Reviews tagging 'Murder'

We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian

38 reviews

ameliasbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

Roxanna Asgarian’s *We Were Once a Family* offers an affecting and comprehensive look into the tragic story of the Hart family murders while shining a light on the systemic failures of the U.S. child welfare system. Rather than sensationalizing the crime or focusing on the adoptive mothers, Asgarian turns her attention to the true victims—the six adopted children and their biological families, whose lives were torn apart long before the horrifying deaths occurred.

One of the book's greatest strengths is its focus on the broader issues underlying this tragedy. Asgarian critiques a broken system that fails to provide adequate support to vulnerable families, particularly those from marginalized communities. The child welfare system, she argues, is not designed to solve the root causes of poverty and instability but is instead driven by racial bias, with a prevalent "white savior" mentality. The biological families of the children, mostly people of color, were repeatedly failed by institutions that seemed more interested in removing children from their homes than in providing the resources that could keep those families intact.

For readers unfamiliar with the U.S. child welfare system—particularly European readers—the book can feel overwhelming in its detailed analysis. However, this depth of information is essential for an American audience that needs to fully understand the systemic issues at play. Asgarian doesn’t just point to individual failures but to a larger pattern of neglect and exploitation built into the system itself.

The book is as devastating as it is informative, highlighting the human cost of a system driven by racist policies and a desire for quick, often harmful solutions. The stories of the biological families are heartbreaking and paint a clear picture of how institutional racism and economic inequality intersect to create such tragedies.

However, the book is not without its minor flaws. At times, there is noticeable repetition of certain details, which can give the impression that some chapters were originally published as standalone magazine articles. If this was the case, the book could have benefited from tighter editing to smooth these transitions and avoid redundancy. Despite this, Asgarian’s journalistic rigor and passion for the subject matter shine through, making this a crucial read.

In conclusion this book is a powerful and eye-opening investigation into a deeply flawed child welfare system. Though difficult to digest at times, it is an essential work that sheds light on the need for reform and justice for the victims and their families.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and Classism

kld2128's review

dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Car accident, and Murder

jmicweber's review against another edition

emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.25

Roxanna Asgardian provides a heartfelt investigation that humanizes one of the worst crimes against children in recent memory. I appreciated how honest Roxanna was about how close she got with the families she interviewed. However, at times it seemed that she lost track of how extreme this case was: starting in Texas with an overtly racist judge and ending with mentally ill adoptive parents. I agree the system needs to change, but this book did not give much credit to the people dedicating their lives to changing it right now. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Suicide, Forced institutionalization, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness

booklovertamisha's review against another edition

emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Miscarriage

elisecavanaugh's review against another edition

informative sad medium-paced

5.0

Utterly infuriating to read, but that's what makes it so important.

This book is well-researched, well-written, and offers nuanced and sensitive storytelling about child removal and the broken child welfare system in the U.S. It provides plenty of context regarding the horrific Hart family case, in which two white adoptive mothers drove their family of six Black children off a cliff in 2018, but what I appreciated about this book is it is not just a true crime story (which I would view as exploitative of the murders of these six vulnerable children). Instead, Asgarian explores the (MANY) deeper issues that contributed to these children's (preventable!) removals from their families which led to this tragedy, and the ways in which the child protective system is fundamentally unable to effectively and equitably protect children then and now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, and Gaslighting

oworthyfool's review

challenging dark emotional informative sad fast-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Ableism, Homophobia, Miscarriage, and Cultural appropriation

notoriousleigh's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective sad fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Murder

lady_grey_with_honey's review against another edition

emotional sad medium-paced

4.5

This work of investigative journalism details the many failings of the American foster care system through the lens of a tragic murder-suicide carried out by 2 white parents, that killed them and their 6 adopted Black children. This book is really sad, but the issues that the author brings to light are well researched and so important. I highly recommend this book, but it of course comes with some significant trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Physical abuse, Suicide, and Murder

Moderate: Racism

k_bridgeman's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Murder

agador_spartacus's review

challenging emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction and Pandemic/Epidemic