korea, etc.) and is doing a really good job of it with the help of the US, as economic interests weigh more than justice apparently. You cannot overstate how important Chang's work has been and I'm thankful and inspired by her work. Her book has been one of the very few way the victims of the rape of Nanjing have been given some justice. 
Please, if you have the time, read this book and then tell everyone you know about what you've learnt. 
RIP Iris Chang

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ehmannky's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

4.75

Like a lot of people, my knowledge of World War II in the Pacific is not particularly comprehensive and my awareness of what Japanese imperialism and war crimes was limited to a hazy understanding of "they were bad." But I don't think I could have fathomed the depths of suffering that occurred during the Rape of Nanking. Cheng does a really good job summarizing the forces behind the massacre, going into details about the brutal acts (which even when reported on using what I felt was pretty neutral language is just wildly horrific to read), and the global collusion between world governments (including China's!) about why this is so understudied and unknown. 

I didn't love the audiobook narrator for this, but listening to her read at, like, 1.25x speed was just fine. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Incest, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ashlightgrayson's review

dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This was such an informative piece of journalism that encompassed all necessary background information required to thoroughly understand the topic even if you have no previous knowledge. Iris Chang walks you through the long history between China and Japan prior to the Nanking massacre. This helps give context to the events that occurred during the massacre. This book also makes it easy to connect the events occurring in other regions of the world at that time to the massacre. It allows for the narrative history feel cohesive and relative to other events happening simultaneously. Nothing in history exists in a vacuum and I was happy to see that Chang was able to elaborate on this point in her writing. There is a plethora of useful sources provided in the book as well for further research. Chang proposes her own opinions within the narrative history, but always with support from sources that she cites thoroughly. She also clarifies which parts of the history she had limited sources for. Additionally, she reveals some of her own bias as she explains her own family's history pertaining to the massacre. The way Chang weaves the narrative helps to create both sympathy for the victims of the massacre, and allow for nuance for the perpetrators without absolving them of their culpability.

As I was reading through this piece it felt like I was mourning the loss of Iris Chang simultaneously. She died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2004 and reading this just made me think about what a great loss that was to the journalism community (in addition to her family and loved ones). I would have loved to see her continued contributions to the acknowledgement of Chinese and Asian history. To this day I think there is still a gap in understanding Asian history in the West. I will definitely be reading her other works. This book is one of the best nonfiction books I've read this year and it still holds up today. This has definitely reignited my interest in Asian history. Can't wait to read more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Genocide, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

yerulp's review against another edition

dark informative fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Every content warning under the sun

savyy's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad tense fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Trafficking, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation