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kingsteph's review
4.25
Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Torture, Violence, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicide, Xenophobia, Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
kellyofcali's review against another edition
3.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Murder
Moderate: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Grief, and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexism and Fire/Fire injury
headachesince03's review
4.5
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
reddeddy's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Classism
lyssierose09's review against another edition
4.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Gore, Torture, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Gaslighting
Minor: Gun violence, Misogyny, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
meganpbennett's review against another edition
3.0
The book has lots of interesting detail on the World's Fair - after all, how could Chicago hope to beat Eiffel and his Tower from the previous World's Fair? Enter an engineer named... Ferris.
The book was less graphic than I thought it would be, but there is rather disturbing imagery involving Holmes killing and disposing of the bodies.
I think the book would have been stronger had the author not switched perspectives between Holmes and the builders of the Fair every chapter. I think it would have made more sense for the author to have chosen a time frame - three months? - and written about the building of the Fair, then Pendergast, then Holmes. That would have strengthened the connect between them
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Pregnancy and Alcohol
cassieyorke's review against another edition
4.0
Still, White City is one book I'll happily give four stars, since it does such a fantastic job of sweeping you away to Gilded Age Chicago. It immerses you, familiarizes you with lovely details of daily life, introduces you to key players and average people alike, then leaving you to marvel at the unspeakable lost beauty of the World's Fair. He does the best that a twenty-first century author possibly can at conjuring a bit of that long-forgotten enchantment and romance, and I found myself putting the book down and dreaming a bit about what it would have been like at night. He gave me a glimpse of one of those spellbound moments long ago, and put me next to long-gone people when they were still drawing breath - or holding it, like I was. The fact that I had to wade through chapters of engineering and architectural details to get there felt a bit like Burnham must have - building this enchanting vision out of plain old steel and glass and finally getting to see it, just for a little while. Maybe that was the point; I'm not sure. If it was, I'd rather have had just a little more adventure getting there.
The sections about H.H. Holmes were more interesting, if horrifically disturbing. Most people enjoying this book have probably been true crime fans, hoping for a glimpse into the depraved mind of an early serial killer. Maybe they weren't quite as disturbed as I was, or didn't feel quite the same sympathy for his unfortunate victims. It speaks to Larson's talent as an author that he made those young women as real as anyone else, forcing you to care for them like any other living person. So those chapters were exceptionally well-written, if difficult to endure.
Larson has improved his craft since White City, like all authors do, and his later work shows more talent at making the mundane more interesting, blending it better with the substance of the overall book. Anyway, I did love this book and I'd happily recommend it to anyone who wanted to journey back in time to the Gilded Age, to see what life was like in the 1890s. Larson is second to none at transporting his readers back in time.
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Terminal illness and Pregnancy