Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Breaking Free: How I Escaped Polygamy, the FLDS Cult, and my Father, Warren Jeffs by Rachel Jeffs

3 reviews

madisonkeough's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

lignjahal's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

4.5/5.0

I find this autobiography to be a stunningly honest reflection on surviving abuse, a cult, and the trauma that comes with it. The audiobook is greatly benefitted by having the author read the book. There is no hiding away from Warren Jeff’s’ actions and the impacts he had with Rachel Blackmore’s words and tones. Her prayer for her family at the end of the book hits hard, but I hope it continues to reach her family until the FLDS is gone forever.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Abortion, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

punkhunk's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

Rachel Jeffs depicts her life, from her childhood with her father Warren Jeffs, her relationships with her own mother, her mother's sister wives, and her siblings. She describes the rate at which her family grew larger and larger as she grew, her grandfather (the previous prophet of the FLDS before Warren) passed, and her father reacted to the law and his own actions.

I was floored by this book. Jeffs wastes no time in throwing the reader right in- from the prologue she gives the reader a warning of what is to come- her abusive relationship (sexually, emotionally, and spiritually) with her father within the FLDS cult. Once i was about a third of the way in, I had trouble keeping the book down and ended up staying up late just to find out what would happen next.

Jeffs ends up with quite a happy ending despite this being an overall dark memoir. Much of the book is filled with her trials and tribulations as she navigates life in the FLDS church, but she maintains strength and dignity throughout. I highly recommend this book to those who appreciates dark memoirs- my friend recomended it to me for those reasons and she hit the nail on the head.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Miscarriage, Blood, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Chronic illness, Infertility, and Medical content

much of part one contains Jeffs' major graphic experiences of child sexual abuse and incest. it is not graphic later in the book, but is mentioned throughout the text. this is mostly obvious, but the whole book is about Jeffs' experience in the FLDS cult, which was not a choice of content warning. there are a few points at which her children are hurt badly and cannot go to the hospital due to FLDS rules, im not sure whether to mark that as "medical abuse" (which i thought was doctors/medial professionals abusing their power over patients).