Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell

7 reviews

mmestitches's review against another edition

0.25

Irresponsible at best. I feel like the point of this book was to humanize how people make terrible mistakes, but ultimately it reinforced the idea that keeping people with power emotionally comfortable is more important than protecting the lives of people without power. 
I normally love Malcom Gladwell's work but this book was irresponsible as hell in how it discussed some high profile cases about sexual predators. He draws a parallel between victims of CSA being unable to understand they're being abused and grown ass adults allowing kids being raped as a result of their inability to handle some cognitive dissonance. I see this pattern of making victims of child abuse equally responsible to the adults committing or enabling the abuse,  and it makes me want to scream. Gladwell went as far as to play a clip of a victim crying and pleading with her abuser to recognize the hurt he caused, and the purpose of this clip is to show how murky the facts can get in these cases as opposed to being used as a classic example of how a groomed and abused child grows into an adult who feels responsible for healing the person that abused them.  These responses are not murky, they are well researched and understood, but holding people accountable for their actions is hard so Gladwell took a lazy, victim blaming approach.  How disappointing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Not worth reading, spare yourself

artsandcraftsmajor's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.5

Compelling, but left unsure of how to move forward. Feels important. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, and Suicide attempt

ferdie's review against another edition

challenging informative sad tense medium-paced

4.5

The audio book is amazing. Hearing the voices as much as we could felt important to the points Gladwell was making about what we really know from our observations of strangers. In a highly divided world, "Talking to strangers" makes me reevaluate my quick judgement and learn to move through it towards curiosity and nuance. 

TThere were parts I greatly disagreed with and times where I waited for Gladwell to bring in perspectives in that he just... didn't. Overall, I appreciated what he added to conversation and definitely learned some new things, but am also walking away from the book feeling like there big pieces missing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Police brutality

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Suicide, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Torture

montyalmoro's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

ashleyann's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective tense medium-paced

1.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

missbsbookshelf's review against another edition

challenging dark informative medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Suicide attempt, and Murder

emberlesage's review against another edition

Really just couldn't get past the defense of rapists and shallow understanding of what respect is. Almost everything in this book up to where I finished will be triggering for several groups of people, and I didn't have to look him up to know the author was a cis white man because his take on most topics makes that clear, and not in a 'okay, that's you experience' way either. Won't be finishing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence