A review by andrew_russell
The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold
2.0
The Five by Hallie Rubenhold is hard to dislike and even harder to dismiss. The strapline says it all - 'The Untold Story of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper'. And that really is the central, core purpose behind why I read this book. It offers a story that steers clear of the sensationalised musings on who the killer may or may not be, as well as the grisly details of the murders themselves. Instead, Rubenhold homes in on the individuals who lost their lives at the hands of the man who, let's face it, was a twisted and psychopathic murderer.
In doing so, the author provides us with five potted mini-biographies. On the whole these are appropriately detailed. The loves, losses, fears, relationships and financial hardships of the five women are all laid out and it's difficult not to feel a twinge of sorrow at the fact that after leading such difficult lives, they were murdered in such undignified circumstances. This is a credit to Rubenhold's authorial abilities.
On the other hand however, it's similarly hard not to feel that her work would have stood up much more strongly if it consisted simply of the unadorned stories of the women themselves. But rather than adopting this approach, Rubenhold makes no effort to hide the fact that this is a book with an agenda. And the agenda is feminism. On numerous occasions, I really felt that she was using a sledgehammer to crack a vulnerable and softened nut. It almost goes without saying that these women were unfortunate. As were an awful, awful, awful lot of people in the Victorian age, particularly those who belonged to vulnerable groups within society. Children, the disabled, the unemployed (male or female) and the vast tract of society that constituted the poor, the hard-up, the plebs, the have-nots, call them what you will but yes, those people who simply could not make ends meet (again, male or female).
Rubenhold, in the final pages of her book, goes into full-on 'preacher-mode' and swings that sledgehammer about her head like nobody's business. In one memorable statement, she states that the five victims of Jack The Ripper were condemned from birth. Hmmm....whether you are a historian or not, it isn't hard to see the lack of veracity in that statement. Several of them were drunks (a fact Rubenhold blames almost entirely on men) and more than one had previously held a far higher station in life than that held at the time of their murder. The means by which they descended into poverty is usually somewhat sketchy. Rubenhold fills the gaps in by blaming it on men.
It would be unfair of me to say that this was the defining quality of the book. The picture it paints of Victorian London, as well as those finer details of the kind of hardships faced by each of the five women, are excellent. My frustration really stems from the fact that this could have been so much more appealing....to anyone. A simple unadorned story of the five women in question. Their story. With Rubenhold's 'sledgehammer to a nut' approach, not only are the historical credentials of the book immediately called into question but it also feels as though the stories of the women themselves is diminished just a little. To understate matters, this was a bit of a shame really.
In doing so, the author provides us with five potted mini-biographies. On the whole these are appropriately detailed. The loves, losses, fears, relationships and financial hardships of the five women are all laid out and it's difficult not to feel a twinge of sorrow at the fact that after leading such difficult lives, they were murdered in such undignified circumstances. This is a credit to Rubenhold's authorial abilities.
On the other hand however, it's similarly hard not to feel that her work would have stood up much more strongly if it consisted simply of the unadorned stories of the women themselves. But rather than adopting this approach, Rubenhold makes no effort to hide the fact that this is a book with an agenda. And the agenda is feminism. On numerous occasions, I really felt that she was using a sledgehammer to crack a vulnerable and softened nut. It almost goes without saying that these women were unfortunate. As were an awful, awful, awful lot of people in the Victorian age, particularly those who belonged to vulnerable groups within society. Children, the disabled, the unemployed (male or female) and the vast tract of society that constituted the poor, the hard-up, the plebs, the have-nots, call them what you will but yes, those people who simply could not make ends meet (again, male or female).
Rubenhold, in the final pages of her book, goes into full-on 'preacher-mode' and swings that sledgehammer about her head like nobody's business. In one memorable statement, she states that the five victims of Jack The Ripper were condemned from birth. Hmmm....whether you are a historian or not, it isn't hard to see the lack of veracity in that statement. Several of them were drunks (a fact Rubenhold blames almost entirely on men) and more than one had previously held a far higher station in life than that held at the time of their murder. The means by which they descended into poverty is usually somewhat sketchy. Rubenhold fills the gaps in by blaming it on men.
It would be unfair of me to say that this was the defining quality of the book. The picture it paints of Victorian London, as well as those finer details of the kind of hardships faced by each of the five women, are excellent. My frustration really stems from the fact that this could have been so much more appealing....to anyone. A simple unadorned story of the five women in question. Their story. With Rubenhold's 'sledgehammer to a nut' approach, not only are the historical credentials of the book immediately called into question but it also feels as though the stories of the women themselves is diminished just a little. To understate matters, this was a bit of a shame really.