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A review by isabellaeastwood
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
informative
medium-paced
3.5
In an ideal world serial killers names would never be spoken or written down, and they will be forgotten in history. Unfortunately, especially in this day and age, this will never happen. So instead focusing on the victims and what lives they lived is another way, Rubenhold explains, to silent the killer.
The reader is able to imagine their lives and its provides such an insight into 19th Century Whitechapel. The research is great, and the book flows so well. Even when she has to put caveats, the flow of the story remains intact. There will be times when there was limitations in research or assumptions made using secondary sources. Often Rubenhold has to put her historian hat on and question the newspapers and the inquests written during those times. This is not historical fiction, this is an attempt at writing the history using sources, facts and expertise.
The book is split into five main parts, retelling the life's of the five victims. By the third I was tempted to give this 4/5 stars. I was thinking, 'this might be my first five star read that is fiction'. But alas, I got tired of the rhetoric. I know that when writing essays you have to have 'Point, Evidence, Explain', but constantly reminding the reader that not all of these women were prostitutes got a bit tiring, 'show, don't tell'.
However, this book is very important and I cannot wait to read her other books
"It is only by bringing these women back to life that we can silence the Ripper and what he represents. By permitting them to speak, by attempting to understand their experiences and see their humanity, we can restore to them the respect and compassion to which they are entitled. The victims of Jack the Ripper were never 'just prostitutes'; they were daughters, wives, mothers, sisters and lovers. They were women."
⭐⭐⭐ for story 4/5 ⭐ for the history retelling.
The reader is able to imagine their lives and its provides such an insight into 19th Century Whitechapel. The research is great, and the book flows so well. Even when she has to put caveats, the flow of the story remains intact. There will be times when there was limitations in research or assumptions made using secondary sources. Often Rubenhold has to put her historian hat on and question the newspapers and the inquests written during those times. This is not historical fiction, this is an attempt at writing the history using sources, facts and expertise.
The book is split into five main parts, retelling the life's of the five victims. By the third I was tempted to give this 4/5 stars. I was thinking, 'this might be my first five star read that is fiction'. But alas, I got tired of the rhetoric. I know that when writing essays you have to have 'Point, Evidence, Explain', but constantly reminding the reader that not all of these women were prostitutes got a bit tiring, 'show, don't tell'.
However, this book is very important and I cannot wait to read her other books
"It is only by bringing these women back to life that we can silence the Ripper and what he represents. By permitting them to speak, by attempting to understand their experiences and see their humanity, we can restore to them the respect and compassion to which they are entitled. The victims of Jack the Ripper were never 'just prostitutes'; they were daughters, wives, mothers, sisters and lovers. They were women."
⭐⭐⭐ for story 4/5 ⭐ for the history retelling.
Content Warnings
Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, and Miscarriage